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Consequently, they determine a site’s quality,           case, regular updates consisting of all the
in part, by how many quality sites it is linked          aforementioned components--linked content
to. The logic goes something like this: the              with keywords, properly formatted meta data,
total number of incoming links helps a search            and tags--will help toward high search engine
engine recognize that if other sites respect that        results.
site and want to link to its information, it must,
therefore, be a quality site. The result is higher       Step 3. SEO for conversion
search result rankings.
                                                         �	Conversion keywords
    Search engines accomplish this because
they have pre-defined criteria regarding how                 Converting traffic into buying customers
a quality site performs. The more links to sites         is called conversion-rate optimization (CRO).
that meet this pre-defined criteria--the better a        In the same manner that SEO targets search
site will do in search engine results.                   engines, CRO targets customers ready to make
                                                         a purchase. Although SEO and CRO seem to be
    Conversely, the more links a site has to             targeting two completely different entities, they,
known spam sites and low-quality sites, the              in fact, can be considered the exact same thing-
poorer it will perform. In fact, if a site is linked to  -provided the SEO content is crafted carefully.
bad sites, it, too, can be flagged as a spam site.
For website owners interested in ranking high in             For instance, keyword planning tools can
search engine results, it is important to obtain         show the exact monthly search volume for
links from other popular, high-quality sites.            people searching for just about anything:
                                                         gardening tools, dog beds, root canals, or wigs,
�	Frequent content                                       for instance.

    Search engines recognize content on a                    However, soft-sale keywords or conversion
website and how it is organized, and they also           keywords, also known as long-tailed keywords,
recognize the types of websites that link to             are those types of keywords that target
one another. However, they also recognize how            extremely specific searches. These types of
relevant and current a website is.                       keywords are comprised of specific search
                                                         requests. For example: “white-cotton sneakers
    Although some types of content can                   with metal braids” is a very specific product
be considered evergreen, which means it                  search, and the person searching for such a
is content that will be relevant long into the           product knows exactly what he or she wants
future, 99-percent of all content will evolve.           and is much more likely to buy once he or she
Additionally, products will change, and services         finds that product.
will be adjusted to the ever-changing needs of
customers. Finally, because world and industry               Similarly, long-tailed keywords can be
news as well as local business events are always         comprised of an action “buy Bluetooth wireless
in flux, pertinent information relating to any           speakers for smart phone” is an example
website will also be in flux. This type of fluidity      of a conversion-rate keyword that indicates
results in one thing: the need to communicate            someone wanting to buy a set of speakers.
new information to website visitors.
                                                             It is absolutely necessary to target search
    Search engines assume this. They assume              engines using more general keywords because
the world is changing, and they assume that              more general keywords helps drive the bulk of
most websites want to keep their customers               the shopping traffic, and a small percentage of
and readers apprised with the latest, best               shoppers will purchase. However, these long-
information. Consequently, websites that do              tailed keywords are more effective at attracting
not publish with any regularity will be classified       buyers intent on an immediate purchase.
as dead sites, and they will not rank as well in
search results as those sites that are regularly
updated.

    For any site to compete, daily updates are               Simply put, anyone who does not include
ideal. For niche sites with few competitors,             long-tailed keywords in a website is losing sales
weekly updates might suffice. In either                  to competitors.

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