What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Often refered to as Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Positioning or Search Engine Placement. No matter the name, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), is a the art of website promotion focused on helping your web site rank favorably on Internet search engines Google, Yahoo, MSN using targeted keywords and phrases that are important to your business and customers.
SEO is a way of making sure potential customers can find your web site.
Research shows that Internet users aren't likely to go past the first
three pages - or top 30 results - of a search when searching for
information on a product or service. This is where SEO comes into play.
Using a proven methodology and toolset, SydneySEO will ensure you climb the organic listings, as well as appearing high up in other search engine results and directories too.
Search engines index webpages for their content and rank accordingly to the quality of the content. As a general guideline, important keywords and keyphrases should be used liberally in the first two paragraphs of the content of each page, then sprinkled throughout the body. The last paragraph of every page should also be keyword rich. A suggested rule of thumb is to reach for keyword density between 5-15%. Judgment must be used to invoke keywords liberally without getting too repetitive as you could be penalised by search engine and have your listing totally removed from the index. It may also help to use bold or italics on a keyword or two, but avoid doing this to excess.
In essence, search engine optimization has become a more holistic approach to website optimisation and promotion, taking into account not only website crawlability and search engine rankings and traffic, but also conversion rates, social marketing and customer retention rate.
It is a fact that successful Australian businesses need an Internet presence: a professional and powerful one that attracts the right visitors, encourages positive response and helps create sales with increased, profitable turnover.
Your website is a part of your overall marketing strategy and the right one will contribute strongly to your business image and results. Above all, your business website should be able to bring you new customers and generate income.
SydneySEO, a division of SydneyWeb, offers full-service premium search engine optimisation and search engine placement services for companies that rely on their website for :
1. exposure
2. sales
3. marketing
4. e-business
Our services typically generate increased traffic from 100 % to 4,000 %. In some cases, new targeted traffic. Your return on investment (ROI) is almost immediate.
SydneySEO Search Engine Optimisation gives your company the edge over your competitors by getting top placements and thinking outside the box in developing new technologies and procedures. The end results are drastic reductions of traditional media advertising costs due to :
1. an effective online campaign
2. increased brand promotion
3. tremendously improved, qualified traffic to your site
Search Engine Optimisation Packages
We
have many years of experience in Search Engine Optimisation and
thorough understanding on how search engines rank web pages. Our search
engine opitmisation experts can improve your website ranking to a new
high. Check out the available Seach Engine Optimisation Packages that we provide or contact us for more information.
Google's approach is different,
Google provides a similar, but different, pay per click service called Google Adwords. Advertisements in Adwords appear on Google results pages as the familiar small boxes aligned down the right hand side of the page, beside the actual search results. Google allows you to write your own description aka creatives and select your own keywords. You also select your own budget by allocating a cost you are prepared to pay per-click (PPC) and a maximum daily spend, which can be as low as several dollars. The more you nominate per-click, the higher the rate of your ad appearing on the page. After your nominated daily spend is reached, your sponsored link ceases to appear that day.
Paid Submission Makes No Guarantees
Paid submission to directories is not the same as paid advertising. With paid submission, you are guaranteed only one thing; that your website will be looked at in a timely manner and assessed for possible inclusion in the directory index. There is no guarantee of inclusion, no guarantee of position and the fee is compulsory and non-refundable.
When you pay for advertising, you are guaranteed inclusion and guaranteed position. As with paid advertising, the main agent handling paid submissions is LookSmart, this time via their "Smart Listings" (once again, affiliated with most major directories). Note that there are technical requirements to be satisfied, or your website will be rejected and your submission fee lost; it is advisable to have the website checked for compliance before submitting. Google does not offer paid submission, because it is not a directory.
The Best Positioning Tool
Let's be blunt. If you want your website to be seen, the very best place it can appear is high in the order of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). In precisely the same way that consumers trust editorial more than advertising, they trust SERPs more than paid positioning. Added to this is the great improvement of the quality of results in recent years, which makes SERPs more and more the resource of choice for finding things on the Internet. Furthermore, the search engines don't charge you for position. In fact, the longer your website exists and the more people view it, link to it and refer to it, the higher its ranking will go.
Unfortunately, the search engines do not want you to have control over SERP positioning, since that undermines their competitive advantage. Certainly, they publish guidelines, but these guidelines are written in such a way that they really serve the interests of the search engines, rather than allow you or your web designer any real control over positioning.
Website Optimisation
Through literally years of experimentation and analysis, optimisation specialists have been able to "reverse-engineer" an understanding of how search engines really rank websites. This knowledge can then be used to design new websites or modify existing websites so that they have a much greater relevance to search engines and, consequently, appear higher in the rankings. This service is referred to as "website optimisation". Because of the arcane and difficult process of obtaining and maintaining the currency of such knowledge, good website optimisation specialists are few and far between and their services do not come particularly cheap. Once you have your ranking in the SERPs, however, it's free and it lasts as long as you maintain your site's relevance.
Optimising Is Not Submitting
Optimising a website is complex. Website owners should understand that "submitting" a site to a directory or search engine is no more than metaphorically saying, "Here, have a look at this and see if you think it's worth indexing". You can submit a site again and again, but if it doesn't match the search-engines' criteria, then it will never rank well in search results. In fact, there is really no need to "submit" websites at all. It is in the search engines interests to maintain the currency of their information, so they constantly navigate the Internet, looking for and analysing new pages. They will find your website, even if you never submit it. This does not mean that they will index it or rank it highly!
Recommendations
Firstly, have your website optimised, for all the above reasons. It will be an ongoing, low-cost generator of new customers and the potential is certainly there for windfall gains from unexpected quarters.
Try pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on Google Adwords. You can set a small budget and learn rapidly what works and what fails. There are no contracts. You can change strategy at any time. There seems to be no reason at all for any campaign of any budget size not to incorporate this step. You may also wish to consider paid listings (Pay-Per-Click) on Google Adwords. You would have a control market penetration to the online community.
Consider paid submission to the online business directories, like Yellow Pages Online. For a fixed annual fee it can get your website in front of people who use common directory services instead of search engines (usually less computer-savvy types). Remember to have your website checked for compliance before submitting or risk forfeiting your payment. If you have a healthy budget, consider venturing into the Yellow Pages Online also, albeit at lower return on investment.
If you have a genuinely large advertising budget and a product or service with an extremely broad customer appeal, then Pay Per Click advertising on Yahoo, nineMSN and Google may be viable. Certainly, large organizations have reported good results there. But why not do all the simpler things above first and as well?
