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Brand New Websites: A Search Engine Optimization Company Perspective
By Scott Buresh (c) Medium Blue 2007

It's an unfortunate fact – no matter how good your search
engine optimization company or in-house talent is, brand new
websites have a more difficult time achieving search engine
success for competitive phrases than their older counterparts,
particularly on Google. However, the worst thing that a new site
owner can possibly do is presume that they are "too late to the
game" and decide not to pursue this marketing channel at all. A
good search engine optimization company should be able to
effectively work with a new website; setting the foundation for
a remarkable success story while still achieving steadily
increasing short-term benefit.

The Issues

There are many reasons why new websites face an uphill battle.
What follows are only a few of the major stumbling blocks:

The Google Sandbox

There is much debate as to what exactly the Google Sandbox is,
and even debate as to whether it actually exists. However,
recent patent filings on behalf of Google would seem to confirm
that one of the factors that Google will take into consideration
when deciding how websites should rank is the age of the domain
name. More than one search engine optimization company has noted
that there seems to be a penalty assessed to new websites,
especially those that seem to gain too many inbound links, too
fast. This is all conjecture, but this would make sense. Inbound
links factor largely in Google rankings, and therefore many
sites that were already popular in Google began selling links
from their sites based upon that popularity (a practice that
goes against Google's terms of service). However, text link
buying is very hard to police. The Sandbox makes sense in this
scenario, because Google seems to be saying "we may not be able
to stop people from buying text links, but they are going to pay
a pretty penny for them before we'll give them any ranking
boost because of them." This is more conjecture, of course, but
it is a popular theory in numerous search engine optimization
forums.

Lack of Links

Unfortunately, here, a new website is faced with the opposite
problem. Links to new websites are called into question, but
without incoming links, a new website has a slim chance of
performing well on Google. This Catch-22 is obviously a sore
spot for many owners of new websites.

Trustworthiness

For many years, a common search engine optimization company
strategy was to set up numerous new websites all for one
company, each geared toward targeting a different search term.
This was largely due to the fact that search engines used to
place a much higher importance on the home page of a website,
rather than interior pages. Over time, search engines caught on
to this trick, and as a result new domains are now looked at
more skeptically. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that while
it is relatively easy and inexpensive to set up a new website
that targets a certain term, a website that has been around for
much longer and has a breadth of content has much more to lose
and is less likely to attempt to "game the system".

The Solutions

Does this mean that you shouldn't hire a search engine
optimization company to work on your new website? Not at all. In
fact, it is in the very beginning of your website planning that
a long-term strategy should be put into motion – a strategy that
still offers positive results in the short term.

Before You Build

It is important to get your search engine optimization company
involved as early as possible before you build your new website.
Not only are there many technical issues that you should be
aware of before you begin design (such as linking architecture,
types of text to use, and balancing your SEO efforts with your
brand), but there are also strategies that can be set in motion
at the outset that will counteract some of the stumbling blocks
listed above. If you involve your search engine optimization
company after you have built your new website, much of the work
you have done will likely need to be redone with a long term
strategy in mind.

Targeting Appropriate Phrases

A good search engine optimization company will tell you that
targeting highly competitive phrases with a brand new website
can be an exercise in futility. However, this does not mean that
you cannot achieve initial success on search engines. The trick
is to target less competitive phrases at the outset, and to
begin tackling the more competitive phrases later. For instance,
let's assume that your company makes custom widgets, and that
"custom widgets" is a very competitive search phrase. A search
engine optimization company working on your new site might
recommend that you instead target less competitive variations of
the term, such as "custom made widgets" or "custom widget
manufacturing." Since these terms are less competitive, you
will be more likely to obtain high rankings for them with your
new website. You can thus enjoy highly targeted traffic in the
beginning of your campaign and eventually target more
competitive and popular phrases as your site gains traction,
quality inbound links, and a reputation for usefulness.

Make Your Site a Resource

A quality search engine optimization company will encourage you
to turn your new site into an industry resource. You can do this
by providing educational content about your industry in the form
of articles, whitepapers, and other forms of non-biased content.
There are many benefits to this approach, one of the primary
being that such content attracts inbound links without any
effort on your behalf. In addition, such a resource area builds
your credibility in the eyes of your potential customers and
serves to educate them in all stages of the buying cycle, so
that when they are ready to make a purchase, you will likely be
first in mind.

Build Links

While making your new site a useful resource is a great way to
attract inbound links, this does not mean that you shouldn't
also be seeking them out. Your search engine optimization
company should get your site included in many general
directories (such as the Yahoo directory and Business.com) but,
even more importantly, in directories that are specific to your
industry. Not only do these links help to boost your search
engine rankings over time, but they are also a quality source of
targeted traffic.

Keep Your Content Fresh

A search engine spider will revisit your site frequently if your
content continues to increase and evolve frequently. A site that
has been optimized for three years with no changes to its
content will usually not fare as well as a site that has content
which is consistently updated. It's as if the search engine is
saying "Well, this old stuff still looks good, but it certainly
isn't the newest stuff out there about this topic." This
so-called "freshness factor" can have a large impact on
rankings, particularly with new websites.

Although it may seem that achieving search engine success with a
brand new website can be a daunting prospect, it needn't be if
done properly. Hiring a skilled search engine optimization
company is a good first step. There's little use in lamenting
the difficulty before you, or feeling that you have already
fallen too far behind to begin. As an old Chinese proverb
reminds us, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is today."
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Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue, which was recently named
the number one search engine optimization company
(http://www.mediumblue.com/) in the world by PromotionWorld.
Scott has contributed content to many publications including
Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004),
MarketingProfs, ZDNet, Organic Rankings, WebProNews, DarwinMag,
SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue
serves local and national clients, including Boston Scientific,
DS Waters, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
Download Medium Blue's latest exclusive whitepaper
(http://www.mediumblue.com/free-whitepaper.php), "Adding Search
to Your Marketing Mix," for more insight.
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