A combination of research, optimization, submissions, link popularity and maintenance is the driving force to consistent, improved rankings in the search engines. It is not enough to do one without the other. In an ongoing effort each month, our SEO experts will monitor your listings and modify the codes on your web pages, when necessary. These modifications are done to keep your listings above your competition as best as possible. We will also continue to add and build links to increase your link popularity in the engines, which will boost your listings. This combination of maintenance ensures consistent top rankings in the engines, which is our ultimate goal.



SEO Monthly Maintenance - How it Works

A) Ranking Reports
One month after submitting your website to the search engines, we will run a Ranking Report. The Ranking Report will tell us which search engines have spidered your web pages and placed you within their index. The Ranking Report will also tell us where in the index your keywords are ranked (i.e. in the # 4 position, in the # 14 position, etc. etc.).


B) Ranking Results
Some keywords will appear in the index immediately, others will not. Initially, some keywords will appear on the first page results, others may show up on the 5th page results. For those keywords that do NOT appear in the index at all or if they appear somewhere very low in the index, we need to return to your website, make some changes and wait another 4 weeks to see the results. The ranking reports act like a road map. The road map tells us which keywords need some 'massaging' to get higher in the index. The process of reviewing the results and 'massaging' your website to better please the algorithms is a month-by-month process.


C) Competitive Keywords and Backlinking
Some keywords may need more than just 'massaging' on the website. Some keywords (usually the more competitive ones) need backlinks to gain weight and to compete in those keyword markets. For example, the market for "los angeles plastic surgery" is alot more competitive than the market "los angeles nose surgery". Therefore, keywords like "los angeles plastic surgery" will need more attention and more work each month to achieve a listing in the top 10 results of the search engines.

Another weapon in our arsenal for battling those competitive keyword markets is “Article Syndication”. We will write articles about your business, submit them to ezines, blogs, and online publication sites. These websites will publish the article about your business with a link in the article that links back to your website. Thus, creating a new one-way backlink to your website which will add more holding power and support for those competitive keywords. Wait, that’s not all. The spiders love fresh content published to your site on a regular basis. With that in mind, we will take the article written about your business and publish it to your website as “spider-food”. Again, adding more weight and more holding power for these keywords to compete in those highly competitive markets. In doing so, we are “killing two birds with one stone”!

We will write and submit several articles each month to be published for your website. Each article will be formatted into HTML and published to your website under a “In The News” section of your site, which we will also build.


D) Maintenance Fees Explained
The analysis and work we do each month (as described above) to achieve top rankings for your keywords is covered by the monthly maintenance fee. The ‘base’ monthly maintenance fee (or minimum monthly maintenance fee) is to cover these services over the first few months while we wait for your listings to come online. The “Performance” variable is to reward us for achieving top rankings for your business. The Performance variable is a built-in incentive program for us. If we achieve top placement for you, you will receive more traffic to your website, which will increase the opportunity for you to gain new customers. The more customers you gain, the more profitable your business. The Performance variable allows us to share in your success, creating a win-win situation for both of us.

The monthly maintenance fee is assessed MONTHLY. That is, we run a Ranking Report at the end of each month and count the number of top 10 rankings we have achieved for your selected keywords in the major search engines (currently, Google, Yahoo, MSN). Each time one of your selected keywords ranks in the top 10 listings of Google, Yahoo or MSN, a fee is assessed. However, because we know we will be highly successful and you will experience many top rankings, we put in a maximum monthly marker (or a "cap"). So, you'll know at all times the maximum amount you'll pay for your SEO each month. These price benchmarks will help you budget your monthly marketing expenses for your business.
 

E) Monthly Reports 
All monthly reports will be available to you online so you can track the progress of your campaign at any time. After publishing the first set of month reports, an SEO analyst will schedule a 30 minute consultation with you to explain the reports, familiarize you with the data and answer any questions you have. By the end of the consultation, you'll know what to look for, how to interpret the data, and you'll know exactly how to track where we are in terms of our progress month-by-month.

If you forget everything you learned in the consultation, that's okay. An SEO analyst will provide written conclusions on each report so you don't have to 'fumble-through-in-the-dark' trying to interpret the data. The conclusions will help guide you through how to read and interpret the data yourself. After a few times, you'll recognize trends, you'll understand the data 3-dimensionally and you'll know exactly where your business stands with its performance in the search engines.