In a practical sense it is the implementation of keywords and understanding and implementation of several other factors which all contribute to your website ranking at the top of Google for a given search phrase, as mentioned this phrase is ideally one that would be used by your customers.
What is search engine optimisation - and how can i use it?
You would look to use search engine optimisation if you felt that you could generate revenue online or enquiries which would lead to revenue generation online.If this is a scenario that you feel applies to you then SEO is very important, in short - every business needs to take SEO into consideration unless it can rely on other channels of enquiries.
What is search engine optimisation - why should i use it
You might wish to use SEO to connect to the people who want your business services. This may be a product too. People are using Google nearly every day to find the content they need.If you can target a good audience then you have the option to sell them something. This is probably the main reason you should use it. I understand there are also political, educational and emotional factors associated with communicating a message to people about a topic but generally most results are business orientated in some way.
So if you are a business and your customers, who are almost guaranteed to use search engines are searching for something you provide you need to get focused on how you will be targeting those customers by the search engines.
What is search engine optimisation - how much does it cost
SEO doesn't cost anything apart from time. You have a couple of obvious options, spend a lot of your own time potentially getting it right but also potentially getting it wrong or pay for someone else's time who is likely to be getting it right if they have had experience with SEO in the past.So how much does their time cost? Usually if they are good at it their hourly rate won't be cheap but they will probably get you quicker or longer lasting results. You usually get what you pay for.
I think (and this one might be controversial) that good Freelance SEO practitioners don't really exist. Good SEO practitioners tend to know what they are doing and would of had to employ a team of people to help, so when your 'friends uncles brother' wants to do your SEO you might as well buy some flyers instead as it's not likely they will be able to make much of a success of it. That said they might have been so good and made so much money they retired and do want to do you a favour!
So to finally answer the question, SEO should cost what you want it to cost. If you want to make a million pounds a year then you need to invest a good 10k a month now for the next couple of years... Otherwise what you invest will relate to what you make.
What is search engine optimisation - how does it work
SEO works when a web search engine crawls your website and decides where to rank your content within it's indexes based upon the words you use on your page. Indexes are the libraries of results that are stored for search engines to be able to retrieve them nice and quickly when someone types in a search.Optimised content
Therefore to get your website stored in the right indexes you need to be using the right keywords throughout your content so that it will correctly index your site.If you use the keywords too much however your page will look spammy and chances are it won't be indexed, use them too little and your site won't look too relevant to the search phrase so finding that balance is important. This is what is know as keyword density, some people believe that a percentage ratio is the best way to go with this however I think that just by writing naturally you should be using the keyword and I think that this is what the search engines intended for you to do.
Optimised images
It is not just the text that should be optimised on your pages the images are also important. If you want to get rankings you need to think about the images you are using on the page. To do this you need to ensure that the name of the image is relevant to the content, you also need to ensure that the alt text on the image is present and relevant to the keyword you would like to optimise for.Optimised links
It is also important that the links on your website make sense and are relevant to the keywords you are looking to target if you want to target a specific phrase then you need to be specific in the links you use otherwise you look like you are unsure of what you are trying to target and if you are unsure then why should the search engines have more confidence about your content than you do?Further optimisation
There are literally hundreds of 'SEO factors' that people think contribute to good search engine optimisation. This can get really into the realms of techy code and how things relate to one another making pretty much every search engine optimisation scenario different. We have an exhaustive list in-house we use to check each site against and then see what areas can be improved, as we read up on more search engine optimisation techniques if we feel they are valid then we will add it to the list, if we think they don't sound credible then it probably isn't worth the risk of adding them.What is search engine optimisation - can i use blackhat techniques and what will they do
Black hat techniques are called this because they are designed to trick the search engines. This is probably not a wise move unless you only want to make money this year and not for the next 10 years. If you do manage to trick a search engine and make a quick buck on the traffic when they find out your technique and prevent it you may be at high risk due to your new found dependency on that traffic. If you do things the right way the chances are that in the next update your rankings may go up or down and you can react to them accordingly but it is unlikely you will be removed completely as is quite often the case with black hat techniques.What is search engine optimisation - how do i make a start
To make a start with search engine optimisation you need to be aware of the keywords you would like to target. If you don't know what these are then you need to think like one of your customers. If you were looking for a product or service you provided what would you type in? This will help you determine what keywords you will need to be ranking for.However that isn't all you need to think about. You might be at the top for a keyword you have been working on for the past six months and then wonder why you are not getting any new business, unfortunately you forgot to check how many people search for 'accountant in my small town' and the result is no-one, but then in the much larger town next door you have 100's of searches!
You may service that town also but thought because you are based in the other one that that is the one you should target... It is always a good idea to check on the number of people searching on a phrase before you even entertain the idea of optimising for it.
You can then add your keywords to your content on your site based on your research and taking into account some of the previous techniques we mentioned you are then on your way with your optimisation. You may wish to track your results using tools like Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools to get an insight into what is working and what isn't.
What is search engine optimisation - using other marketing channels
It is generally a good idea (I think) to not put all your eggs in one basket. SEO is good and works well but then it is important that this isn't 100% of your marketing efforts. It is a good idea to also focus on social media, email marketing, building your database and even retaining the offline marketing methods that work well for you.If there is anything you feel I have missed then please feel free to comment or if you have any questions you can email me alex@expectbest.co.uk
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