Search engine optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of attempting to improve the position of a website in search engine organic search results. This is important because—as well as your website looking good—you want people to be able to find it quickly and easily.
There are two broad categories of SEO:
- techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design, such as creating quality content for users, and using best practice coding techniques (good)
- techniques that search engines do not approve of which may involve deception or spam indexing (bad)
The former techniques tend to produce more stable results that last a long time, but the latter can result in penalties from search engines such as loss of rankings or even being banned from a search engine’s database altogether. We only provide quality search engine optimisation and warn clients not to engage in deceptive or otherwise bad techniques.
How does SEO work?
For all the jargon and mystery some firms create around search engine optimisation (SEO), it actually comes down to common sense combined with the wisdom of an experienced consultant. The basic factors are:
- have a professionally built website (that means the code is written in a quality, standards based, search engine friendly way)
- have a popular website that lots of other people link to
- write good and relevant content for your website that contains words related to the subject area and words your potential visitors may use when searching
These areas are, of course, related.
What we can do
A search engine strategy will require different time investments for every client. For example, your website might be on a niche topic that requires minimal effort to get ranking #1, or it may be in a highly competitive subject area. Generally, these are the areas that we will look at are your website code, keyword phrases that you are aiming to rank well for, fine-tuning your website copy, sourcing incoming links, and providing ongoing tweaks and adjustments in the months following (any change has a gradual impact so a search engine optimisation strategy should involve ongoing reviews).
What we will not do
There are no guarantees when it comes to search engine rankings and we will not guarantee you a certain result. No one can be sure they will obtain rank #1 in organic search engine results for you. What you pay for is our time, knowledge, experience and consultation, not a specific Google ranking.
What about paid advertising?
So far, on this page, we have only talked about organic search results. This refers to the standard results obtained when using a search engine such as Google.
The other alternative (or perhaps, to complement your organic search rankings) is taking advantage of Google’s Adwords or other similar advertising schemes. These are the ads you may see on the right hand side of a Google search results page, under a heading of ‘Sponsored links’.
Generally, website visitors prefer, and have more trust in, organic search results. However if you have a very specific product, or you are finding it difficult to rank well due to having very generic or popular search terms associated with your website, Google Adwords can be worth a try.
To advertise with Google Adwords, go to adwords.google.com.au, create a Google account (if you don’t already have one) and follow the instructions to create your advertisement. We can assist if required.