Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
When someone searches a web index such as Google or Yahoo you'd like your website to come out top of the list, wouldn't you? But where are you in those pages of search results? And how do you move your site up the list (without paying that is)?
Well, read on and perhaps our introduction to the mystical world of search engine optimisation (seo) might give you a few pointers. So what do we know about all this? Apart from working with our clients in this area, we also developed UK Index - the first UK based search engine - back in the mid 90's so we have had a bit of an insiders look at this too.
Getting started with Search Engine Optimisation
Remember that the person you want to visit your site has meade
several decisions before clicking on your link - they have decided to
look for information; then they have decided to use the World Wide Web;
next they have chosen a particular serach engine and finally they have
decided what words or terms to search on. So they are looking for you -
it is your job to help them find you.
Where you appear in search results is refered to as your "natural search result". You can't expect your web site to top the lists for every search done on the web, but there will be key words and phrases where you would like to be as far up the list as possible. For searches on these words and phrases, the further up the list you are the better, being on the first page very desirable and being first on the list the best. Don't forget it is not just your home page that you have to work with - think of every page on your site as a home page for particlular topics.
So how do I go about doing this?
First of all you have to decide on the key words and phrases which you think it is important to be positively linked with your site. Need some help? Take a look at the tools available on Word Tracker.Once you have done this you need to find out your current position on various search engines to act as a benchmark. As with all marketing, if you don't know where you are starting from, how do you know if your efforts are bringing results?
Now you can start changing your web site and developing your strategy to improve your standing. One further complication is that each search engine has it's own way of indexing and ranking sites, so what works on one might have little or no effect on another. Of course you need to be carfeul that in your enthusiasm to get up the rankings you don't lose the essence of your site, what makes you different - it can be a tricky balancing act.
There are many guides on the web which will help you, but here are a few pointers to get you going:
Content, Content, Content: This is really what it is all about. If the content is not there, there is nothing to index. If the content is not relevant the indexing is meaningless.
The Title Tag: This is a key element and you want to get your key words in here - don't make it too long though.
Meta Tags: The description meta tag is important, but keep it under 240 characters. The keyword tag is of lesser importance these days - but still worth the effort, just keep it to 5 - 10 words.
What's in a name?: Page names are used in the indexing of your site, so use a page name that has meaning. A home page called index.html is not very meaningful - so give it some thought.
Links In and Links Out: Links to your website are important as they indicate your authority and relevance. Linking out to authorative sites help you by association.
Site Maps: These are very useful in that they give Google a better overview of your website and an idea about how it should crawl through your content.
Instructing the Robots: Help the search engines around your site by using the robot meta tag and robot.txt file. This will help prevent them from indexing conetnt that shouldn't be indexed.
What not to do: While there are many things that you can do to help your site up the rankings, there are some definate no nos! "Unethical" SEO is a thing to avoid.
But which are the most important? Have a look at SEOmoz search ranking factors where they have asked some leading practioners their views.
This sounds like a lot of work. Well, it can be, but there are people to help you if you feel overwhelmed by it all. Depending on who you use this can be expensive. However while the DIY approach may take quite a while to perfect, it is worth remembering however that some SEO's have spent a great deal of time and money researching and testing the algorithms of the multitude of search engines, so positive results might be a lot quicker.