Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the science of understanding how Google categorises pages and decides which websites are the best sources of information. Getting SEO right is so important for business because Google is where most people go to find things.
Why websites don’t rank on search
If Google’s algorithms don’t consider a website the best source possible to answer a query, it won’t rank on the first page. Many factors influence where a website appears on Google. These include how the text is written and the on-page SEO. Page ranking will be lower if there are crawl issues, slow load time or no off-page support. Lots of competition from other websites also makes front-page ranking harder.
On the up side your chances of hitting Google’s sweet spot will be greatly improved if you get the SEO right.
External factors in SEO
On-page SEO is not the only important factor. Google also considers whether the page is a useful source of information. This is indicated by the popularity of the page, how many good sites link to it, and the freshness of the content. Bad ranking signals include low traffic, high bounce rate, crawl issues, and spam links.
The alchemy of SEO
At its highest level hitting Google’s sweet spot is really alchemy i.e. it is a blend of art and science. We understand how to make SEO work, and consequently are very good at getting clients to the top of Google. Some of our clients have even asked us to ‘switch it off again’ because they get so overwhelmed by new business! You have to admit, it’s a nice problem to have
Website Optimisation
Website optimisation is the art of making your website findable. That’s not just generally findable (it’s there if you Google it by name), but findable by people who are looking to buy what you are selling but don’t know you yet.
Optimisation includes the way the content is written, and whether it is easy to read, useful, and contains the keywords people are using. The links that are pointing in at your web pages are also important. Good ones boost your SEO, while bad backlinks can get you penalised. It even incorporates the micro detail of the way pictures are labelled and the metadata at the back end.
You would be forgiven for thinking that because website optimisation is so important, that every website would be optimised to the hilt. Sadly this just isn’t the case. Most websites are just digital brochures hanging in space looking pretty (if you are lucky) and not actually doing anything to help clients find you, engage with you or make the decision to buy from you.