We have come to the conclusion that, for a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy to work, it should include a well-balanced combination of three core elements:

• 20% onsite optimisation; technical tweaks (many web design companies stop at this point);
• 40% ‘link building’, attracting links from other sites to yours;
• 40% on site content.

Get these three areas correct, spend enough budget so that the project is resourced correctly (ongoing SEO usually involves a lot of ‘donkey work’) and your site will start to perform in the organic (free) listings.

We have seen a few briefs that propose search optimisation at any cost. SEO was given cart blanche in many cases, compromising a website’s usability or its chances of reaching it’s ultimate goal such as converting a paid user.

Look at it this way: an over-the-top SEO strategy that dominates a website at the expense of other key site design considerations, like usability, would be just like creating an amazing radio commercial but forgetting to add in the contact details or the company name. The ad reaches loads of new potential customers, but they have no way of acting on it.

SEO does have an important place in the mix, but it must be sympathetically implemented, carefully balancing the key components that relate to a good user experience.

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