Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO for short) is one of those many topics surrounding computers and the Internet which is shrouded in mystery and intrigue!
People who own websites typically want to "get to the top of Google" and, therefore, there is a hot market for businesses selling services attempting to fulfil that need .Some services are good but, unfortunately, more often than not the service is ineffective at best and down right damaging at worst.
Search Engine Boot Camp
If you type "south wales locksmith" into Google, it will return listings of websites in reverse order with the most relevant first. How Google define "relevant" is obviously their secret as, if it were public knowledge, spammers would use it to try to gain unfair advantage in the listings.
Some shady outfits even try to second guess or "reverse engineer" how a search engines such as Google decide what is relevant in an effort to uncover a hidden gem which they can make money on – the ultimate irony here is that Google already disclose the low down on what you need to do!
Google's Guidelines
Google publish a set of common sense guidelines for webmasters (webmasters! do they exist anymore?!).
A very brief summary of the guidelines would be this: produce engaging and interesting content which people will find of value or, in Google's words:
"Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content."
Everything starts from the content - if it's not interesting or relevant in the first place then no amount of trickery or other techniques will make up for that.
Another killer piece of advice from Google is:
“Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.”
It sounds completely obvious and common sense (and, in truth, most good SEO is basically common sense) but you would be amazed how many times this advice is not followed. To put it simply, if you have a website which sells “air conditioning units for hotels” then your website copy (the text) needs to reflect this. But, avoid the urge to repeat such phrases so often that the copy, when read out loud, doesn't really flow – Google can easily see through such tricks.
Following on from this Google say:
“Make sure that your <title> elements and alt attributes are descriptive and accurate”
The person who writes your pages will know what the TITLE element is and how to alter this – this is a killer place on your webpage in terms of SEO. Following on from our previous example this could be:
“Whamo Ltd Air conditioning – servicing air conditioning units for hotels, restaurants and gyms all over South Wales including Cardiff, Newport and Swansea".
Google aint stupid...
If something sounds stupid then it probably is...
If someone says to you “if you add lots of these links in to your website, you'll get to the top of Google, guaranteed!!" then a knee jerk reaction might be “wahooo! Top of Google here I come!” but, with a calmer assessment, it quickly becomes obvious that such a claim does not make sense. Google aren't stupid. They want to return relevant search results to their users. There aint not short cuts to relevancy (or, atleast, not ones without the potential to turn around and bite you, read on for an example!).
...but Google can get angry!
If Google think you are trying to gain unfair advantage (e.g. vast tracks of hidden text on your website in a vain aim to show one set of content to search engines and another set to regular visitors) then Google can penalise you. Don't believe me? Ask BMW!
If it can happen to a big site like BMW then it can happen to you!
Again Google are very clear on their policy and guidelines here:
"Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as 'cloaking'"
Trying to pull the wool over Google's eye is a pointless effort. They are smarter than you and me – I guarantee that. Your best bet is to concentrate your effort on producing really killer content which your users will find interesting and want to engage with. Hire the services of a reputable web design company who really want to interact with your target audience and know how to follow the Google guidelines.
In Conclusion
Unfortunately there are a lot of snake oil salesman out there peddling their own brand for SEO foolproof wares. The best way to avoid their snares is simply to follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines and by the time you have finished acquainting yourself with those you'll know enough to see straight through the snake oil men!
Great to see someone talking common sense about SEO - there are too many snake oil salesmen around. Follow Joel & Jojet and you won't go wrong.
Posted by: Phil Terrett | 20 November 2008 at 06:43 AM