Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Over 75% of online searchers click on the FREE or 'organic' results on the left hand side of the results pages, as opposed to less than 25% clicking on Pay Per Click (PPC) adverts. Optimisation is about achieving top positions on the left, so effort is required to deliver the optimal ROI - and at SEOptimiser that's just what we do.

Is it all about content? Surprisingly it’s not.

In the past, almost 100% of Search Engine Positions were driven by what was ON page (the marketing copy) or IN the website page (hidden tags and code). In fact, many web designers and technicians still believe this to be the case and can even demonstrate an ability to deliver results using these out-dated techniques – but what they can’t demonstrate is an ability to deliver results beyond a certain level of difficulty or competitiveness – so in effect they are holding their clients back by starving sites of much needed traffic volume.

This happens because out of date optimisation techniques and knowledge will only get results for non-competitive keyphrases which aren’t being chased by lots of businesses or, worse still, aren’t even being searched for at all. They will appear to be top for certain keyphrases, when in reality the bulk of traffic is driven by entirely different keywords. This is also a sleight-of-hand technique used by unscrupulous SEO and web-designers to trick clients. They only optimise on easy terms that only look relevant and competitive, but don’t actually drive traffic to the website.

In practice, currently, only 20% or so of a website's performance is impacted by these so-called ONSITE factors, the other 80% of the 'credit' allocated to you by search engine algorithms such as Google are influenced by OFFSITE factors. Optimisation is a combination of skills and techniques applied both onsite and offsite to ensure your content and products are deemed most relevant to appear at the top of the search engines.

It’s essential to do so in the correct way by using allowed techniques rather than disallowed or dubious techniques which can result in websites being penalised so the only way a site gets found is by its URL, not a search term. This effectively equals death online as minimal traffic finds websites so directly. 

In summary, professionally applied optimisation can make the difference between publicising your business on the front page of The Times newspaper - as opposed to appearing on an inside page of the local free-sheet.

SEOptimiser DIY SEO Tips

The following DIY SEO tips are included for reference only - but there is, of course, a lot you can get wrong unintentionally, so it’s always best to seek expert help. 

1. Get your onsite meta tags and descriptions right, don’t spam by including too many keywords (but don't obsess about them - they're only useful at best).
2. Don’t use tricks such as similar font and background colours, hidden text, lots of keywords at the foot of your website.
3. Add a sitemap in the right format – this is NOT the same as a sitemap meant for humans.
4. Get the keyword densities and spellings on each page correct.
5. Add new pages and data regularly in a format that can be easily read by the search engines – so don’t wrap it in script, don’t use long URLs or session IDs. 
6. Don’t overuse Flash as the search engines can’t read most of it and avoid frames if you can. HTML and CSS are preferred.  
7. Spell-checking and W3C compliance adds extra credibility, which always helps.  
8. Consider content syndication – both outbound RSS feeds and inbound RSS / Online PR. 
9. Avoid 'bad neighbourhoods' when linking with other sites.
10. Find an SEO company with the proven ability to meet your needs.