Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the name given to collection of processess carried out in an attempt to make a web site rank higher in the search engines for a given set of keywords. For example, if you have a cycle shop in Stoke On Trent you would probably want to rank highly for the phrase ‘Stoke On Trent Bike Shop’.
You might also want to rank for terms like ‘Raleigh Bikes’ or ‘Mountain Bikes’.
So how do I get to No.1 on Google?
Briefly, Google uses complexed techniques to read, index (analysing and categorising) and rank(putting in order of relevance to the typed in keyword) web pages.
Consider that there are billions of web pages on the internet, and Google has to crawl and index all of them, serving up the most relevant so search users. SEO is about making that task as easy as possible for Google. So by understanding how Google decides who is No 1, you can do those things.. right?
You guessed it – it’s not as simple as that. Unfortunately Google uses many, many factors in deciding what page is on top for which keyword. And some of those factors involve things apparently outside of your immediate control – like the age of your web site and the number of trusted, established web sites that link to yours. Indeed, it changes the weighting of these factors from time to time – sometimes dropping them altogether or thinking up new ones.
On the whole, however, these factors are well known – but the weighting of them is not.
If you are intensley impatient and an ‘I want it now!’ type of person Google will happily sell you a place on the right side of the results page for any keyword you want. These links are known as sponsored listings or PPC. Be warned that this method of getting your site listed can get very expensive!
You may also be familiar with the term ‘Black Hat SEO’. Typically Black Hat SEO’s use dirty techniques to trick Google into listing your web site. The rankings may appear quicker than ‘White hat’ methods but Google will eventually catch up with you and your site will run the risk of being banned from the listings.
Here are some Basic SEO techniques
Keyword research. Every SEO campaign has to start with knowing what keywords you will be optimising your web site for. What terms – and in what order – do you want to rank for? How often are they used by searchers and how much competition is there for each of them? You can use this keyword tool from Google to get approximate volumes for keywords.
Link building. Google highly weights the number of links to your web site from other sites that it trusts. The more closely related and the more ‘trusted’ (Wikipedia and the BBC are very trusted) the better. You can see how many links Google thinks you have if you use something called Google Webmasters Tools. See our recent ‘link building’ blog post for more details.
Keyword rich content. Google is simple in one way – people type in keywords to Google and Google attempts to give them a relevant list of search results. So it makes sense to use your keywords in the content you use on your web pages.
Structure of your web site. Help Google find all the pages on your web site. Avoid the use of Flash or Javascript navigation, make URLs human readble and include keywords (try to avoid URLs that use IDs or numbers. Create and submit XML sitemaps to Google to make it aware of all the pages on your site.
Keep content fresh and up to date. Google likes to find new, unique content.
With any SEO process there are some items that will need fixing once and won’t need any further attention, where as other areas will require steady, consistant efforts throughout the life of the web site.
These basic techniques will help you to get started with the optimisation of your web pages.
If you are based in the UK, why not contact eSoftware Solutions, a UK SEO Company, to discuss your requirements.
