Search Engine Optimisation Solutions

The Internet remains one of the fastest growing forms of media with half of the world’s population now having access to the Internet on a frequent basis and 90% of these people find the websites that they want or need to visit through the use of search engines. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo are now said to drive more than half of online purchases for various products and services and the Internet has become one of the most popular places for people to purchase their goods; however in order for people to purchase products and services from your website you need to ensure that your site is ranked highly in the search engines.

There are now over 21 billion web pages that are fighting for the best search position, which is within the top ten search results, and there are billions of other pages not even listed in any search engines. Because of this it is now accepted that search engine marketing shouldn’t be taken lightly and effective search engine marketing for major brands is a complex affair and it needs to be handled by experienced professionals. These experienced professionals work in the field which is known as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO for short.

Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, is based on customer service, technical know how and marketplace research. It is the process of improving the volume and quantity of traffic to a web site using aspects such as:

• Keyword analysis
• Doing a competitor analysis
• Undertaking on-page optimisation
• Performing deep site optimisation
• Producing valuable link building
• Coming up with solutions for non-search engine compatible sites
• Finding solutions for catalogue sites
• Fast, manual search engine submission
• Optimisation for a website, which has undergone a re-brand
• Monthly position reporting demonstrating where a website appears in search engines for various keywords

Search Engine Optimisation involves a lot more than most people realise such as it involves sorting out a sites coding, presentation and structure as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site. Usually the earlier a site it presented into search results or the higher it ranks the more people will visit your site. In order to help this SEO can target a lot of different searches including images and industry-specific vertical search engines. SEO can be approached in many ways, but the latest trend is Performance Based SEO.

There are two forms of SEO that have been undertaken; however only one of them is worth pursuing. The two forms are white and black hat. White hat is the form of SEO that you should be following if you want your website to be a success within the search engines. White hat SEO produces results that last a long time. This is not just through following guidelines but also through ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see. White hat is generally summed up as creating content for users not just for search engines.

Black hat SEO however involves techniques that are used to get higher search rankings in an unethical manner and will only provide short term high rankings. Black hat SEO uses aspects such as keyword stuffing, which is when a site contains long lists of keywords and nothing else. Invisible text is another thing that black hat SEO is known for, which is when lists of keywords are placed on a site in a white text on a white background or black text on a black background etc.

If you want natural SEO results that will get you ranked in the search engines for a long term time period then you need to enlist the help of white hat SEO techniques.

Helen is the web master of Search Solutions, specialists in all aspects of White Hat Search Engine Optimisation.