A bloke from Google phoned me the other day...

Search Engine Optimisation

Fact 1: Google will not call you. Ever.

SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimisation and is used to describe the process of writing your website in a way that gives it high visibility when the search bots come to visit. An optimised website is a basic requirement for competing in Google.

What SEO services we offer

All our websites are built with SEO in mind and our content management system is designed in such a way that your onsite SEO is not only easy to manage, but gives an SEO analysis of every page you write. We dont specialise in Search Engine Optimisation for customers that dont run on our own systems but customers using our systems to run their website benefit from our custom built tools which handle things like:

• Keyword discovery
• Keyword innovation
• Onsite Keyword analysis tools
• Competition tracker
• Automated search statistics that operate over long periods
• Dynamic submission tools
• Sitemap generators

We are web technology experts and we spend vast amounts of time and energy on research and development for our CMS and SEO tools so that we can offer the best possible service to our customers.

If we feel it is necessary (and it very often isn't) we will refer you to a selected SEO specialist. We advise all of our existing clients on Search Engine strategy, and we have dealt extensively with a lot of SEO specialist companies, the good the bad and the downright unscrupulous.

SEO companies

There are genuine companies out there who specialise in Search Engine Optimisation, finding them ought to be easy right - after all they must be on Google. However, its far trickier than you might imagine. Dont be fooled into thinking the best ones are always at the top of Google. This could just mean that they work hard on their own SEO at your expense.

If a consultant tells you they can guarantee you a first page position on Googles organic listings, avoid them. The only way to guarantee a first page position at all is via Pay-Per-Click (PPC) whereby you pay a small amount for every click through to your website. This can be as little as a few pence depending on the competition in your industry. Quite often it runs into pounds per click for a top 3 position in the "Sponsored Links" section.

Fact 2: Nobody can guarantee you a first page position on Google organic listings. Not even Google themselves.

Built-in SEO

With our packages, on-site SEO can be managed by you or us, cutting costs significantly. With the right advice and a bit of research, you could be on page one of Google within weeks of a site launch. See our tips on Search Engine Optimisation to help you reduce costs.

Search Engine Techniques

There are a few basic rules to follow when writing content for your website. One of which is word density and word proximity. Take a look through this page, how many times do we mention the words "search" "engine" and "optimisation" in the same sentence.

Search Engines read your pages and try to figure out what the page is about, the fact that we mention Search Engine Optimisation and SEO several times suggests to the engines that this page is about Search Engine Optimisation, and so may be relevant to people that search for the words "Search Engine Optimisation"

As you may expect, its a little more complicated than that, but relevant content is the holy grail for any search engine. For this reason we offer our customers free tutorials and guides on how to write relevant and search engine friendly content for your website, and supply free information and techniques to help you manage your SEO campaigns efficiently.

Black Hat techniques

Trying to trick a Search engine is known as "Black Hat SEO" and is often the reason behind site de-registration. Black hat SEO is a technique sometimes employed by SEO “specialists” for quick results that have a long term negative effect on your SERPS.

Make sure you understand the risks and the costs before embarking on any optimisation campaign, if you are in any doubt, or need more information, we are happy to advise.