What is Search Engine Optimisation? Added: Friday 5th August, 2011 | Last Modified: Thursday 10th May, 2012
Search engine optimisation, or SEO as it is commonly referred to, is a broad term that describes the techniques and activities used to promote web pages in the "natural" or "organic" search results of popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing.
The natural search results are those that dominate the results pages that you see when you submit a search query. They will usually appear down the left of the page, in order to distinguish them from the "paid" or "sponsored" results, which usually appear on the right of the search results. Our SEO services help to promote your web pages into higher positions in the natural search results.
Why is SEO important?
By 'optimising' a web page using SEO techniques, the search engines are much more likely to show the page in a higher position in their search results, which means more people will see it and have an opportunity to click on it.
Clearly there are huge advantages to appearing in the search results more often and especially in more prominent positions - more appearances means more people will click on your page, and more clicks means more people visiting your website, potentially leading to more transactions. It really is a very simple principle, where ultimately better SEO results in higher profits.
Higher Positions = Higher Visability
Higher Visability = More Clicks
More Clicks = More visitors/transactions
Search engine optimisation offers the most sustainable way of attracting targeted, measurable traffic to your website, with superb ROI potential in the long term. Using paid search traffic alongside your SEO campaigns is an excellent way to generate easily measurable web traffic, and build brand awareness, especially in the short-to-medium term, but only a well-developed system of search engine optimisation can offer long-term results, by establishing your web pages in strong organic search engine rankings positions (SERPs).
What does SEO involve?
Search engine optimisation can be delivered by a wide variety of methods, from changing the text on specific web pages, to improving the linking structure between pages, but much of it depends to a certain extent on the web pages being optimised. Some of the techniques involved are known as 'on-page optimisation', while others are described as 'off-page optimisation' techniques.
On-page optimisation, as you might expect, involves making improvements on the page itself, such as adding fresh content and more descriptive meta-tags - the devices that search engines use in deciding where a page should rank. Off-page optimisation describes the techniques used elsewhere, such as acquiring good-quality inbound links and submitting web pages to directories.
Although websites are usually optimised as an entire combined entity, from a search engine's perspective each page is an individual, and is ranked on the strength of its own subject or niche. One of the most important principles of SEO is that if you want to rank highly for any of your products or services, then each should be given its own individual attention. Search engine marketing is a highly-competitive business, so ensure that you are keeping up with the e-Joneses by investing in a comprehensive, tailored portfolio of search engine optimisation.