Search Engine Optimisation
The Targets: SEO Keywords
SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimisation" - when sites have enough quality content, they are 'found' by search engines much more readily and will creep up quietly and quickly so that they appear at the top of internet searches on such sites as Google. Some people think that SEO optimisation is just a case of peppering your text with key words but this can be a fairly dangerous path! Search engines are increasingly sophisticated at spotting sub standard text and 'spam' content which can result in your site being switched off suddenly - a tragic situation if you are depending on the business and this is a difficult and lengthy process to reverse. It could take months to convince the authorities that you are not a spammer, but a legitimate site.
SEO is a Comprehensive Process
SEO is not just a matter of cutting and pasting and changing a few words here and there. It can be time consuming and it requires a high level of language skill, patience and research to get right. But initially, we have a discussion with you about what you want to achieve and begin homing in on your target audience and what they are looking for on the internet. Therefore, we always start with a keyword analysis for your site. We search for keywords related to your business and generally come up with 50 - 100 different options, with details and statistics about how many times people search for those keywords. We discuss those keywords with you and aim to narrow the options down to the most important 10 - 20 which will form the basis for further work. Once we know which keywords to target, we will analyse the current site to find out which pages to optimise. Not all keywords will fit the home page. By default, we search for keywords in Google UK - but we can research Google in other countries if necessary.
Competitor Analysis
Once we know where we want to be in relation to the search engines, we will compare the current site with the sites that are there already: especially the current Number One. We don't need a like-for-like match, but comparing their data with your present site is helpful to our team and we will then know what needs to be done in order to get the results.
Occasionally, we may need to revise the targets if the competition is too strong; for example, we once came across a site that had a million links pointing to it. Other sites are also busy trying to attract new visitors with campaigns and other strategies, so competing sites will go up or down too, in the long or short term, depending on the activity.
On-Site Optimisation
Starting with the list of keywords and pages, we will start optimising each of these pages with keyword phrases. This involves a detailed analysis of things like headers, content, alt-text and other details. We run through a checklist, improving details and adding content as we go along, until the scans we run give us the A star rating. After that, the only thing left is off-site optimisation and occasional tweaks to keep content current.
Off-Site Optimisation
Off-site optimisation involves vital factors for optimisation which are not on the site itself. A lot of the off-site optimisation is about getting and maintaining links, but that is by no means the whole story. The end result is about improving the overall importance of the site and our steady and measured process ensures that all bases are covered in a professional manner. Our expertise includes supporting and/or managing social media campaigns*.
In order to help people improve searches for their website, we recommend they have an active Facebook account for their business and here, also, we can help you set this up and help with content.
If run correctly, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media can generate more clients or maintain a relationship with existing clients with relatively little effort.
SEO Monitoring
We actively monitor the progress and ongoing ranking targets. Some sites are checked weekly and some monthly. We receive a weekly update for sites we are still working on which have not yet achieved the targets. Other sites are monitored on a monthly basis.
Either way, our SEO team pays close attention to these updates. We will instantly see which sites have gone up and which have gone down in the rankings. We act when required to bring the dropped sites back up.
Optimisation is a very important part of what we do; we take it very seriously and keep abreast of the latest developments in the search engines. Over the years, we have become pro-active rather than reactive to the development with the result that your site will stay ahead of the competition.
SEO for Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing has become a very important part of the overall SEO strategy because Google ranks sites with active media campaigns much more highly than they used to. Our team can help you with your Facebook page and other social media marketing queries you may have.