Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Specialists

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The immutable laws of SEO

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Search engine optimisation is an intriguing field. Very few areas related to internet technology have the combination of creativity and technicality that SEO does. It keeps things interesting for optimisation professionals, but makes things very frustrating for those new to the industry. It can be difficult to grasp even the basics of SEO, let alone the things you need to know in order to do some basic optimisation.

The complicated nature of SEO is one of the many reasons to get an optimisation specialist on board for your campaign. You can discuss this with us at SEO Consult Australia. Even when consulting with a specialist, you need to know what areas to prioritise on. The following laws might prove useful.

  1. Keyword research pays off. No-one knows exactly what their keyword list should be before their keyword research is completed. This is because companies aren’t usually aware of the full range of phrases being used in to describe their products and services. Keyword research is a vital part of SEO that should never be skimped on. Failing to research properly can end in your campaign being built on unsteady foundations.
    • Keyword research can tell you a lot more about your industry than simply what words people are using to search. Your related keywords can give you an insight into how people think about your industry, which in turn can help you design strategies and pathways through your site.
  2. Sweat the small stuff. There’s always going to be debate around the search engine optimisation industry about whether one technique still works or is worthwhile. Listening too hard to these debates can cause you to miss out some of the essential on-page SEO touches your site needs. Things like optimising title tags and URLs are still important, and easy to do.
  3. Quality content is a must-have. Many SEO experts advise ‘content is king’ without emphasising the importance of quality. If your pages are full of gibberish, your ranking won’t be going anywhere.
  4. Solid relationships lead to solid rankings. Links are important to SEO, but the best links come from established relationships. Go out there and establish them.
  5. Text reigns supreme. The search engines are always making announcements about their advancements in dealing with sophisticated technologies on the net, but the basic fact is that search engines understand text best. When you want to communicate with the search engines, you need to speak in their language. Ensure that the important things on your site are text-based. For those things that aren’t text based, such as videos or images, you need to learn how to optimise the text around them.
  6. Everything changes. These are the laws of search engine optimization… at least, for now. It’s always important to remember that SEO operates in a shifting landscape. Nothing is certain. This is something hardened experts keep in mind, and not-so-hardened gurus find out to their dissatisfaction. It pays to keep a close eye on developments in the industry for the next time the rules change.

Stalking your prey: think like an internet user for SEO

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

You’ll often hear advice from experienced search engine optimisation professionals who say that you should work for your target user group. This may sound slightly off the right track. After all, SEO is supposed to be for the search engines, isn’t it?

Well, no. Search engine optimisation is really about pleasing your target users. Although many techniques are designed to attract search engine attention, even these techniques are ultimately about attracting users. Your site and the search engines should be after the same goal: presenting a website that will attract the largest amount of traffic in the search engine results.

In order to develop a successful SEO campaign, you need to think like your target users. For this, you should ask yourself a few choice questions. Here are a few of the questions every site owner needs to ask when first planning a search engine optimisation campaign:

  • What products and services does your company provide? This is the first question to ask, because it will give you the categories you need for keywords. What areas do you need to rank for?
  • What searches would you use to find your site’s products? This question can give you a lead on some keywords. Would you type in a single word, or a long sentence to find the product or service your business provides?
  • How would you go about finding your company? Once you sort out product and service words, you need to think about your company. You need to ensure users can find you directly if they want to.
  • What search engines would you use? Although it often seems like Google is the only player in the search engine game, the other search engines still get significant volumes of traffic. One of the quirks of the net is that groups of users tend to act in the same way. If your user group uses another search engine and you optimise only for Google, you could be missing out on a big chunk of traffic. Researching your users will help you to find out their preferences, and you can talk about this with our consultants at SEO Consult Australia.
  • What information are you looking for? This is important for the layout of your pages. If your users are looking for specific information, it’s important to give it to them as soon as they land on your site. The answer to this question can also help you to structure your site.
  • What format do you expect? You should already be aware of the quirks of design in your industry. Every industry has its standard formats, and while you can deviate from them slightly, it’s not a good idea to go too crazy. Your target users will be looking for information to be presented in a certain way, and doing otherwise may confuse them.
  • What sort of content would you find attractive? This last question can help you to create your content management plan. Again, research your target users. Do they like reading, or would they prefer videos?

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