Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is the science of getting your website to appear close to the top of a list of results in a given search engine (Google et al). The factors that go into this equation are many and complex, but make no mistake, it is a science not an art. How can I help you get your site noticed?
What search engines want
It’s important to start with an understanding of why search engines even exist. Let’s take Google as an example. Did you ever wonder why most Google products are free? Their search, email, data storage, mapping, photo storage, blogging platforms, mobile phone software, and analytics software are mostly totally free. The average Google user has a bill of £0.00 for using all these incredibly powerful tools.
Google make their money mostly, from advertising and business web services. The more people who use the web, the more money Google make (just like the more people who read free magazines, the more money the magazine makes from advertisers). So it’s in Google’s interest to make the internet a useful and easy resource to use.
Your website is part of that plan. The better your site looks and operates, the more people will find it useful and therefore the more likely Google is to want to link to it.
It starts with the structure
There are two main types of optimisations that you need to make for good SEO; onsite and offsite.
Onsite SEO
This means getting the technical layout, page names, “metadata” (the additional data that describes elements of your site), titles, and content fully targeted to your chosen keywords. Onsite SEO makes it easy for users to access the content they want and easy for search engines to find out what your site contains.
Offsite SEO
This is all of the things you can do on the wider web that influence your SEO ranking. Predominantly that means getting good quality links back to your site. “Good quality” means links on reputable sites that have high authority (basically sites that are visited more and are well ranking themselves).
Having a good site structure means that your onsite SEO will be good from the moment you launch your site. This also means you need to build SEO into the planning phase. It’s possible to retroactively do onsite SEO but it may take longer. Getting the processes for onsite SEO setup, so every page and piece of content is correct, is the way to go. Having a site that is well made and professional will also make it easier to get other sites to link to you (thereby helping with offsite SEO).
How I can help
I’ve been building SEO optimised sites for many years. I know what works and what doesn’t. In building your site I make it SEO ready from the ground up. I also work with a set of professional content creators and outreach specialists who can ensure your website gets the SEO it truly deserves.