Website Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is the practice of improving and promoting a website in order to increase the number of visitors it receives through search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. When a visitor searches for a website on Google, they type keywords that best describe the website they are looking for. The websites that Google lists have been fully optimised to show up for those specific keywords. For example, if someone searches for a ‘florist in Melbourne’ Google will list all websites in Melbourne relating to florists. But how does Google know that a website relates to a ‘florist in Melbourne’ and in what order to rank them?

Content

Creating keyword-rich content and producing fresh content regularly is a key factor in SEO. Optimising images for best quality while reducing file size also plays a role. Behind the scenes, your website will contain meta tags, meta keywords, meta descriptions, ALT tags, title tags, optimised naming conventions and site-maps. Google utilises all of this information to best target traffic to your website by people looking for what you offer.

Performance

Ensuring your website loads quickly and works efficiently is another key factor in SEO optimisation.

User Experience

User experience describes how visitors interact with your website and what impression they are left with. Ease of navigation, legible text, rich content and a brand identity they can trust all contribute towards a positive user experience. As previously mentioned, more than a quarter of all Google searches are now taking place from mobile devices. Google not only recommends responsive layouts but also favours websites with responsive layouts. This is especially true when a user searches for local services using a mobile device.

Google Places

A Google Places listing will allow your website to appear alongside its competitors on the Google Maps view when a visitor searches for your services. In order to set-up a Google Places listing Google must post a PIN number to your company’s address. This verification adds a level of trust to your website for the visitors and for the Google search engines.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a service that generates detailed statistics about a website’s traffic, visitor’s keywords, number of visitors, how the visitors have found your website and where they have accessed it from. Using this information it is possible to improve the flow of visitors to your website by fine-tuning the SEO.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords is a service that advertises your website at the top of the Google listings when a user searches for your specific keywords. Google displays the advertisement for free but has a ‘pay per click’ system which means that you will be charged every time a user clicks on your ad. You’ll start by choosing a daily budget that you are comfortable with, and then change it at any time. There’s no minimum spend and you’re not locked into a contract.