Search Engine Optimisation
The Engines Have It...
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an essential element of strong web site design and traffic generation. SEO is not a single one-off event, it is a process which we firmly believe should start at the web design stage.
The biggest driver for doing SEO for any web site owner is website traffic. If you're a web site owner and you're reading this you'll know that targeted quality website traffic is the name of the game.
No traffic = no customers = no sales.
Search Engine Optimisation is all about focusing on important factors that influence how each page of a site is viewed by search engines. For new sites we do this as a standard part of the web design and build process.
Learn From The Competition
For existing sites we use a blend of assessing how a given page stacks up against the factors we know matter and how the same page compares against the most important competing sites, for the same factors. This approach works because it gives our customers choices when it comes to where to invest in improving their sites performance. In short, you only need to beat the current top performing sites and they may simply be the best of a bad bunch.
A Moving Target
It's also important to keep in mind that search engines regularly change the algorithms they use to decide in what order to show web site pages for specific search terms. This fact means that a web page may rank on the first page on one day and then be relegated to page three the next. This has and will continue to happen, which is why SEO focus should never only be on the front page of a web site. It's also why web site owners need to establish flows of traffic that are not just from search engines, and this is where our broader website optimisation services come in handy.
The Basics
If we boil Search Engine Optimisation down to the basics it involves understanding three things:
- What are people looking for - Keyword Research
- What does the competitive landscape look like for target search phrases - SERP Page One Analysis
- What actions are needed to get placed on SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) Page one
On-Page and Off-Page Factors
In the world of SEO you will hear the terms on-page and off-page factors banded around. These are not jargon terms and they are important but putting them simply, there are things you can easily and readily do to a website page that will address SEO deficiencies. There are also things that are not directly related to your web site content which affect how the search engines regard your web pages. The single most important off-page factor is inbound links and this is why Link Building is essential if you want to break on to and stay on page one for specific search terms.
Measuring Results
Putting in place an SEO action plan requires you do know what you are aiming to achieve. In order to keep on track you must measure how you are doing. Fortunately this is made possible through services like Google Analytics which allow you to see where you're starting from and what progress you're making.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help you establish a healthy flow of online prospects.
