SEO Blog

Search engine optimisation is by definition a series of processes designed to make a website stronger and improve its chances of gaining an improved ranking within SERPs for a range of key terms. When everything is done properly, this is exactly what you should achieve; however, there are a few pitfalls that you need to be aware of.

Whilst SEO is something that all websites need to do, it isn’t looked upon too kindly by the search engines. Their algorithms have become increasingly complex to rid the internet of some of the more damaging SEO techniques (known as black hat SEO) that were so virulent many moons ago. This all means that you have to be really clever and make sure that you are always adhering to the search engines codes and statutes.
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There’s a common misconception that everything in SEO has to be performed within the confines of your own website. In fact, a great deal can be done in the outer peripheries of your site’s sphere to help boost your search engine optimisation efforts.

Link building is done almost exclusively away from your site. Whilst of course it is preferable to attract links organically through providing interesting content, through the pages of your site or blog posts (often referred to as link building), there’s plenty more that you can be done elsewhere.
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When it comes to outsourcing anything, you need to be sure that you’re putting your business in good hands. SEO is something that is quite new to a lot of people; whilst they understand the importance of having a website, many aren’t all that aware of how exactly to market it. As such, there is often a similar level of confusion over just what is required and who to hire.

SEO is one of the most effective ways of marketing a website online. With search engines providing such a wealth of targeted traffic for sites, it’s a logical place for most to begin. Plus, with the way search engine algorithms have evolved to involve a far greater emphasis on quality, SEO is almost like a best practice strategy for development of a site. By getting it right first time, you can really see some benefits.
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As Google post net annual profits of almost $2billion, they have not only shown their own dominance of the online environment, but that search engines today are as strong as they’ve ever been.

The reason that most websites are able to source the vast majority of their traffic is by tapping into this extremely lucrative market. Whilst Google make their profits primarily from selling advertising space on their SERPs - through AdWords - website owners need to get traffic through their site to achieve their goals.

It doesn’t take a massive leap of imagination to determine therefore that your aspirations and those of the search engines actually mirror one another. A search engine needs people to pass through and click on adverts to ensure their income, you need targeted traffic; the more the merrier in both cases.
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A website isn’t a single entity. The moment you start believing that it is, is the moment that you lose sight of how to optimise and improve it.

A website is in fact a wider collective of smaller sites converging under one banner. In order to effectively optimise you need to treat each individual page as a unique entity. Continuity will be maintained through the design and navigation, but ultimately a website will only ever be as good as its weakest page.

Imagine, if you will, visiting a site with a stunning homepage. It has informative content, an exciting design and plenty to entice you in further. However, beyond the homepage the content becomes generic, the navigation is complicated and it is blighted by irregularities.

If you have come through the homepage you might be tempted to give the rest of the site a chance for redemption; however, what if you were to first land on a poorly designed page with little or no structure, would you give it the time of day?
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Sometimes you can become so involved with the creation of your website and developing the SEO that you lose sight of what you are really targeting: the searchers. Whenever you optimise a website you aren’t just optimising aimlessly for the search engines, you are actually targeting the phrases that people are actually looking for.

All keywords and phrases need to be researched; simply assuming that they will be exactly what expect them to be could be leading you vastly astray. Of course nobody knows your business and services better than you do, but that doesn’t mean to say that the searching community is tuned in to the language that you use.
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Your keywords play a pivotal role in the successes and failures of any website. If you choose the wrong terms, you could find yourself hopelessly off the radar in terms of search engine rankings, whilst the right ones could be delivering a steady stream of targeted traffic right throughout your site.

The earlier you are able to define your core keywords, the sooner you will be able to begin your optimisation process. Nothing is more frustrating than writing a whole page of copy, plus Meta targeting one set of keywords and then having to rewrite the lot with another. Over time, changes may occur as your SEO campaign develops, but you don’t want to have to change this too early in the game.
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It’s going to be a big year for the mobile Internet. Whilst it has been growing in momentum over the past decade, now it appears that the technology, range, speed and accessibility have combined to make for a revolution.

For anybody who has used the Internet on a mobile device, you will know that it is quite different. Due to the smaller screen and certain loading limitations (for example many are still unable to open JavaScript) websites don’t appear the same, if in fact they appear at all.
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We all have ambitions to get to the top of Google for the short terms that are searched for most. But in reality these are often highly competitive phrases that will take a concerted effort over a long period of time to get anywhere near the summit.

As Internet marketers are always at pains to clarify, SEO is very much a long-term solution and should certainly not be seen as a quick fix for your traffic woes. With this in mind, short tail phrases ought to be a part of your wider strategy; but if you are to get yourself noticed on the search engines in the reasonably near future, you might want to consider long tail phrases.
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We are all susceptible to the odd typo. They can sneak in when you’re least expecting it and somehow fall under the radar, not helping your text make the impact that you initially intended.

Of course this can have varying degrees of importance. If you make a tiny mistake in a massive bulk of text on a page other than your homepage, it is unlikely to cause any major issues. However, if the frequency and severity of such errors increases, then you could find that you are jeopardising the quality of your pages and their ranking within search engines.
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