Our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) method
Search Engine Optimising
aka Search Engine Placement
Let’s start this topic by voicing two ideas …
- “Search engines are blind, deaf, mobility impaired users with scripting and plugins turned off.” … from Search Engine Optimisation is the New Black” on the weblog.200ok.com.au site.
- Google (and maybe the other engines) are looking for sites that are net providers of information. (This is our statement but the idea is expressed at any number of places on the web.)
This sets the scene for how we go about optimising a web page.
If you want the checklist of how to optimise your pages, here is the generally accepted bullet pointed list. Opinions may vary about the sequence, some SEO experts may add or substract a couple more points, but most will agree you will be rewarded for implementing these points. None of these points will prevent you achieving your goal of search engine success.
- Ensure all html is valid
- Develop meaningful content and add to it over time
- Understand your keywords and ensure they are appropriately integrated into your content. Don’t forget to include secondary keywords.
- Focus keywords in title and header tags (highest priority in h1, next in h2, etc)
- Provide a means for the search engines to find every page on your site (e.g. simple navigation & site map), keeping pages no further than 2 directories deeper than the primary page
- Add outbound links to reputable sites that validate and / or supplement the information on your pages
- Obtain inbound links from reputable sites, preferably sites that provide information in support of the
content on your pages - Use the description meta tag to provide a meaningful description for display on search results (not all engines use this tag for display, but a good site description is good value)
- Avoid impediments to search engines reading all your content – frames, reliance on script based navigation, ugly urls (often associated with CMS),
- Be patient. It always takes time to achieve results. Search engines have to find you, index your pages and assess your content in terms of their algorithms. Google may delay placement of new domains for an extended period of time. This is sometimes called the “sandbox filter”.
- Register your domain name for 2 or more years not just 1 year. This supports the idea you are in it for the long haul.
Someone is bound to ask why are we making this information available freely rather than keeping it private until you hire us. There are a number of reasons:
- To demonstrate we know what we’re talking about
- All of this information is already published in any number of places on the web
- Some of the ideas are only a starting point (for example, how will you acquire quality inbound links?)
- There is a difference between knowing the steps conceptually and understanding them practically
If you would like help incorporating these ideas into your website, or perhaps some of the terminology is new for you and difficult to come to grips with. Either way please contact us, and we’ll do our best to help you understand and implement these ideas.