What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search engine optimisation is the process of ensuring the pages in a website fulfill the needs of the search engines and appear friendly to them so that they list them highly in their results.

People use the Internet to search for information and they type in ‘words', we refer to these as ‘keywords' to find what they're looking for.  For example, they may type in "beauty make-up tips", "laptop battery", "divorce solicitor".

The content of your website needs to be relevant to the products and services you offer, along with the keywords that people are searching for.  You need to choose the specific keywords that your target market would use when searching for you, to base any of your optimisation on.  The correct choice of keywords for your individual site is the most critical part of optimisation.  With the wrong choice of keywords, you might lack visitors or visitors to your site don't find what they're looking and leave quickly. 

If your choice of words for example is, ‘garden landscaping' or ‘pet sitting service', this is what your site needs to specifically be about and the products and services that you offer are relevant so that people are likely to buy.

You need to ensure that when someone types your targeted keywords into the search engines that you're on the first page of results (usually 10).  The higher up you are, the more likely people are to visit your site.  If your site doesn't appear in the top 10 - 30 listings, you're almost invisible to people searching. 

The competition to be in the top listings for the search engines is very high and takes a great deal of skill and hard work to get there.  Search engine optimisation is a great skill and is different to the skills needed to build a website or design one.

Search engines decide what websites to list and where by using algorithms.    These algorithms are complex, vary between search engines, are kept secret, and are continually adjusted and updated.  It's a continuous, challenging task and time consuming.

Optimising your website, if done correctly will get your site listing in the main listings.  These listing are often referred to as the ‘natural' or ‘organic' listings.  Being in these listings means that you don't have to pay Google etc. each time a visitor clicks through to your website.  This is an extremely cost effective way of your potential clients finding you.

Optimisation of your website is necessary if you want a high listing in these search engines.  Just submitting your website to the search engines is not enough to get visitors to your site.  In fact, without search engine optimisation of your site, you would be better to save the money that companies charge to submit your site.

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