SEO Canada: helping business reach the World

Alphasearch provides a high level of SEO and consulting services to Halifax, Canada and beyond. But, what is SEO? How is AlphaSearch different? And what can it do for me?

Search Engine Optimization: The complex art (and science) of preparing web pages so they improve their position in the search engine results listings.  Also called SEO or website optimization. It pits you against hundreds (thousands?) of potential competitors.  It's a challenging field, whether in the 'trenches' or consulting. May the best search optimizer win.  (We always do!)

Our search engine optimization process includes the following:

Benchmarking
To track your progress we first need to see where you are.  If your website is like most, you'll start somewhere off the edge of the map.  That doesn't bother us one bit - we like the challenge. For example, if you are a Halifax gift basket company, we check to see how you rank in all the major search engines for Halifax gift basket, Halifax corporate gift basket, Halifax fruit gift basket, etc.  If you are aiming at all of Canada as your market, we will focus specifically on Canadian SEO.  If the globe is your market, we look beyond Canada to the world. 

Competitive Research & Analysis
We look at your competitors to see what they're doing online including who is well optimized and who isn't.  We also use this opportunity to get to know more about your business.  Because an important part of optimization involves connecting you with prospects through word matching, the more familiar we can get with the products, services, and language of your industry, the better off we are. Using our 'Halifax gift basket' example, we look to see what other companies show up for these same searches and analyze the reasons for the success of the leaders in the space. In Canada SEO is likely to also reach US-based clients, which means we follow both US and Canadian examples.

Technical Site Analysis
Your site's technical structure including programming elements, page structures, link titling, dynamic content, and other variables, can stop search engines from properly indexing your site - or even stop them from seeing the site altogether.  We use several practiced SEO techniques to analyze your site for these problems including search engine simulators. Because not all search engines are alike, we also check your site out the 'old fashioned' way - we run an experienced eye through the site and the site code.

Keyword Research & Analysis
Search Optimization is partly a matching game.  If most prospects search for "a holiday package" (like they do in England) and your site only says "vacation packages" (like we say in Canada), that majority will never connect with you.  Consider that example multiplied by the several dozen words and hundreds of combinations of words interested searchers might use to find you.  Now you see why keywords and key phrases are vital to the success of your search optimization campaign and why it takes experience and professional software tools to put your site ahead of the rest. 

Content Optimization & Specialty Writing
Content may or may not be king when it comes to having a popular site (though if pressed, we would say that it is).  But for search optimization and marketing, content is King and Queen - everything else plays a supporting role.  This is also where we put that keyword research to work, incorporating the many carefully selected terms and phrases in appropriate balance on your site.  Successfully embedding these terms while maintaining the flow and meaning of your site content is an art - which is why it's done by talented writers.  In many cases it is necessary to create new passages, or even pages, of content to make proper use of the keyword research and produce optimum results. In some cases - the Halifax Gift Basket company Goody Baskets for example, we re-wrote the entire website to emphasize their local location "Halifax" as well as their offerings - and broader targets such as the rest of Canada.

Linking Strategy
Google was the first search engine to consider how many sites link to you as an important measure of your site's value (and value of course adds to rank). If content is the "aim" behind search engine optimization, linking is the "power".  You need both to succeed.  In the years since Google started, it has modified its linking measures in several ways to take account of not just how many links you have but who is linking to you.  Sound complex?  It is. 

Search Engine Submission
Many companies sell on the idea that they submit your site to "hundreds" of search engines, as if that is valuable or difficult. It isn't either.  In fact, four search engines make up over 90% of web searches (Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN) and you don't typically even need to submit to those anymore.  (Remember they're in the business of providing the best results which means they've learned to find you by 'crawling' the web instead of you having to contact them.) In fact, improper submissions or repeated submissions can hurt your site's ranking; no one likes their bell rung too many times or too hard. 

Launch & Maintenance
Once the search optimization is completed and the site is launched it should quickly move up in search ranking, and your site traffic will increase at the same time.  This usually takes from 2-8 weeks, during which we monitor the ranking so that we can identify which key phrases and pages are performing best.  But like everything else on the internet, search ranking is a dynamic phenomenon. The search engines frequently modify their algorithms and new competitors inevitably crop up.  Site maintenance is required to keep you on top, during which we track changes and make modifications as we see your position shift.

Discover what SEO can do for your online marketing strategy.

The tourism industry is one of the most significant benefactors of SEO techniques, and our Canadian tourism industry clients certainly appreciate our methods! From inns, cottages and other accommodations, to harbour cruises, coach and walking tours, people are searching online. See our Tourism and SEO page to find out more.

Edunova is a Nova Scotia organization mandated to recruit students from abroad. They are using SEO to attract more students to study abroad in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Adastra is also using SEO to recruit students from other countries. They have a wider mandate, to attract people to study abroad in Canada.

Ontario Fly-in fishing lodge Nestor falls offers Canadian wilderness fishing adventures to enthusiasts around the world. Our Search Engine Optimization of their site helps them reach a vast marketplace in Canada, the States and elsewhere, simply unaffordable by traditional marketing means.

Halifax movers Maritimemoving.ca is hoping to use SEO to supplant the current website leaders and grab more Halifax-based business in the moving and storage industry.

Please see our partner site at Internet Marketing Canada for more services including search engine optimization (SEO) and website design.

METIAtlantic is using SEO to reach students across Canada for their online WHMIS courses.

Dundee is the premiere Cape Breton golf course. They are using SEO to attract both tourists and locals alike to their beautiful setting.

Smiledog,remote reception services provider, is using the opportunity provided by SEO techniques to reach new clients across North America.

SEO Consulting Services Halifax | Canada.