Looking to hit the number 1 spot in Google?
Keswick Web Design websites often achieve high rankings in their subject field. Read on for more info on how to achieve good search engine results.

Search engine optimisation can be an imprecise art, long gone are the days when stuffing a website with keywords guaranteed a number one ranking for a search term. Over the years the major search engine providers such as Google, Yahoo and Bing have refined their systems so that results have become increasingly accurate, helping to deliver the best search results for their users.

 

So what can you do to help? Some of the more important factors in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) are:

Keywords

When considering the keywords to be used in your website consider carefully what you think your potential clients would type into a search engine such as Google to find your product. In the early days of the web you could stuff your websites with thousands of keywords to try and boost your rankings, thankfully for the sake of useability Many Search Engines now ban websites who use these tactics. For maximum impact we recommend optimising your site for 6-10 keywords.

Targeting Your Audience

Due to the internet's global reach you should carefully consider your search terms. For example to gain a number one ranking for the term 'Sailing' would be a very expensive and time consuming task, there are thousands if not millions of competing websites across the web all relevant to sailing in some form or another and considerable resources would have to be used to accomplish even a first page listing. Would this be worth it? The likelihood is that the person doing the search isn't even looking for your product, they could be in America or the Middle East, they could be looking for info on boat hire instead of your product..
So an important point to consider is to make your SEO efforts targeted to your clients/visitor needs and your product or organisation.
The search term 'Sailing on Derwent Water' as an example is a search term which would be far easier to achieve a high ranking for and you're also far more likely to gain visits to your website as the search term is highly targeted to your visitors needs.

Content

Writing the content for your website can often be the most time consuming part of the design process, while considering your content keep your keywords in mind and try to include them where relevant. Simply repeating keywords endlessly in a manner which makes little sense when reading is considered bad practice and can even earn you a ban from search engines!

Links

A useful method of increasing your sites ranking on search engines is using links. If you're a member of any professional bodies or organisations ask them to link back to you in exchange for a link on your website to theirs (reciprocal linking), include your keywords in a description alongside the link if possible.
Links to your website should be in the same subject area and/or location as your own. If you have a website selling potted plants online a link to/from a sailing school would be a little out of place! (even if it is a friend or relative!)

Relevance

Most search engines consider how relevant your site is to a search term as a high priority, how can you make your site relevant? A combination of all of the factors mentioned above! These will produce a site which consistently does well in the search engines.

These are some of the factors to consider in the design process to achieve a website with good 'organic' search results.. There is also another option to consider..

Google Adwords and Sponsored Links

Google adwords and the equivalent products from Yahoo, etc are a way to increase your sites visibility. You may have noticed when searching the 'Sponsored Links' sections.
At a simple level these involve you paying each time somebody clicks on your sponsored link, you can set a maximum monthly budget and decide the maximum amount you wish to pay for a click, the more you pay the more your link is displayed and the higher you will appear if there are other companies competing for the same keywords.

If you want more advice on a suitable SEO strategy for your website contact us

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