To first understand the concept of SEO, it’s best to rewind a little and define what search engines are and what they are trying to achieve. Search Engines, such Google, Bing & Yahoo, are online tools used by to locate information. Users of these websites enter search queries (‘keywords’) related to the information they’re looking for and are presented with a list of relevant results that answer their query.
The key to understanding SEO is the last sentence.
People enter search queries (‘keywords’) related to the information they’re looking for and are presented with a list of relevant results that answer their query.
How do you make your website relevant for SEO?
Well, I like to use an analogy to explain this. Let’s say we wanted to find Australia’s leading SEO expert.
What would be the questions we would ask an individual to deem them as Australia’s leading SEO expert?
- Are you in Australia?
- Do you speak English?
- What can you tell me about Search Engine Optimisation?
- Is this explanation yours or are you repeating something you’ve read or heard?
- How long can you talk about this for?
- Do you cover all aspects of the topic in full?
- Is your explanation coherent?
- How long have you been working in the industry? Weeks, Months, Years?
- Do you have any references?
- Who are these references from?
- How did you earn these references?
- How recent are they?
- Do you have references from anybody else in the industry?
Some of these are more important than others. Namely – what can you tell me about the subject and who vouches for you as an expert (references). If the expert can talk comprehensively and has references from some of the world’s leading search engine optimisation websites, then they’re more likely to be our Australian expert that we’re looking for than a 14 year old spanish girl who has read the wikipedia article and has references from her mother 
Search engines use similar questions in order to determine how ‘relevant’ a website is to a keyword. They also place more weight on some aspects than others.
- Is this an Australian website?
- Is the content written in Australian English?
- Do I understand what is written?
- Does the content explain the subject in full detail?
- How much content is on the site?
- Is this content unique? Have I seen it before?
- How long has this website been online for?
- Does anybody link to this website?
- Who links to this website?
- Are the people who link to this website in the same industry?
- How old are these people?
- Who else do they link to?
- Why are they providing a reference?
You’ll often hear people saying that links are very important to your website to rank, and they are. Links are your references. Content is also very important as it is the solution to most of the questions above as well as being the reason that people would link to you.
How Do Search Engines Make Money?
As with many industries, the money comes from advertising. You’ll notice in search results that parts of the page above and to the right of the search results are ‘sponsored’, that is – the website’s are paying to be displayed in these sections (opposed to the left hand side which is free or ‘organic’). The more people click on these sponsored ads, the more money the search engines make. The more people use the search engines, the more people there are to display to and the more money the search engines make.
To ensure that people continue to use a search engine, they need to ensure that people always find what they are looking for. People don’t use Google to search, they use Google to find and that is why they put some much importance on getting the ‘right’ result that is the most relevant to your query.
Organic vs Paid Search – Pay Per Click (PPC)
Recent studies indicate that users are around four times more like to click on the ‘free’, organic, results rather than the top or right ‘sponsored’ ads which businesses pay to be listed on. So… with four times more people click on the left hand side..and it being free; you can see why its so valuable to achieve high organic rankings and why businesses would hire an SEO Professional to gain sustainable, long term results. The most popular Paid search systems are Google’s AdWords, Microsoft adCentre and Yahoo Search Marketing.
How To Gain High Organic Rankings
To rank highly organically, there are many elements to consider that requires a wide combination of skills. A Good Search Engine Optimisation Expert is highly technical, analytical, logical and articulate. A good website should be the same on the following guidelines:
Site Structure
The structure of the site is perhaps the most important element of Search Engine Optimisation. The site should have elements such as Search Engine Friendly URL’s such as /sony-bravia-tv/, rather than /categoryid=7/. The former indicates to search engines the content of the page. If the site has a lot of pages, these should be broken down into categories and, where suitable, sub-categories.
In addition, each page should utilise elements correctly such as the Page Title, Meta Description, Header Tags, Images & Video…all geared towards your target keywords. This is not a simple task and can take a lot of effort and time to get right. It’s also very easy to get wrong which can have a negative impact such as if the page is ‘Over-optimised’.
Content Optimisation
Search engines crawl text. They can’t appreciate the quality of your product, how well it is known offline, how good your prices or customer service are… you are ranked based on your content and links. All content on the site should be checked against Search Engine Optimisation requirements in that it’s unique, relates well to the target keywords and rewritten if necessary.
Link Building
Link Development is required for any strategy and is also perhaps the most challenging aspect. How do you get links? Who would want to link to you? No matter what your service or product, there will be a way to get links. Link building requires imagination, intuition, strong negotiation skills and persistence. It is the main reason that businesses hire search consultants or in-house staff as it is such a specialised skill that yields fantastic results when completed effectively…and disastrous results when poor implemented.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations! If the above sounds a bit overbearing to take on yourself, get in touch and I’ll be happy to discuss how I can help your business.
