Read analysis, reviews and comment.
Then have your say.
Top 5 tips to help your google rankings
by Mark Tunstall - IT Director on 20 June 2012
To many owner managers the words Search Engine Optimisation and SEO strike fear and confusion. Many SEO companies are blinding owner managers with jargon in attempt to sell them expensive short term SEO solutions for their websites.
While comprehensive SEO is a job for specialists, having a little knowledge yourself will ensure you don’t pay over the odds and can improve your website Google ranking.
Here’s a list of the 5 most important things to consider when you’re looking to improve your lead generation and conversion from your website.
Do these 5 things and you’ll take a giant step towards being efficient with your web based marketing budgets:
1. White hat not black hat
Black hat SEO is what a lot of ‘quick fix’ SEO experts use to ‘get you to #1 overnight’ – don’t be tempted. At best it’ll be a short term hit that lasts less than a week and at worst it’ll actually demote your site and possibly even get the site banned from Google altogether. Stick to white hat SEO – it’s the only way to be sure of long lasting results. Check what your SEO provider is doing for you!
2. Gather statistics
Almost everything that happens on your website can be monitored, so make sure you have deployed an analytics solution such as Google Analytics and have this configured to monitor what you’re interested in. If you’re not sure how this all works we recommend outsourcing this as there is a bit of coding work required. If you don’t know the facts how can you make decisions on what changes to make to your site?
3. Content is King
It’s such a cliché but it’s a fact that cannot be ignored. Regularly updated, relevant content changes will do more for your website than almost anything else. If you haven’t got time to create the content ask your staff to do it and just be there to check it before it goes live. Remember to use keywords related phrases in your content but be careful that you don’t go overboard!
4. Have your site checked over
It’s surprising how many web developers and designers still don’t code to industry guidelines. Search engines expect your site to be coded properly and if it isn’t then they’ll mark it down. Have an independent review of your site done for peace of mind.
5. Get links to your site, and then get more
Incoming links that are relevant to your site weigh heavily in all search engines ranking systems. Don’t try to be underhand and cheat the system though – a link from a fishing website will be deemed ‘irrelevant’ if you offer financial advisory services and may even cause a negative effect. Most definitely do NOT start using link farms – a sure fire way to have your site banned from the Engines!
So don’t be oversold and blinded by science where SEO is concerned – get to know the basics and you’ll be better placed to ensure your SEO provider is doing a good job for you.
If you want to know more about SEO contact HW Technology.
If you want further information, use our online form to get in touch.
About Mark Tunstall
Mark started work as a humble accountant in 1992 but always had a passion for IT. Mark spent several years in practice becoming an expert in accounting solutions. Having initially formed Demack Computer Services in 1999 the company joined the Haines Watts Group in 2009. Mark now manages the financials of the company and still supports many clients with their accounting solutions and IT systems.
This means that along with doing to little, now doing to much can hurt your sites rankings.
'Back in the day' SEO used to be a case of making a full informative website, that people would actually want to read. But with all the companies looking for a 'get rich quick' scheme, the industry has had to find a way to filter these sites out. Which has resulted in hurting sites that have done everything right. It seems sadly in the era we live in the only way to guarantee good site rankings is to turn to a specialist company to manage your site, as there is so much involved in an ever changing market, that the do it themselves web hero's are slowly being lost to the ranks.
Tom Jolly on 21 June 2012
Respond to this comment
All fields marked with * are required