Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): You Have Been Lied To

In this video, our Internet Marketing Manager Luke takes us through an overview of SEO and popular misconceptions.

When it comes to Search Engin Optimisation (SEO), there’s a good chance you’ve been lied to, at least from the point of view of what Search Engine Optimisation really is.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search Engine Optimisation is the process of optimising a website to improve the ranking position in a search result. It’s not search engine ranking, there is no one that can guarantee your website will rank first in a search result. Those who make such claims are either misinformed, lying or worse – using unorthodox methods to trick search engines.

One of the most important things to understand about search engines is that the purpose of search engines is not to improve your business or make you money. Search engines are designed to give users accurate answers to their questions. And the more accurately, it can do this means more people will use it, the more people use it, the more Google can sell its marketing tools (via Adwords) because of the massive audience.

History of Search Engines

You might remember a few of these names; Excite, Yahoo, Ask, AltaVista, Lycos, and AllTheWeb. Today, Google is the major search engine worldwide. Originally Google was called BackRub, what set it apart from other search engines was that they introduced page rank based on backlinks. To put it simply; if a page had many backlinks, then they would rank higher because it was considered to more relevant and popular.

Today Google uses over 200 ranking signals and make algorithm updates daily, and sometimes twice daily.

To use an analogy: you have a domain name – look at this as your piece of land, on that land you build a website, and how you build your website effects how a search engine understands what your property is about.

Over time, as you build upon your house (or website), and it stands the test of time, Google will consider your website more valuable. It’s important to understand that your website’s reputation can take time to build up and there are certain actions that will hurt your reputation. If you purposely try to manipulate rankings, this will hurt your reputation, even if the initial results are favourable.

Other issues that can negatively affect your ability to rank in search results include:

• Techincal issues such as downtime, slow loading time, the absence of an SSL Certificate, or your website gets hacked. Be sure to regularly check your Google Webmaster Tools (Search Console) for notifications regarding problems with your website.
• Be aware that while making changes to your content or site structure can be beneficial, they may also have a negative effect on your SEO. Make sure you understand what effects the changes you are making will have on your search engine visibility.

In Summary

• Make your web pages for visitors.
• Don’t try to trick search engines.
• Analyse the competition, make your content a better answer and therefore more valuable.