According to comScore, Americans conducted 11.5 billion searches in June 2008, 61.5% of those searches using Google. This is living proof, if we still needed it, that marketers should not only be investing in paid search, they should be optimizing their sites to be picked up in unpaid, organic search results as well. In a recent MarketingProfs article, HubSpot's Mike Volpe provided the following tips to help you harness the power of organic search for your marketing efforts. The key? Freshening up your content:

1. Pick good page titles (each one unique) that include keywords relevant to the target audience. Search engines look at these first to determine what the page is about.
2. Be smart about URLs. Because the URL is how search engines track and manage your company's reputation online, it's best to have your own domain rather than to use a free one.
3. Start a blog. If you run a blog correctly, you are updating content on a frequent basis—and search engines love fresh content. Also, blogs are magnets to links.
4. Leverage your PR program. Make sure there are links that lead back to your Web site in all your press releases, and in online articles written about your company or products.
5. Use social media to build links by contributing to conversations in online communities, groups, blogs and networks where your audience hangs out. But never give a sales pitch.

The Po!nt: It's time to freshen up and go organic! Competitors can outbid you for paid search listings, but by using a few smart tactics like the ones above, you can gain real power over organic results.

Source: MarketingProfs. Click here to learn more.

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