A Quick Guide to Search Engine Optimisation

How to look good in Google

What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

In a nutshell SEO is a term coined to describe any activity that will help improve your websites positioning in search engines such as Google.

The way that search engines work is simple – a search engine will rank your websites pages by comparing it to the ‘keyword(s)’ in a user defined search.

The way that search engines rank your site is constantly evolving – the actual algorithms themselves are closely guarded secrets. This makes the technical aspects of SEO quite fluid.

In summary SEO can be defined as…

The process of achieving the highest possible position in a search engine for given search terms and keywords.

How do we go about it?

Here at emediates there are some things that we do to every site that gives it a good start when considering search engines and performance.

Keywords – we will discuss keywords and there relevance a website with the client. During discussion we will draw up a lit of around 25 keywords that we feel will have the best impact on search engine performance and add these into the metadata code hidden on every page of a website.

Semantic content – all of our websites are coded to the basic industry standards which search engines like. Semantic content is the process of marking website content in the order in which it is most important and also ensuring that the search engines have all the information that they need. Titles should be marked as titles, links marked with suitable description tags and images properly described with alternative content. This all takes place in the actually code of a website and is therefore hidden from view.

Page titles – each page is given a suitable and concise title. These titles are the text that shows up in the very top of your browser window. Coupled with keywords, this is a powerful way to describe your website to a search engine.

Meta description – all of the pages will also have an additional hidden description. Like the keywords this will be added into the code of every page and can be read by search engines and will help determine a websites ranking.

Submissions – on launch of a website we will ‘submit’ the URL to all of the major search engines. All this means is that the search engines will have a record of that URL and can then use this submission to start the process of indexing and ranking a website.

Other things we can do!

As well as the things that we do as part of every development there are other things that we can do in order to increase a sites ranking with search engines.

Each of these items will incur a cost and should be discussed thoroughly before any work is undertaken.

Friendly URLs – in a nutshell this is the process of making all of the links on a website appear in a format that can be understood by users.

For example, a link on a website may appear like this… http://www.emediates.co.uk?loc=casetudies&id=1&type=nm

In this example this makes sense to the code behind a website but very little sense to the average user.

If we were to change this to a friendly URL it may look something like this…
http://www.emediates.co.uk/case-studies/new-media/client/1

Not only can this be used by the code behind a website but it can also be ‘read’ by a human user and make some sense.

Pay-per-click – another way of increasing the number of hits to a website is to invest in a pay-per-click campaign. While it is important to note that pay-per-click works best with a site that is already performing well in the search engines it can help raise your profile and in turn boost page ranking. Pay-per-click campaigns are easy to set up BUT must be linked closely to the keywords and page titles that a website is already using.

Site maps – Google is currently allowing webmasters the opportunity to submit documentation mapping a website. This allows them to index sites more efficiently and will go some way to improving a websites page rankings.

Directory listings – debate seems to rage about the relevance of directory listings, the practice of submitting website links to third party sites like ‘bestoftheweb’ etc. Over time emediates have found that this is a good idea for the simple fact that it does increase traffic to a website and therefore will help increase visibility and rankings.

Blogs and Micro blogs – if it is relevant we can set up a blog for your website and a Twitter account or similar. Blogs and micro blogs are another way of getting your site noticed and building links to your content. Content for blogs can be directly or indirectly related to your site. As long as there are plenty of links then the overall objective will be achieved.
emediates are prepared to write blogs for clients or guide clients on the use of existing blogs to promote their website,

Timelines…

Typically a website will take 6-9 months to be properly indexed in Google.

When a website is first submitted to Google it is placed in something called a ‘sandbox’ which is basically quarantine until Google has had time to assess and rank a website properly. Only when this process is complete will a true reflection of the website performance be visible. Please note that during this period the website will still be found in search engines but usually for more specific matches like URL or distinct product names etc.

There is NO quick fix with ‘Search Engine Optimisation’, it is a matter of time and patience. During the first year of a websites life SEO is crucial to ensuring that a site comes out of the Google sandbox in the strongest possible position. After the first 12 months SEO can help a website climb the rankings and maintain a high position.

Guarantees!

With SEO there aren’t any fixed assurances that we can give. The key to good SEO is constant monitoring and reporting. At emediates we sit down with our clients and set clear objectives before starting any SEO campaign. For some clients a goal can be as simple as increasing the number of visitors to their website, other clients may want more completed application forms or for more people to buy their products online. We can help with all of these things BUT a well run SEO campaign take planning, time, patience and commitment.

While these practices are relevant at the time of writing they may change as the requirements of the search engines are updated.