Surfing the Web

A web site should be designed to be both user- and search-engine friendly. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital if the web site is going to reach its target audience. However, it is incredible how many businesses still spend hundreds, often thousands, on creating a web site, but spend little or nothing on search engine optimisation. Search engine optimisation should be discussed and implemented at every stage of the web site design process from the directory structure and initial page layout to meta tags and keyword phrases. The majority of web designers don't fully understand the latest SEO techniques and therefore shy away from discussing or implemented search engine optimisation. As a result, the vast majority of business web sites attract very few visitors. Search engines send out "robots" to visit your web site and look for specific information which they use to summarise and categorise your web pages.Below is a typical list of what the search engine robots are looking for, however, you should remember that each individual engine has different criteria:

 

  • Title tag - 5-10 words
  • Description tag - 10-20 words
  • Keyword tag - no longer as important as it once was
  • Heading tags - h1 h2 etc
  • Text - ideally around 300-500 words per page
  • Keyword rich text - percentage ratio
  • Internal links - to other pages
  • External Links - to other sites
  • Link Popularity - links to your site
  • Alt tags - again not as important as they used to be
  • No Frames tag - if using Frames
  • Robot text file - spider instructions

Each search engine places a different level of importance on each of these criteria and will rank your pages accordingly. The collective name given to the shifting weight of each criterion is Algorithms. Search engines are consistently changing their algorithms, however, web sites that apply the above criteria well can still hope to achieve high rankings for their selected keywords across a range of major search engines, despite the ever changing algorithms.

The best way to ensure high, long-term rankings is to spend your time and money making your pages as search engine friendly as possible and of course interesting and useful to your target audience.

 

You may also want to check out the Google search engine optmisation guidelines on what to consider when choosing a consultant to optimise your web site.

 

Search Engine Criteria & Algorithms

 

This is where we can help you. Even if you don't have clear objectives or you have not done any keyword research for your website we can help.

 

Initial Search Engine Optimisation Plan

 

  • Review of your objectives
  • Benchmark analysis of your current ranking and visitor traffic.
  • Market and keyword research of your keyword phrases
  • Measure current search engine listings and submit where necessary
  • Directory Submissions to DMOZ, Yahoo!, JoAnt, Gimpsy, Bluefind, Business.com, MSN Small Business Directory
  • Web site readiness assessment and recommendations
  • Internal link structure, navigation analysis and changes
  • Link popularity analysis, and link building with quality relevant links
  • Optimising web pages including SEO copy editing, META tags editing, internal links keyword optimisation

Contact us today for advice on how to start improving the visibility of your web site.