Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation is a method which improves the visibility of a website within the results pages of free search tools such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and so on. SEO is not a substitute for a good marketing strategy, or a replacement for your copywriters. On the contrary, it should be part of your overall marketing strategy and action plan. Any good SEO company will recognise its strengths and therefore should be willing to work hand-in-hand with copywriters.

Search Engines use a technology known as ‘spiders’ to seek out websites, making a record of the content and then using a complex algorithm to judge whether or not the content of the website is relevant to the search phrase requested by a web user.

Each search engine uses a different algorithm, putting different emphasis and weighting on design factors, content and usability, together with a range of qualitative and quantitative measurement matrices

Objective

Many advertisements, spam emails and website blogs claim that they can magically put your website on the first page of search engines, but sadly this is not the case. No-one can guarantee your position on a search page. Even Google and Yahoo will quite rightly warn you to be wary of this type of claim.

The objective of any worthwhile SEO campaign should be to ‘drive more relevant traffic to your website’. This is the only objective that should be used to measure the success or failure of an optimisation campaign.

Outcomes

The term ‘more relevant traffic’ should be defined as traffic which will result in an increased number of ‘successful outcomes’ or ‘desired actions’ within a website.

Not all websites are revenue-generating. Therefore, depending on your business, the ‘outcomes’ will vary and can be determined as different sets of ‘desired actions’. For example, registration of new subscribers to your newsletter, enquiry forms being completed, orders being taken, online quotations, online bookings, downloading of software (free trial, free-to-use or chargeable), downloading of a document and so on.

Relevant Traffic

Driving more ‘relevant’ traffic to your site can only be done by clear understanding of market segmentation, your target market, user behaviour, search engine requirements and search engine behaviour. An effective SEO campaign will help you to identify and analyse these areas, to judge whether your traffic and content are relevant and then to take appropriate action.

We offer various packages to suit your needs and budget.

What SEO cannot do for you!

Having embarked on an SEO campaign, it would be misleading to think that your marketing is now done for you! SEO will not provide you with good sales people, products, branding, customer loyalty, repeat business or reputation, or a myriad of other elements that make a business successful.

The other point to note is that SEO does not compensate for a badly coded website, with difficult-to-navigate pages, hidden information that nobody can find, poor aesthetics, inappropriate presentation or a sub-standard hosting service.

Search Engine Optimisation is not a magic wand that will cure all, but if used appropriately and combined with the correct marketing mix, a good product or service and excellent customer support it can make you the market leader.

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