SEO - Organic Search Engine Optimisation and Positioning Tips

So you have your site up and running, but is it doing well in the search engines? Here are some tips for organic SEO you may find helpful.

The need for proper SEO or search engine optimisation is a must, and to gain high rankings requires time and patience. There is no ‘quick fix’ to organic search engine rankings.

As the web develops, search engines are constantly refining and developing their search algorithms in an effort to improve search results. They continue to get better at recognising the "true" content of pages and at avoiding "trick" pages designed to fool them. 

SEO Tips for Page Content

For SEO, think about what your site is about and what would people search on to find your site or product.  Good quality keyword rich content is king. Do not stuff your content with keywords as this is classed as spam and could have an affect on your rankings. 

Overall, there is no easy way to permanently increase the traffic to your web site from free search engine listings, other than by actually improving your web site. You can improve the content and navigation of your site to make it more attractive to human visitors, and you can improve the content and structure to make it work better with the search engines.

In SEO circles, the enduring slogan is “content in king”. It has always been the case and always will be.  In the game of cat and mouse between Search Engines and SEO, as soon as SEOs discover a feature that influences the ranking of a site, this feature is misused and abused until it’s usefulness to Search Engines is undermined.  Then the search engines come up with a new idea. We have seen this with Meta tags, and the same is happening with Google’s link analysis (Page Rank).

As time passes, there seems little doubt that Search Engines are getting better at evaluating the content and the popularity of a site.  Remember that you don’t have to be the biggest and most popular site on the Internet to be successful.  You just need a better web site than your competitors.

Search engine management has to be a continuous process. There have been many short-lived claims of "automatic" systems guaranteeing top search engine rankings, but in the long run, manual submissions give the best results.

There are no easy answers and no quick fixes. Firstly, don’t be tempted by email circulars or approaches from Search Engine Optimisers (SEOs). These are people who will offer to boost your traffic without changing your site.  The usual approach is to attract visitors to spoof web pages, on a site they build for you or on their own site, and then the visitors are switched to your web pages when they try to visit the spoof pages.

There are two serious drawbacks to this approach. Firstly, search engines DO NOT like being mislead in this way.  They call it cloaking, and when they discover it, as they will when it starts to work, your site will be banned from their listings.  Secondly, when SEOs arrange your spoof pages in their own “legal” web sites, you end up funding them to attract more visitors to their site when you would get a better return from improving your own web pages.  What’s more, if you fall out with your rogue SEO, it’s not unknown for your traffic to be sold to a competitor.

To get the best from your web site you need to take stock periodically.  This should be done at least annually, more frequently for a very active site. Taking stock could involve the following.

1. Review the aims and objectives of the site as well as its efficiency and effectiveness in meeting them.
2. Check that the structure and content are still relevant and up to date.
3. Check the number of pages listed in the major search engines by typing in site:www.yoursitedomain.co.uk into the search box and a list of pages will appear.
4. Review the page usage. Check that the popularity of different parts of the site is consistent with content provided.
5. Review the successful search phrases. Check that the content is described using the language potential visitors would use in keyword phrases.
6. Check on any phrases that look as though they should be used more frequently. Estimate the frequency actually used on the search engines.  For Google, this can be done via the AdWords pay per click facility, and phrases can best be tested via a complimentary AdWords campaign. If any phrases are identified suggest content changes to address the problem.
7. Due to the “long tail” effect with search phrase usage, when your content and language are in reasonable shape, it’s not likely that a popular phrase will be missing from your web site statistics, but it is possible.  Best to check for further ideas by viewing your competitor sites.
8. Check the backlinks to your site.  Compare with your competitor sites and try to identify new backlinks. Type in link:www.yoursitedomain.co.uk into the search box and a list of links will appear.
9. Compare your site with your competitors’ sites. Check content, navigation, backlinks, page rank and sample rankings.

Review the findings and prioritise a list of recommendations that could be considered to improve the site.

New websites can take up to 9 months to show good rankings so don’t be dismayed if your site isn’t showing for your search phrases in the first few months.

SEO Tips for Link Building

Building links to your site is an ongoing procedure. Don’t be fooled into thinking that Automatic Link Building software that submits your site to millions of websites is a good thing. Google especially likes link building to be done over a period of time and to link to good quality sites. E.g. an electrical contractor website would benefit from electrical foundation, awarding bodies and federation of electrician sites. It’s a time consuming job, but you will gain the rewards in the long run.