SearchEngineOptimisation.com, only one way up

Not one for the purists I know, but these are some common mistakes made by professional optimisers and consultants. Feel free to add to the list:

1. Over Linking – Link building is a core method of search engine optimisation and possibly the most crucial, but Google is too clever to let you go and get 500 high pagerank links, your link profile must appear natural. High authority links are good if they add value to the page where the link to your site is to be situated. If the link appears on a page with tonnes of other external links this will stand out a mile to the crawlers and limit your opportunity for organic success.

2. Keyword Heavy Content – Many people are convinced Google works to a set keyword density, this has always been a guide for keyword repetition and many other factors influence the way Google discovers what your page is about. The best advice is to put yourself in the shoes of a searcher of your target keyword, then write it from what you think they would be looking for and don’t even be concerned with keyword density.

3. Duplicate/Old Content – A good way to find out if your content is still relevant is by searching a complete paragraph in Google, if you rank top then the content and page are being crawled perfect, if you don’t appear the chances are your copy has been duplicated by another site or become stale due to lack of changes. This is the time for a complete rewrite.

4. JavaScript/Flash navigation – The navigation on your website should be considered the spine of the site. Flash navigation, and to some degree JavaScript navigation will stop this from functioning. The web is built around links and this kind of navigation will therefore be road blocking your site. Convert to HTML and the search engines will at least be able to read the pages on your site, even if they don’t rank them.

5. Hosting/Domain Extension Targeting – If your target search engine is specific to a country then this should be reflected in the hosting and domain extension. Google takes a lot of bearing from this information in order to provide the most relevant local results, so a webmaster should do so accordingly.

Hope these go some way to identifying some of your potential ranking problems.

Here at Searchengineoptimisation.com we know the importance of landing pages. Once upon a time it was quite easy to create a strong and solid landing page. All that was required was some good content, a strong keyword and some detailed tags and you were off. The search engines would pick quality sites up fairly easily and the job of driving traffic to your preferred landing pages was done. Nowadays however, the world of online has come on leaps and bounds. Web designers are becoming more creative and clued up, search engines are becoming more sophisticated and the overall result of this is that it is getting harder and harder for websites to create strong landing pages.

Of course, some of the standard advice given from professional SEO services should still stand. After all, there are some tried and tested methods which never change. The main area of concern should be your competition as the quality of landing pages out there now is so exceptional that you really need to be pulling out all the stops to get ahead of the game.

Expanding on your keywords is a good place to start. Traditionally people tended to pick one keyword and repeat this a couple of times on their landing page. Whilst we all know that keyword stuffing is a no-no, online audiences are becoming much more diverse and it is important that website create keywords to match this diversity. Whilst your main keywords are important, incorporating alternative search phrases and even long tail keywords can help from both an audience point of view and a search engine point of view.

Any keywords chosen should be truly relevant to your content. Quality is always much more important than quantity and in the world of keywords this could not be more true. A lot of websites think that having dense keywords will show up as a positive aspect to search engines, however over use of them could be seen as a black hat technique.

Ensure any graphics are loaded properly. Images and videos are fast becoming a popular element of online content and with people searching specifically for these items in their searches they can put you ahead of the game. It is important however, not to let the thing that could differentiate you be your downfall. A slow loading image or broken video link will have the complete opposite effect to effective graphic content, so be sure to make it search friendly.

Lastly, in a world which is cluttered with good content it cannot hurt to steer search engines in the right direction by telling them what elements of your landing page are better. Using inter-page links and anchor text to highlight the most crucial and relevant areas of your landing pages can help search engines pick up on these sections. This is a particularly useful technique used by SEO experts for pages with quite a lot of content, as they provide a kind of synopsis of what the rest of the page, and website, has to offer.

We hear and read so much about optimising our websites and creating effective navigation, yet sometimes we are not focused enough on the actual individual content. When we begin building a website we often look at introducing as many pages as possible, and whilst page quantity is important, page quality is even more crucial. Although it is not always essential in all cases, it is worth spending a little bit more time and effort on your more important and popular web pages, in order to cater for your consumer needs.

The first thing you should consider is what exactly it is that you want to get out of a web page. The easiest way to do this is to think about objectives and identify the key things you want that page in particular to achieve. Whilst to some companies this may sound a little extreme, the power of the page should not be underestimated.

In terms of search engine optimisation techniques, the main thing you need to focus on is your unique selling point. You need to understand what differentiates yourself from your competitors and ensure your pages are tailored towards this. This is particularly important if the sector which you are in is a fairly popular one and there may be other websites which are similar.

Take for example, that your website sells products which are available on other sites too. Each product page needs to be better than your competitors’ pages; otherwise there is nothing to drive people solely to your site. Some information will of course have to be standard, but always try and write your own content and make it as unique as possible. There is a danger of duplicating copy even by accident when you are discussing generic issues, so try to be as creative as you can with the quality of your content.

Page layout should be consistent throughout your website so no matter what element of the business users are looking at, they always know they are on your site. Pages should be easy to read and not over crammed with content. Images are always a pleasant welcome too as they are pleasing to the eye and add an extra dimension to the page.

Each page needs to have its own keywords or phrases to ensure it ranks high within SERPs. A lot of companies make the mistake of having generic keywords for their site but not paying enough attention to detail on the individual pages. The purpose of your search engine optimization strategy is to keep your reputation within search engines positive, so ensure you are using it on a page by page basis and not just your website as a whole. At Searchengingoptimisation.com, we can help you achieve better standings in SERPs.

Usability is probably one of the most important things and a lot of this is reflected in the page loading speed and the navigation. Ensuring that these factors are working as efficiently as possible will make for a more user friendly page and result in perfect web pages for a top quality website.

RSS can seem more complicated than it actually is. Usually referred to as Rich Site Syndication, it is basically a way for users to see a favourite site’s updated content without actually having to access the site itself. This can be a new blog, industry news or anything else that has been refreshed. The RSS feed will be made available to anyone who wants to access it. RSS feeds allow users to keep up to date with their favourite websites by letting them know that there is something new to read. Subscribing to an RSS feed serves a similar function as email newsletters, but without needing to access an inbox or search through spam to find it.

While this is obviously a benefit to internet users, as they can get the information they want without having to scour the web for it, it can be helpful as part of a site’s SEO campaign. If a site updates its content on a regular basis, then subscribers will be made aware of it. This will then ensure that the site stays fresh in their minds, and will make sure they know that the site has plenty of interesting things to say over sites which rarely update.

Also, it can further benefit SEO if a site’s RSS feeds are keyword-rich, as then they may be sent to users who have never accessed the site but are interested in its content. As search engine spiders prefer sites which update content regularly, then RSS feeds with high keyword density (provided it is not spammy) may get that site’s ranking improved. The site’s feed may be featured on another site with a relevant link, which can provide a good amount of backlinks. If a site user wants to subscribe to its RSS feed then they simply need to look for the icon, usually located clearly on the page. If feeds are to be successfully received, then the user needs to install a reader, which can simply be downloaded from various locations. More and more sites are using RSS and they can be a strong component of SEO.

At Searchengineoptimisation.com we are no strangers to choosing a good domain name and it is an exceptionally important part of the search engine optimization process. A lot of information surrounding choosing a domain name states how it is important that domain names are either full of keywords or include one of your strongest keywords. Having said this, depending on the length of your domain name and the nature of your business, there are arguments against including keywords within your domain name and instead stating that the focus of these should be in your title and description tags instead.

The reason we embark on SEO techniques is simply to target search engines. As the likes of Google and Bing are in fact robots and not people, it has previously been fairly easy to understand how they operate. Relevance has always been a firm favourite of search engines, so if your company name resembles the main search phrases used, then the search engine is going to perceive your site as a trusted and reliable source.

A good example of a website domain name for this is the B&Q website. The domain name for this company is actually diy.com, and as this is the main industry they are in, it is likely that a lot of people will use ‘DIY’ as a search keyword. The keyword is relevant and is also part of the domain name, meaning that the search engines instantly give it a high ranking.

All of this of course makes perfect sense, yet there can be instances where this could be a downfall. For starters, search engines are becoming much more advanced and with the introduction of personalised searching, they are becoming less like robots and more like human minds. None of us know exactly what criteria search engines us, and whilst we can have a very good estimate, it is highly unlikely we will understand fully how it works. The other part to this is the fact that search engines change their criteria for ranking on a regular basis, so what they favour one week could be a lot lower priority the next.

The other problem companies face is that the nature of the business could expand and become more diverse. In the case of B&Q, one of their largest revenue streams is now business to business, meaning that rather than them catering for one man in his home, they are supplying the trade with goods. Whilst this is an exceptionally positive thing for the company, if it ever gets to the point where trade becomes their main offering and diy takes a back seat, there could be relevance issues. Whilst this is an unlikely occurrence for a company such as this, it is good to use as an example in this instance.

Domains which are keyword rich can work wonders, but they should not take the place of a strong brand image. If your company name is simple and strong, then it is probably a good idea to use this as your domain, as it will not date and will always be relevant.

The world of online searching is ever changing and is becoming much faster paced and specific. Real time searching has been driven by the increased popularity of social networking and online news viewing, whilst personalised searching is Google’s way of trying to make things more relevant for its users and create a more efficient method of searching. Most of the comments regarding these new methods of searching have been very positive and there is no denying that they will benefit some elements of the online world. On the other hand however, there have been more recent posts and comments which are a more negative towards these methods of searching and are deeming them as more of a hindrance than a help. In terms of search engine optimisation, we have to wonder how much focus we should be putting on these methods.

The most common complaint we are hearing about is personalised searching. The theory behind it does make sense in a lot of ways but at the same time it is a little contradictory in terms of the purpose of search. For example, if a user is searching for something within a search engine then it is more than likely to be because they do not know where to look for the information they need, hence the point of a search engine. If Google is using previous search results as its base for predicting relevant sites, then there could be a danger that the results are too familiar and not in fact what the person was looking for. If the subject is something which a user searches for on a regular basis, then the chances are that they already know their favourite sites and places to look for things, so this all seems a bit pointless.

When we move on to real time searching we see a lot more mixed reviews. Real time searching is ideal if you want to find the most up to date information, press releases or news articles, yet how relevant is it really for other types of factual or informative searches? Take for example somebody is looking for Italian recipes, it does not really matter when the recipe was posted, it is the content which is more important.

The next step in real time searching is the inclusion of Facebook and Twitter results within Google. Whilst in the first instance this seems like a wonderful thing, when you consider it a little more closely, what exactly is the point? If somebody wanted to read results in Twitter then they would search within Twitter, not through Google.

There is obviously a place for real time and personalised searching as it has come on leaps and bounds, and there are obvious benefits for SEO – you can contact the web optimisation experts at Searchengineoptimisation.com to discuss how they can be tailored for your business – but it is clearly not everybody’s cup of tea. Perhaps a good idea for Google would be to offer the choice of these types of searches as opposed to just automatically generating them, that way everybody is happy.

Like most companies offering search engine optimization services, we at Searchengineoptimisation.com face a constant battle with spam. From pop ups to emails, it appears to be everywhere and the increasingly worrying thing is that it seems to slip in so effortlessly and easily that we almost barely notice it. It seems that whoever is the driving force behind some of these spam sites takes it so seriously and are in fact doing it as a full time job. It surely must be the only explanation as to why spam appears to be getting to us.

What we mean by this is the relevant and accurate association which spam has towards us and our online habits. Take spam emails, for example. We are seeing a vast increase in links to fake login pages where the site will ask for passwords for an online account. The scary thing about these are that the majority of the time, the user will actually have an account of this nature, meaning it is extremely easy for people to get caught out.

The same goes for pop ups and spam links in comments. They seem to be so acute as to what activity we are conducting online and sometimes even what we are thinking. It is like they are getting inside our minds. From a personal point of view this is worrying and an obvious danger to our online security, and from a business point of view it is even more concerning.

When we consider email spam this is a real worry and any company which requires users to create an account or profile should be managing their spam filters regularly. Even though spam is random and nothing to do with a business the majority of the time, once there is an association with your company name you are already tarnished.

In terms of our online marketing and search engine optimisation we need to be doing more to monitor spam levels. Personal details are usually what people are after so try to include only the necessary details within your site. Most companies now adopt an email strategy which is a ‘no-reply’, meaning that the company can email members but they should not reply to it. This is a good tactic as it prevents any similar but fake email addresses from generating a response. It is also a good idea to provide your members with a URL address for the login page which they can add to their favourites so they do not follow links from any emails.

When it comes to spam links within your website, the best way to do this is purely by monitoring your blog comments and user posts. If you are on top of this then any spam links which appear can be discarded immediately before any actual users click on the link. If you are seeing any regular spam culprits then you can block these completely. Preventing as much spam as possible is definitely the easiest way to combat this and ensure as spam free a website as possible.

We all know how important content is for the purpose of our website effectiveness and page rankings, yet what we often do not appreciate is how much time and effort we put into our content. Whether you hire an external search engine optimization company to control and write your content or you do it in-house, the process is time consuming and requires accurate attention to detail. Most of us at some point have come across the unfortunate situation of us losing all our content, or a large chunk of it. When this happens and we have no method of backup in place, it can be a catastrophe.

More recently we have seen reputable online resources suffering from this also. Earlier this year WordPress encountered one of its worst periods of downtime in years, almost two hours of no server. WordPress claim this was a router problem and assured all its users that all their content was still there and safe, the only issue was that their server was down which meant nobody could view it. Whilst it is exceptionally good news that no blogs were lost, the number of page views which the websites lost out on was well into the millions.

Server issues and the loss of content can affect us all. The web as a whole is much greater than an individual company or website, meaning its power is also a lot greater. Whilst there are things we can do to prevent downtime and make it as least damaging as can be, it is impossible to prevent it happening ever again as it is something beyond our control.

Backing up your content is the best thing any company who post a lot of content should do. In the case of the WordPress downtime, content was not actually lost, however in many instances, a computer crash scenario can result in a lot of lost work.

The recent downtime with Wordpress obviously put the wind up them a little, as not long after the event they launched a new plugin called WordPress online backup plugin. This plugin enables users to backup their content quickly and easily to give you peace of mind and it is not at all difficult to use. The memory is large which is extremely good, particularly if you are blogging on a daily basis. For any users of WordPress, this is one of the SEO tools that should be seriously considered.

If you do not fancy this or are not a user of WordPress then a simple additional hard drive can work wonders. Previously bloggers have often emailed themselves their content on a daily or weekly basis, but this is a little time consuming and although very effective, not always the best way to go about things. Whichever way you choose, there is no mistaking the importance of backup. Accidents happen and being prepared for them can really be your saviour. At Searchengineoptimisation.com, we can advise you on the best way for your business to protect vital data.

At Searchengineoptimisation.com we always like it when we see a good, honest site ranking well within the search engines. It shows they are doing everything by the book and are reaping the rewards for their hard work. With all the online advice and independent companies out there offering search engine optimisation services, everybody seems to be getting involved and is optimising their own site to the highest standard. As with everything however, too much of a good thing is bad for you and too much search engine optimization can have a negative effect on your site. It is easy to get carried away and overdo it a little, especially if you find that something is working well for you, however it is important to do things in moderation, as once you have gone too far it is difficult to get back.

Consider the basics of optimising your website for search engines and you will soon see how something which is a positive step to web optimisation can quickly turn into a negative if it is done too much. The trick to successful optimisation is finding the right balance, as not doing something enough will not get you noticed at all. This may seem a bit scary if you are new to the world of website design and management, but fear not as it is more a case of common sense and simply understanding what the search engines like and dislike.

One of the most important things you need to focus on is your keywords. Keywords come in various forms and you will find that some are more popular than others. Whilst you will focus on your most searched for keywords, it is important to include other keywords too which are relevant to your site, as you could be missing out on applicable search results and potential customers. Keywords can also be long tail, which means they can include more detailed and specific searches and are ideal for increasing page ranking and creating a much more relevant search for a user. The mistakes happen however, when websites recognise which keywords work best for them and simply stuff them into as many sentences as possible. Firstly, search engines frown upon keyword cramming and secondly, consider how awful your site content will be to read if every paragraph is overflowing with keywords.

The other main focus for search optimisation is links. Linking strategies are well thought through and you should ensure that you have strong links to and from any relevant pages. The purpose of links is to make it easy for other sites and search engines to pick your links up, whereas internal linking ensures easy navigation for users. As with keywords, the main mistake websites make is to link to and from everything they possibly can. With links it is all about quality over quantity, so ensure you stick to this.

Whilst there is no denying that good optimisation can get you far, be sure to know your boundaries otherwise the thing that has made you could easily break you.

You are nobody nowadays if you do not have a website, and competition between websites within similar industries is rife. When we look at any business market, it is more than just price or quality of products that matters. Having an online presence is crucial, and even more important than this is having an online presence which is better than your competitors. There are two main areas which make a website great. The first area is ensuring that people can find and navigate your site easily, and the second area is making sure that once they finally get there, they have a reason to stay.

If there is strong competition and high standards between websites within your industry then fear not, as it is not as impossible as it may seem to get ahead of the game. At Searchengineoptimisation.com we know some simple ways to get your website noticed above the rest. Before embarking on any web optimisation strategy it is important to do some competitive research. Check out websites which rank high within search engines which are related to your industry and also delve deeper into their sites to see what is so good about what they have to offer. Once you know what you are dealing with, you can devise a strategy of your own.

Search engine optimisation is one of the first things which you should be looking at. If you are not ranking high within search engine results pages (SERPs) then you are off to a bad start. Update your keywords and include some long tail keywords into your links, as this will ensure you are ranking high within these pages. Always remember that most search engines favour natural and relevant content and links, so never try to fool a search engine by using false or misleading keywords.

Give people a reason to visit your site. It has been discovered that once a user likes a particular site, they will visit it time and time again. If you are a local business then have some form of resource or details on local information, as this will give people more of a reason to visit your site than solely what you have to offer.

Create a positive brand image. This applies not only online but also to your offline presence. Even if you are local you can still create strong brand awareness within your vicinity. A strong brand image makes you a trusted source, and both users and search engines favour sites from a trusted origin.

People like to know what is going on, they like to be informed and entertained and one of the easiest ways to do this is to create a blog. A blog is a natural and friendly way of communicating with people and can also provide you with regular and loyal readers to your site. Always ensure that your blog is relevant an interesting. Try not to focus too much on keyword quantity and focus more on quality. Devising link building strategies so your blog connects to other websites and social networking sites is also a good idea.