inQsec Q white 200The point in having a website is so people can find your business, services or products. That is the purpose of the "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO) process. SEO is a process, not an event; a journey, not a destination. Technology changes, website directories and internet search engines change their algorithms; your competitors change their tactics. Your website and your off-website presence must also periodically be reviewed and updated.

inQsec provides monthly reports to our regular clients showing how your online profile stacks up against your competitors and where you rank for search terms key to your business.

There are 2 major parts to SEO:

1. On-site SEO

This is work performed on the website itself to make the site attractive to the search engines. Bear in mind that your website serves 2 audiences: your customers, and the search engines. Just because it looks good does not mean that the search engines can index it well - putting all your text into an image graphic for instance. And, just because you stuff it with every keyword you can imagine does not make it attractive when viewed.

Good content well presented is essential to satisfy both viewers and search engines. For this, using a Content Management System (CMS)is invaluable.

There are also certain evolving and changing technical standards that the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) encourage and sometimes insist on. The technology used to build your website has to evolve with these standards in order to remain relevant and retain ranking. Current must-haves are:

Also, the era of fooling the search engines by keyword stuffing and use of hidden text is over. Their advanced algorithms now do a pretty good job of assessing the value of user-visible content i.e. deciding if a viewer would find the page as presented responsive to their question. A good Content Management System (CMS) provides tools to create and manage high-value content, as well as providing mobile, friendly and responsive design templates.

Since internet standards and best-practices continually evolve, and security vulnerabilities continually surface, your website should be built using a well-supported tool (such as one of the CMS); and receive regular maintenance.

inQsec handles all that for our clients.

2. Off-Site SEO

This is work performed outside of your primary website to make sure that the website is noticed and publicized around the web.

This, at a minimum, includes getting a listing on:

Plus, getting backlinks to the site from other trusted parties such as suppliers, civic groups, charities, interest-group forums, news sites, etc.

Since your competition is constantly trying to steal your customers by getting a higher search ranking than you, an active policy of monitoring, adding, correcting and improving your citations and backlinks is required in order to maintain your business' online profile.

inQsec handles all that for our clients.