Monday, March 03, 2008

As an SEO company we often get asked by clients "can you SEO my site?". It's a frustrating question that usually shows they have only been given half the picture about what Google is looking for in judging a site.

SEO is not something you just 'do' to a website site. SEO is about showing Google that your site is the best choice to show to anyone looking for a particular product or service. It involves creating content on your site to show your knowledge, expertise and uniqueness. It involves encouraging other people to link to that content and recommend you to others, and it involves making sure Google can understand and find its way around your site.

Too many people concentrate on the last step - tinkering with their site coding and tags - because it is 100% in their control, yet it is the smallest part of the task.

What follows is a list of principles that we know, though experiments of our own, and discussion with other successful SEO professionals to be the factors that we count on most to improve search rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN.

1) Your site is less than half of the problem, your reputation is a bigger problem
Anyone can change their own site to be more 'SEO friendly'. Then what?
When you have over 5 million pages about "ipod nano 4GB Black" how does Google choose between them?
The answer is in what other people say about your site, not what you say about it.
The answer is in links to your site, from other sites, sites that people respect.
The concept of 'authority' is fundamental in SEO. Your site has to be the most important, the most referred to, the most popular site in its sector.
Then you'll have visitors a plenty. But don't expect this overnight. In competitive sectors, age is a big factor.

2) What people say about you matters
Your company probably does several things, and you are keen to get them ALL on your website.
It's mostly the things that make you unique that make you stand out. That could be that you have the cheapest iPods in town, or that you also sell the only left-handed iPod belt clips at 50p each. Which is going to make you the real money?
So prioritise your message, understand where you really want to get your message out and make sales.
Optimise your site for these messages and don't clutter it up. This process is called 'keyword research'. It's about finding what your customers are looking for and responding with content about offers that make you profit.

3) Content is King
No-one is going to link to your site if you have nothing interesting to say. No-one is going to believe you are the 'best' if you don't know it, and show you know it.
So give a little away. Tell your customers why your shirts feel so luxurious, tell them why your shoes will last forever, tell them how your dating service will get them into a secluded corner with George Clooney at the next office party. Tell them all the things you'd tell them if they had walked into your shop with a black Amex and said 'why would I want that?' . Tell them, because Google will hear you, and they will tell billions of others the same story when they search for 'luxury shirt tailor', 'best shoe-maker' and 'how to get a date with George Clooney', because right now there is not one site that will tell you that last one.

While there are plenty of ways to get small successes in Google in the short term, none of them will build you a business that will last.
Concentrate on these three principles and in a few short months Google will learn to love you too.