If Your Website Has Organic Ranking Problems, Try SEM

Sometimes websites are created in such a way that it is difficult to achieve organic search ranking without a complete overhaul of your website. Many times these sites were created incorrectly, and you may not be aware of that fact until you experience little or no results from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts. Occasionally, our strategic partner LocalDirective has seen these sites even have problems ranking organically for their own business name!

Without performing an entire website redesign there is one thing that can be done to make sure that your website is seen and can be found in the search engines, even by existing customers. But first, since you will want to determine if your website’s ranking problems are due to the way it was constructed, you need to know some main causes of problems with SEO.

So What Types of Websites Are Disadvantaged For SEO?

The majority websites on the internet, especially those built by LocalDirective, will perform very well organically or can be optimized easily for search engines. However there are a few types of websites that, based on how they were developed, can run into major problems when it comes to being indexed by Google, Yahoo or Bing. These sites include:

• Sites built using only Flash.
• A framed site.
• Templated design/content sites, like those built for many doctors, lawyers & dentists.

In the first two cases listed above, the issue is with the content of the site being indexed easily by search engine robots. What cannot be easily read by these robotic visitors disallows the search engines from determining keywords associated with your site, so in essence your website appears virtually invisible. In the third case, there is a duplicate content issue, and search engine algorithms screen for and eliminate from the results sites that have duplicate content. If you suspect you have any of these problems and want confirmation, please contact LocalDirective for a quick evaluation of your site’s search engine optimization readiness.

SEM To The Rescue For These SEO-Challenged Sites

While these types of sites can be problematic for showing up in organic listings, they can be displayed for prospective and existing clients in another way. Use of SEM (Search Engine Marketing), also known as PPC (Pay Per Click), can get these sites shown on the first pages of search results, even without a major website redesign.

The focus of a SEM program for websites that don’t display organically will be more expansive than what is usual for other paid search programs. Most of the time, a paid search campaign is primarily focused on driving new clients to a website. When the paid search campaign is designed to replace organic rankings, the focus becomes a balance between attracting new clients and helping you be seen by existing clients. In other words, your PPC program now must also ensure that existing prospects and clients can find the site – especially those that may not remember your company name – and also to create brand recognition for the company.

SEM Expectations For Problematic SEO Websites

Since the focus of websites using SEM as a replacement for SEO is different, your expectations for performance will also need to be different. Instead of looking for a high percentage of new clients coming from your SEM program, you will have a mix of new and existing customers counted in your conversions.

But this is NOT a bad thing! We all know that the cost of keeping a customer is much lower than the cost of acquiring a new one, so you need to see these conversions as highly valuable. These clients would typically be lost to another company simply because they could not find you. So it is important to think of returning clients who found the company through a paid search campaign not as poor conversions, but instead as potentially lost revenue retained by the business. With this in mind, we have seen these types of program performing incredibly well, with high conversion rates and a high Rate of Return (ROI) on your advertising investment.

If your business is finding that it has problems ranking organically, or it is one of those problem sites listed above, please email LocalDirective now or call 1.888.613.7174 to find out how we can help your website get the online traffic you desire.