What is search engine optimisation and how do you do it?

You may have heard the term 'search engine optimisation' or SEO, but what does this process actually involve?

Most website designers will tell you that SEO the art of ensuring your website ranks well naturally in search engines without having to resort to paid promotion. If you're considering paying a company to optimise your site, please read this article first so you can make an informed decision.

Website owners want their site to rank well in search engines, as this results in higher volumes of traffic and greater exposure. However there are a lot of websites out there and many are competing for the same niche. Search engine users are an impatient bunch, and most will only look on the first page of search results before either moving on or clicking through to a site. Even if you're as high as number 12 in the rankings for your chosen subject it's unlikely you'll get many visitors – most people will only click through to the highest ranking sites. This leads to massive competition and this lead to the birth of the science / black art of SEO.

To understand SEO you need to know the basics of how search engines dish out the content you're looking for. At first glance it seems quite simple – type what you're looking for into Google and it gives you a list of results, how hard can it be? Well, this is actually an incredibly complex task. There are millions and millions of websites out there and Google can pretty accurately give you exactly what you're looking for from just a few search words.

To do this, it employs some of the top brains in the world and has more computing power than any other entity on the planet. It uses a constantly evolving algorithm which is a closely guarded secret – nobody can tell you exactly how Google does its magic, but certain aspects are now widely publicised. These elements form the basis of SEO.

Google is by far the largest search engine on the web, get to the top of Google and you can pretty much ignore the other search engines (unless you live in one of the few countries which Google doesn't cover).Occasionally, certain highly optimised sites discover a winning formula which boosts them to the top of the Google tree, but this is unlikely to be sustainable as the algorithm is constantly updated to combat tricks and hacks to get to the top.

Before we describe how SEO works in more detail, first let's dispel a few myths about SEO.

Myth 1 – Submitting your site repeatedly to search engines helps your ranking

Nonsense. Most search engines will find and index your site with no prompts needed (even if the feature to submit exists). Repeatedly sending your details in can trigger a spam warning and your site may not get indexed at all. By all means do it once, but leave it at that. Google is very busy and will get to your site in good time, be patient as the process is not instant. A good rule of thumb is to allow up to three months for your site to first appear.

Myth 2 – You can pay to get a guaranteed top placement

Garbage. Google does not take bribes, and never will. Competition is incredibly strong for the top spots and many sites are using the exact same techniques to try and achieve that goal. There is no magic formula and even the Google engineers could not ensure a top place for your site if you paid them a million dollars (but I'm sure they'd give it a good try!).

Myth 3 – Cramming certain key words into your site will boost your position

No. Let's say you're trying to rank highly in search engines for the words 'website design' – some people suggest that repeating these words in their site over and over will help their cause. It's true that Google examines the content of your site to determine relevance, but there is no method to know what frequency these words would need to appear to make the ideal site. If a site appears too optimised for certain words it's likely to be labelled as spam.

Myth 4 – Getting as many sites to link to your site as possible will boost your ranking.

This is partially true, but only if the links are obtained in an honest and relevant way. Google recognises when websites link to other sites, and assumes that an outward bound link is a recommendation. However it's also clever enough to have a good guess about when the link has been gained by underhand methods and will penalise you accordingly. In addition, links need to come from relevant sites – if you're running a site about website design it's absolutely no use getting hundreds of links from websites about cabbage. Sure cabbage is great, but it has nothing to do with the content of your site – relevant links are important.

Enough about what not to do, how do I get my site noticed by the top search engines?

Rule 1: The content of your site is the most important thing.

Websites with great content will rank well. The whole point of Google is to provide relevant, high quality sites to match the search terms – if it keeps providing lists of junk, people will quickly start looking elsewhere. If you are a master of your subject, and you write and present your information well it's almost impossible not to climb the rankings.

Rule 2: Find your niche

Competitions is intense in the digital world. Everyone is trying to make a quick buck by selling adverts or subscriptions on sites about every conceivable topic. Trying to establish a leading site on any major subject is hard going, but if you happen to be an expert on a very specific field you might be on to a winner. A more likely method of finding a niche involves concentrating on very specific key words within a larger topic, as shown in the example below.

Desired search words and chances of a decent Google rank:

'Web design' – not a hope in hell of getting in the top 20
'Web design in Warwickshire' – still a huge amount of competition
'Freelance web design and SEO in Leamington Spa' – much more likely to achieve a top 10 rank

If you concentrate on detailed search terms and ensure the content of your site revolves around these words and phrases without looking over-optimised, you're likely to do well.

Rule 3: Don't go for the quick win

The internet is a sluggish beast and many website owners get sick of waiting for their site to kick off. This is why SEO is so popular at the moment. People have got used to instant fixes and want results fast, however throwing money into SEO may not solve all your problems. Concentrating on high quality content, ethical link building practices and having a clear niche will slowly but surely get your site noticed.

Rule 4: Be ethical

If you're embarking on activities which are purely designed to increase your Google rank quickly in order to make profit it's unlikely you'll get far. Think of building a website more like writing a book than winning at the casino, it takes time, effort and skill to make it work.

Rule 5: Follow website guidelines and best practise

This is where finding a good website designer is key to achieving your goals. They can provide help, advice and can skilfully build your site with SEO in mind.

JG Media can help you throughout this process.