Search Engine Optimisation
Articles - Do I really need SEO?
The phrase ‘SEO’ is sometimes looked upon as yet another acronym that we could do without. However, if you choose to understand what SEO actually means, it can make all the difference to your online business.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the practise of making your website function better in the eyes of the search engines. There are of course several different ways in which optimisation can be carried out on a web site and some of these are detailed below:
Structure
The issue over the structure of a web site is a complexity that is best left to website designers as this refers to the uses of <div> tags or the now less popular <table> layouts of older and original web sites, which can be difficult for others to understand and put to proper use.
The use of tables to lay out the structure and allow positioning of specifics like images and text is often frowned upon by designers these days with the majority favouring the cascading style sheet (CSS) approach. The main benefit of the CSS method is a great deal less coding behind the web page itself so the search engines, and also the web browsers, can decode the page content much quicker than with a table layout.
Example Table Layout:
Example CSS based Layout:
Although the above are simple examples it is plain to see that there is much less code for the search engine and browser to trawl through resulting in a more search engine - and ultimately user friendly - web page.
Coding
The coding of the web page is basically the language that the page is written in; usually HTML but many developers use HTML with elements of PHP, ASP and ColdFusion, among others.
The language isn’t so important but how the developer uses it can be crucial. For dynamic content or a behind the scenes content management system (CMS), you would need to use something other than basic HTML as this language is referred to as static; great for simple one page webverts (web based adverts) but not really up to the task of changing content easily. The way to optimise these dynamic languages is best done from the start, but they will need to be amended and kept up-to-date so that they still remain effective as search engines evolve.
There are many processes and tips to follow when optimising the code behind the web page and a lot of the time this is often not taken seriously enough.
Compliance
This is tough one, although it shouldn’t be. The W3C - or World Wide Web consortium - has a strict guide to follow, in order that your web site will behave itself as intended across the widest possible range of web browsers. The trouble with this is: it is still just a guide and there is nothing to stop anyone developing a web site with none of the pages meeting these guidelines. This results in a web presence that may look ok to the developer, but fails or looks different to someone else, perhaps a visitor. These guidelines can be the difference between a visitor enjoying your web site or leaving the site before they become a customer.
Compliance and cross browser compatibility is not restricted to small sites, but for some reason there are many web sites out there from large organisations that look or function differently when you use a different web browser to view them online. This cannot be a good thing so make sure your web site is 100% compliant and cross browser compatible from the initial design through to revamping the layouts etc.
A good SEO consultant will look at this aspect very closely when performing SEO on a web site as there is little point in performing further tasks if this one hasn’t been done properly beforehand.
Content
The content, as you might expect, plays a large part in the Search Engine Optimisation of your web site. The more relevant the content you have on your site, the more the search engines will approve of it. This can be the difference between you and your competitors.
Writing relevant content is nothing new and many think it is simple enough to do, but this of course depends on many things including your own ability. Also, the content has to be relevant to the Meta data in your keywords and content tags embedded in your page, and the content and tags need to match what people are looking for and actually searching for on the search engines. This is where search engine optimisation takes on a whole new perspective and, if handled correctly and consistently, can make the difference on the Search Engine Results Page or SERP for short.
If the SEO is not performed properly then your competitor may out rank you on the returned results for your main products or services, meaning that you could be losing out on many clients.
It is clear to see from the above that Search Engine Optimisation is a time consuming process that requires extensive knowledge and ability along with total dedication to the job at hand. SEO isn’t something you can just pick up. Many of the best SEO companies out there have been doing their job for a long time, each with their own tried and trusted methods of getting the desired results.
So, you still not sure if you need SEO?
Think you may not be able to afford it?
Ask yourself the question; Can you realistically afford not to?
Article written by Andy Watson Wildcat SEO - SEO/SEM Specialist
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