Search Engine Optimisation

FIRST UP… SEARCHING

If you’ve ever searched for anything online (let’s face it, it’s hard not to with all the technology we have at our fingertips) you already know more about SEO (or shall I say search engine optimisation) than you think.

You may think of Google or search engines, as just a place to ask your many questions and they somehow magically give you your answer in return. What most of us don’t think about how this happens and why these particular answers are the ones that have been given. I have a hard enough time giving a good restaurant recommendation to people I know, so how does a search engine work out which answer is best?

THE GOOGLE WAY – WITHOUT GETTING TOO TECHNICAL, (HOPEFULLY).

Essentially, Google navigates the web by crawling or following links from page to page and sorting websites by their content and other factors, keeping a record of its findings in an index.

When we type a question into Google, the Google algorithms (programme) look for clues to better understand what you mean and based on those clues pull relevant information from their index. They then use over 200 different factors to work out which answer is best and produce those results in what we know and love as Google. Want to know more this is a fantastic infographic explaining some SEO factors.

INTERESTING STATS ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES:

• Google currently owns 88.1% of the search engine market share.
• More than 80% of internet users use search engines.
• In january 2014 mobile web usage surpassed the desktop.
• Google processes 40,000 search queries per second on average.(You can even watch them live.)
• 75 % of users never view the second page of search results.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE SEARCH ENGINES REALLY?

If people can find your business via search engines and what they are looking for, then you will receive new visitors learning more about your business or venture. If people can’t find your business online then that web traffic and revenue may instead be going to your competitor.

SO WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s organic search results. In other words, the higher ranked or more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will bring to your website.

HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES DO THIS?

Search engines rank sites based off a combination of ranking factors or “signals” such as:

• Content
• HTML Structure (How the website is built)
• Site Architecture
• Links
• Trust
• Social Media
• Meta Information
• Keywords

SEO is about optimising these “signals” to increase their ranking on Search engines.

BENEFITS OF S.E.O

Search is the number one driver of traffic to websites. If search engines are more aware of your website then potential customers are likely to be as well.

• Find new clients and customers
• Bypass competition
• Assist growth
• Increase in traffic
• Open to business 24/7
• More enquiries about your business

BUT HOW DO I/YOU SEO?

We will bring you more on this in the coming posts but in the mean time the best thing you can do for your website is to produce regular quality content that reflects the key areas of your business, focusing on the keywords that you wish your business to be known for.