Since we launched our new and improved website back in August, our popularity has increased amongst the search engines on the Internet! Yahoo, Google, Ask.com are just some examples of popular search engines. What search engines do you trust or use the most?

The Bureau worked with Simpson Square to develop our interactive, user-friendly and easy-to-navigate website.  There are certain keywords that are plugged into our website and you’ll see most of our site contains the words Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, New York, group tours, convention and meetings. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The more keywords we have the better the search engines can find and rank the Bureau’s website amongst other sites that feature Saratoga. It’s a contest to see whose website can be ranked #1! We use Google Analytics create reports on our website’s statistics such as top search phrases, number of visitors, hits, page views and so on.

Test it out and see where your website ranks! What were your keywords? What websites do you go to when searching Saratoga tourism, meetings and conventions?

Example:  I went to Google.com and typed in “Saratoga, New York” and the Bureau’s website came up #

So, even though SEO sounds boring, it is a necessary tool when developing and maintaining a website. It is a constant effort to make sure your website is being seen by the most people and ranks the closest to that #1 spot on a search engine.

That’s it for now—I will be back with another topic related to social media, technology and the Internet, or cool tech gadgets that make your life easier!

Angela LaTerra, Sales and Communications Coordinator