What is Search Engine Optimisation?

What is SEO?

It is vital in todays web-savvy world that your website is found when your customers search for your products and services. Search Engine Optimisation is the process and skill of making sure that your website gets listed above your competitors, and that it generates traffic from the search engines to your site.

At eseyo this is our primary skill. We specialise in getting our clients websites consistently on the first page of Google, and importantly we only do this using ethical, “white-hat” techniques. Our SEO Code of Ethics explains how we work.

Why do websites need Search Engine Optimisation?

SEO is a huge part of getting your web strategy right. What is the point of an all-signing, all-dancing website that no-one can ever find? Correctly performed, search optimisation will allow any website to be found when the right audience perform their searches.

Sadly, SEO is also the most commonly neglected area of internet marketing by many agencies and web design firms. It is a very complex “science” that requires lots of experience and training that must be constantly updated. Also, as most business owners are not SEO experts they are frequently fooled into believing that their websites are “search engine friendly” because they do not know any better or know how to check.

Very few sarchers ever go to the second page when performing searches. If they dont find what they want on the first page they search for something new. If your website does not show on this first page then it needs SEO work.

What is involved in SEO?

There are many parts to a successful search engine optimisation campaign, each described in more detail on this website, but in summary:

Keyword Research is the careful selection of the right search phrases to optimise your website for. You’d be surprised how important this foundation piece of work is. Keyword research concerns brainstorming different search suggestions, researching your competitors websites and the careful selection of the right terms to optimise your website for.

On-Page Optimisation is the process of making sure that every page on your website is optimised against a search phrase (or small group of phrases) so that it is displayed when someone searches for these terms. Careful selection of search terms is required (see keyword research), as is a strategy to performing the work on large websites.

Link Building is the time and labour intensive part of the SEO job. Essentially each link generated from another website to yours is a vote of confidence in your website and increases its authority with Google and other search engines. Link building is the process of generating relevant, high quality links to your website.

Social is the final part of the SEO package. Managing your websites brand, presence and personality amongst the many social networks is a time-intensive task. Building a network of useful “friends and followers” is also important and a very useful to expand the reach of your website to new audiences.

When put together these services form the bulk of “The SEO Pyramid”, in which you start at the bottom and then work your way up to the top.

The SEO Pyramid. Source: Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz.

Can I do SEO myself?

There is no reason why parts of the SEO process could and should not be performed by the website/business owners themselves. Infact, at Eseyo we try to work WITH the client as much as possible as these are the best people to understand their products and their audience. Some areas however do require a more detailed knowledge and experience and therefore I would suggest that you seek assistance from a professional (like me!) for at least SOME of your search engine optimisation work.

How long does Search Engine Optimisation take?

Results vary. Different aspects of SEO yield a very fast result (sometimes within just 24 hours) but other aspects can take weeks or even months to show a positive result. This is another “quirk” of the SEO industry – how do you know which changes that you make have a positive effect and which ones dont. A good SEO guru is a master at testing and reporting and should keep accurate logs of all of their activities.

What are the first steps to a successful SEO Strategy?

The first and most important step is to contact us on 01277 849443 or to email info@eseyo.com. We’ll talk you through a sensible plan and help you to begin your project.

We will provide a FREE mini SEO audit of your website and deliver this to you so that you can action its results and recommendations either yourself or by engaging us. To request your FREE SEO Audit please contact us and ask!