website promotion and optimization services
Home | Overview | Technology | Return on Investment | Campaign Costs | Comparing Strategies  
 Home
 Overview
     First Step
     Second Step
     Third Step
 Technology
 Return on Investment
 Campaign Costs
 Comparing Strategies
 Free Analysis
 About Us
 Contact Us
 Sitemap
 Campaign Costs
 

The SEO business has dramatically changed since mid 2000. What once was a relatively easy task of optimizing web pages for top ranking among the most popular search engines has turned out to be a complex process requiring research, analysis, and skill.

SEO campaigns may include spider-based and/or directory-based optimization. Directory-based SEO campaigns are considered the starting point. Costs involve one-time optimization and submission charges.

Spider-based optimization is more complex. As the popularity and/or number of keyword phrases increases, the number of HTML/text pages must also increase to produce a theme strength that will compete favorably with the existing top-ranked websites. Also, by analyzing the strength of the link structure of top ranked websites for the same keywords, the level of link optimization can be defined.

The following table summarizes the fundamental attributes of each search engine type and cost impact.

 

Search Engine Type

Spider-based

Directory-based

Example search engine

AltaVista, AOL, AskJeeves, AllTheWeb, Google, HotBot, iWon, Lycos, Netscape, Teoma

MSN (LookSmart)

ODP

Search traffic share (approx.)

Approximately 80% (Google alone may have as much as 60%)

19%

Less than
1%

f
e
e
s

Submissions

All have free submission plans, but submissions are largely not necessary because Search Engine spiders find websites if they are accessible through links from other websites.Some offer paid inclusion services that provide better management tools and guaranteed listings (not rankings).

Small Business Listing: $249, includes 1000 clicks

Free

Optimization

The level of optimization effort and expense is directly related to:

  1. Number of keywords
  2. Popularity of keywords (closely related to competitiveness)
  3. Number of relevant inbound links from other websites to attain
  4. Website construction - implementation strategy

Typical fees range from $359 to $2,500 for setup

Small Business Listing: $745.00

Included with MSN (Look-Smart) optimization

Maintenance

Constant changes in the competitive environment and search engine algorithms require continual ranking analysis and adjustment, typically on a monthly basis.Typical fees range from $159 to $500/mo.

Additional clicks for LookSmart: $170 per 1000 clicks. (LookSmart offers a listing change fee). All periodically reviews listed sites to maintain quality.

Notes:2 Data reported by StatMarket, 2002. (data reflect unique visitors over month time frame)
 

 

 

 
©2002 Website Promotion & Optimization Services
All rights reserved
Free Analysis | About Us | Contact Us