Search Engine Optimisation Introduction

SEO Introduction

Search Engine Optimisation can be defined as the combined use of Keyword Research, well-written Optimised Content, clean website code and well thought out site structure to move a particular web page as close to the number one spot on a search engine for your keywords.

This may seem rather complicated but what it essentially means is this. If you create a website which has original content, that is of interest to people, is easy to navigate, does not confuse the visitor and is built with a few basic principles of Search Engine Optimisation in mind, for each and every page of your website, then your website can compete with your competitors for that number one position.

Keyword Research

Keyword analysis for your website is critical and should be considered as the most important. Keywords are what you type in the search bar in a search engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN. The longer the keyword phrase, the more specific the search and the fewer the competition. Each page of your website should be optimised for one of these phrases.

Great Original Content

Your web page content is all that the search engines are looking for, and more importantly, your visitors too. It should be easy to read and of interest. 70% of your visitors will merely scan for headlines, captions and bullet points so having paragraph after paragraph of content just to fill up the white space may just drive your visitors away. Try not to write for search engines but rather for the people who count, your potential customers.

Clean Website Code

Try to ensure your website is built with good, clean html code which allows a search engine to scan it from beginning to end. Ensure each page contains a relevant and informative Optimised Title Tag and Description Tag which ties in with one Heading 1 tag that is the main title of the page, and several Heading 2/3 tags for the sub-headings. It is good practise to split the page into manageable sections that are easy to read with Effective Web Headlines and bullet points.

Site Structure

Ensure your website is easy to navigate to all your pages and that the visitor always knows where they are within the structure of your site. Don’t create more pages than are necessary to put your message across and ensure any links you have go to a page that actually exists. A small well-structured and search engine optimised web site is better than a large confusing site.

SEO Expert Tip

Over half of your visitors go no further than your home page. This is your main page to Optimise.