The Art of SEO, 2nd Edition

SEO for Raw Traffic

Optimizing for search engines and creating keyword-targeted content helps a site rank for key search terms, which typically leads to direct traffic and referring links as more and more people find, use, and enjoy what you’ve produced. Thousands of sites on the Web leverage this traffic to serve advertising, directly monetizing the traffic sent from the engines. From banner ads to contextual services such as Google’s AdSense to affiliate programs and beyond, online advertising spending has become a massive industry. Its value is projected to reach $35.4 billion in the US alone in 2012, with local online advertising comprising $8.9 billion of that total (http://dmnews.com/online-ad-spend-to-double-by-2012-jupiterresearch/article/95951/).

Here are some factors to think about when considering SEO for raw traffic:

When to employ SEO for raw traffic

Use it when you can monetize traffic without actions or financial transactions taking place on your site (usually through advertising).

Keyword targeting

Keyword targeting in this scenario can be very broad. The goal here isn’t typically to select specific keywords, but rather to create lots of high-quality content that naturally targets interesting/searched-for terms. Instead of singular optimization on specific terms, the focus is on accessibility and best practices throughout the site to earn traffic through both high-volume and long-tail queries (for more on what the long tail is, see Chapter 5). Concentrate efforts on great ...