Promoting Your Site in Search Engines

Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Advertising

As anyone who has ever launched a website will know, getting your site online is never the end of the story. Every website has its own set of associated goals, but key to achieving those goals is, inevitably, attracting visitors and preferably in large numbers!

Search engines are just one of many potential sources of website traffic. This traffic can be further divided into organic, meaning clicks from links listed in natural search results, and paid, also known as pay per click (PPC), which is generated from links within adverts shown on search results pages and written as part of a paid advertising campaign. Google's AdWords service is one such PPC advertising system.

Your decision on whether to employ search engine optimization (SEO), PPC or both normally depends on various factors, such as the style and content of your website, the competition in your market, your overall aims and, of course, your budget! A short, aggressive PPC campaign would perhaps suit a commercial product launch, whereas a less commercial reference site would probably take a longer term approach through SEO.