Q. What is search engine optimisation?
Search engine optimisation is the attempt to optimise your web site for maximum visibility on the search engines. The three main areas involved in search engine optimisation are keyword research, page optimisation, and link building.
Q. Why should you consider search engine optimisation?
Having a website is one thing, but how are people going to know that your site exists? There are literally billions of web pages on the internet and the numbers are growing every day. Research suggests that more than 80% percent of people regularly use search engines to find what they are looking for on the internet. In order to get your fair share of traffic, it's important that your site can be found. Search engine optimisation can improve your visibility, so when someone types a search phrase into Google related to your business - your website can be found in the listings. Find out how our optimisation services can help improve your search engine rankings.
See also our article: A Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
Q. Why are keywords so important?
Keywords (or key phrases) are the words that people type into search engines to find the information, products and services they are looking for. You need to determine which are the best keywords for your business and then optimise your web pages to ensure that your site can be found when someone searches for those phrases. Find out how our keyword research service can help you to discover the most important keywords for your business.
See also our article: Keyword Research Essentials
Q. What are the most popular search engines?
The key search engines in order of importance are Google, Bing and Yahoo. Google is of course the global leader and in the UK has nearly 92% of the market. Since August 2010 Yahoo has been powered by Bing, so although the 2 search engines retain their own user interface, Microsoft is the company behind the combined search results. In the UK this accounts for around 7% of the market.
Q. What is the difference between a search engine and a directory?
Search engines use programmes called spiders or bots which continuously traverse the internet going from site to site and link to link. Typically, a search engine spider will find your site through a link on another website. When it arrives at your site it will index your pages for inclusion in it's search results. Web directories typically consist of categories of subjects which visitors can browse or search. Whereas search engines will eventually find your site on their own, you need to submit your site to appear in a directory. Many directories have human editors who evaluate your submission before your site is placed. Some directories are free, while others charge a one off or even an annual fee to include your site. The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) is the best and most well known free directory. Some well known paid directories include: Business.com and the Yahoo! Directory.
Q. What's the importance of link-building?
Link building is recognised as a crucial requirement for search engine optimisation. All the major search engines have different formulas (algorithms) which they use to determine what results to show when someone performs a search on the internet. Among the most important factors are so called "in-bound links" or backlinks. A backlink is a link on another website which points to your site. Search engines interpret these links as a vote of confidence for your website. So a site with lots of backlinks may be deemed more important than a site with no backlinks. However, it's not just the number of links but the quality of those links that really makes the difference. Find out how our link building strategy report can help you succeed with your link building campaign.
See also our article: Link Building Strategies
Q. How do I know if my site is doing well on the search engines?
In order to measure the success of your search engine optimisation efforts you'll need a web statistics or web analytics package. There are many products on the market which can show you a whole range of information about the visitors to your website. For example: How many visitors do you receive each day, week or month? Which pages on your web site are your visitors viewing and which pages are the most popular? What's the geographical location of your visitors? In addition, web analytics packages can also show you which search engines are referring visitors to your site, which keywords they are using, and your position for certain keywords across a whole range of search engines. Click here for more details about our own web analytics and search engine reporting packages.
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