Most people use search engines, such as Google and Yahoo,
to find information, products and services on the web. And,
people expect to find what they are looking for (which should
include your website!) in the first few pages..
This listing, or ranking on the search engines and directories
is one of the most important things you do to assist people
to reach your site. It is called organic optimisation, organic
search engine marketing or organic seo. It means doing everything
possible to improve your ranking based on the topic of your
website, choosing the right keywords and developing suitable
and effective key phrases. And it means doing it without
paid advertising or "PPC".
It is not of much benefit to simply submit your website
to the search engines unless your site is correctly optimised
for the keyword phrases that you want to achieve top rankings
on. This includes understanding the different 'algorithms'
used by each of the major search engines which look at different
parts of your site. These might include the title, the meta
tags, the URL, the text, the number of headings in the text,
the text behind the pictures, external links into the site,
a site map etc.
Visitors who reach your site from the search engines are
‘pre-qualified’ that is they have searched for a product
or service, evaluated the search results, and chosen to
click on your site. This can result in great conversion
rates compared to other media.
Search engine optimisation is a medium term strategy which
means making changes to improve your search engine and directory
ranking over time. There are several main steps to achieve
this:
• Ensure your website is focused on your target audience
• Develop your keyword/phrases and your meta tags and description
and do the research.
• Ensure your copy is supportive with great keyword/keyphrase
density. At the same time it's important not to overuse
the keywords as the search engines often regard that as
spamming.
• Link building from relevant and quality sites. And also
use intra-site links which are key word rich - that is links
from one page to another within your own site.
• Site design analysis and optimisation for the search
engines
• Manually submit the site - don't use software. Prepare
a list of quality engines and directories and go for it!
• Monitor and improve your site regularly - monthly or
quarterly. The more fresh content you write, the more often
the search engines will index your site and potentially
increase its ranking. Content drives the search engine process.
• Make sure it's the page which is optimised, not the site.
You probably have several products or services you offer
and trying to optimise any page for everything you offer
will dilute your message and your rank. Keep the focus of
each page as narrow as possible.
• Check your statistics and see where you need to improve.
If you would
like help with your organic search engine optimisation,
give us a call or
complete our enquiry form.
