Organic Search, or search engine optimization (SEO), yields search ranking results without paying the search engine. In this method, search engines draw identified keywords from the existing content to produce search results. It takes longer then sponsored search because the search engine collects the data itself (you aren’t submitting the keywords). The obvious benefit is cost—it’s free to implement; other benefits include greater trust from the user, a bigger pool of clicks (than sponsored), and easy implementation.

It is important to note how keywords for organic search are weighted: not all website content is weighted equally. Once you are able to determine which keywords are most effective to drive the traffic you need, you need to plug them into areas the search engine weighs more heavily. Of course, search engines don’t share their formulas with web developers (for risk of exploitation); however, professionals trained in SEO are familiar with techniques that can greatly enhance your ratings. Greater popularity (amount of traffic) of your site will yield better results. It is possible to track information on popularity using tools such as Alexa (www.alexa.com), which provides information on web traffic to other websites. Web copywriting is important in SEO marketing. Web copywriters ensure well written content along with properly incorporated keywords.

Setting up an organic search campaign requires determining the keywords and properly placing them. Perhaps the biggest maintenance concern, aside from continually updating effective keywords, is making sure to keep updated content.