Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Defined
SEO is the practice of increasing search engine rankings for keywords that describe a company's product or service as well as a company's brand name(s). Compared to other online channels, the primary distinction is that SEO is focused on search engines, such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. As online marketing matures, the lines between search, social media and other channels are blurring, but at Thunder SEO, when we speak of SEO, we primarily are referencing search engines.

Keyword Research
All SEO campaigns start with keyword research. This tells us not only what keywords people search for, but also the number of searches as well as the change in search volume. Our keyword research includes the "long tail," which enables us to target not only the high-traffic terms, but also the niche terms that may have lower search volumes but typically result in a more targeted prospect. While keyword research used to focus primarily on quantity, we now we take into account the new and changing ways that people search, such as Google recommended searches, related search terms and local search results. All of these have a definite impact on behavior in regard to how people search. All our keyword research starts with a "keyword map" that then becomes the "internal linking map" which becomes the master record for which keyword groups point to which pages. This is used in both internal and inbound linking.

On Page Optimization
Pages titles, description tags, headers, keyword density...these all used to have noticeable impact on a page's rankings. Now it's less about getting the right number of keywords on a page, and more about making sure a website has well-organized content, clear linking structure and indexable content. We start every client with a full SEO review of their website, looking at on-page elements and code. Depending on the client and website program, we make the on-page changes ourselves or provide a list of our recommendations.

Campaign Strategy
Every campaign starts with defining the primary goal. This might be new leads, brand extension or capturing lost prospects and sales. We then evaluate how the online strategy integrates and/or supports our client's overall marketing strategy. This process typically involves the coordination of multiple groups including marketing, sales and operations. Given the increasingly important role of online marketing, we find it is crucial to bring all interests together as soon as possible. Out of this process comes a strategy that drives the SEO, website, content and blog, online messaging, social media and other online channels.