Still Playing Hide and Seek?

Remember all the times you played hide and seek when you were a kid? Sometimes the rules changed to create variations of the game (also referred to as Hide and Go Seek) but the main objective was the same. Someone was designated as being “it”, the person who had to hide their eyes and count out loud. Everyone else then scurried to find the best hiding places and waited for “it” to come find them. In some cases there was a home base, and reaching it without being tagged made you safe, but the way we usually played was you could only win if you found everyone - or if you were hiding you won when “it” gave up on finding you.

The worst part about the game was that it wasn’t that much fun to win if you were hiding. As you crouched behind the bushes you’d sometimes see or hear “it” looking for you and the other hiders, but if “it” couldn’t find you, you’d start to get a little bored. Maybe you’d whistle or yell to make things a little more interesting, but often times the person looking for you was no Sherlock Holmes and eventually you’d just come out in the open to end the agony.

Search marketing is a little bit like hide and seek. You put a lot of time and effort into building, updating and maintaining your company’s online presence and then you sit back and wait for customers to find you. While you aren’t really trying to hide from them, after a while it isn’t much fun if you are not found. You know people are searching the Internet, looking for the products and services your company offers. But often times if  they don’t know your company name or your website address, they just can’t  find you and they end up on a competitor’s site.

After a while, it’s not much fun for you when your potential customers seem to find everyone else but you. You try to whistle or yell a little to promote your company online, but nothing seems to grab their attention. And do you remember when you were “it” how you improved your chances of finding everyone else? In some cases, you might have accidentally on purpose snuck a peek as everyone ran to their hiding spots. Unfortunately it was usually too dark outside or there were too many hiders and good hiding spots, and your quick peek didn’t do you much good.

The search engines do something similar. They sneak in and take a peek at your website, hoping to uncover the clues that will bring your hidden website into the light where they can display your pages and URL’s in their search results. Unfortunately most websites do a really good job of hiding. They don’t have unique page titles, original content, good site architecture, or links from other websites. Unknowingly, these sites have found the best hiding spots.

But just like playing hide and seek, hiding for too long gets lonely. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising can fix that problem. When you are ready to help them find you, these forms of online marketing are a great place to start. Now, are you ready to come out from behind that tree?