Search Engine Optimisation
or S E O as it is most usually described is important. There is an extensive industry built up around this area and you won;t have a website for long before they will come calling telling you all sorts of things that are wrong and how to get you on the first page of Google.
Now there is no doubt that being on the first page of Google is an aspiration, however that is not why you are in business, so think carefully before you sign up to something that could be $5000 US a month.
Remember, Google makes it’s money through advertising, however the success of Google is dependent upon the consistent validity of its search results. They work hard at improving it, and the algorithms the use constantly change and are a closely guarded secret.
It is safe to work on the assumption that Google will read the text on the page that the site visitor will see. The Google-bots will visit your site, on a regular basis, to update their results. Key words, meta tags and all manner of other devices will be analysed against the content displayed, so there is little value in things being displayed behind that are not out in front.
So make sure you content includes the words you expect people to be searching for who will find your business offerings a match. Make sure the key and important words are there a few times, and the Really important words are in headings.
Make sure that the content is good English, avoiding as far as possible spelling errors, and that the readability score is good. the Flesch-Kincaid readability score can be tested in MS Word, or if we have installed the Yoast SEO module on the site that will also give you and assessment. The general rules that help here are, shorter words, shorter sentences, and avoid the passive tense as far as possible.
This approach is working with the Google mindset and your site should start to do well for where you want it to come us. One word of warning is that if Google suspects that you are trying to trick it in some way to show your site in what might be an unfair way, the engine may punish you.
One of the things to remember is that we are often in our businesses focussed on the last book we read and genuinely believe that out business is about customer service, where as out customers see us as providing XYZ. We need to be in touch with what our customers and prospective customers look for , because that will tell us how to right.
Good marketing is still about being responsive.
