With millions and millions of websites, and billions and billions of pages all fighting for attention on Google, it’s no wonder you can easily get lost in the noise – no matter how great your site is, or how great your message is.
How to be found on Google episode 1:
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Some people say having a great website that no one can find is like being lost in the desert. We disagree. We say having a great website that no one can find is like being part of a really big city, but you’re stuck on a back street that no one can find.
So if your website is stuck half way down page 1 million and you want to get nearer to page one – and even better, nearer to the top of page one, what can you do?
That’s what this series is going to be about. Just what can you do to improve your chances of being found on the search engines.
That’s where search engine optimisation comes in, or SEO.
With SEO, like with many other digital marketing activities, you need to carefully define what you want to achieve for your website, and then get the right tools together so you can hit your targets. More about these tools later.
Secondly,it’s important to measure the traffic you are sending to your website. And it’s important to stress that we’re not just interested in volume of traffic being driven to your site, but it’s the quality of that traffic that’s far more important. There are free and paid for tools that can let you see how you’re doing so you can make adjustments as and when necessary.
And thirdly, you need some creativity. A little is good, but lots is better. SEO today really does need good quality content that’s going to entertain, tell a story, be passed around, be linked to and so on.
Your content needs to be found by the search engines and there’s far more than just text that users are looking for when they search. Images, videos, maps, blogs, comments, posts can all get you in front of your prospects as they use the search engines.
The difference between organic search and paid search
There’s a key difference between paid and organic search, and it’s important to know the difference between the two. Open up your browser and go to Google. Type in any search term you like, for example ‘garden furniture wirral’ and then click ‘search’. When you see the results, all of those listings you see at the very top against a beige are labelled ‘sponsored links’. And there are more down the right hand column. These have all been paid for by advertisers, and Google charges them a fee every time someone clicks.
All of the other links are not paid for. These are known as organic results, and this is what people who are interested in SEO concentrate on. They get the most clicks, and no matter how many people click on these links, Google doesn’t charge.
Getting to the top of the organic listings, especially in a competitive niche isn’t easy and staying there can be very difficult. Today the number one result for that term is a client of ours, but as there are many variables, and competitors can pull some surprising tricks – not all playing by Googles rules – things can and do change.
But with good, unique (this is very important) content and properly built web pages, quality links pointing to your website from other websites and content that’s updated regularly, your chances of getting a good position on Google are improved.
Beware anyone who claims or guarantees a number one position, that’s an impossible promise to make. All that ethical SEO can guarantee you is an improved chance.
Now SEO usually covers what you do on your websites pages, and once you’ve optimised your pages, you need to look at the various ways you can bring people in. There are many ways you can do this. For example you can have links from other sites that are relevant, links from articles, you can have links from social websites like Facebook and Twitter. These all come from elsewhere, off-site and the process is often referred to as Search Engine Marketing or SEM.
Practicing SEO and SEM can help to get you to a good place on the search engines.
We’ll go into the nitty grity of Search Engine Optimisation next time. In the meantime, if there’s any help you need with SEO, you can contact us via our website.
Roodee is a web design company based in Chester, UK. You can find us at www.roodee.co.uk.
Advice, Audio, Search Engines, Video
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