Introduction To SEO
On the internet, there's a lot of talk about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how if you just do this one thing, you'll be at the top of Google. If only it was that simple! In reality, I believe that a search engine optimizer must master seven separate skills.
Most people have one or two of these skills, but only a few people have all seven. In reality, persons who are good at two of these must actively cultivate the other abilities in order to achieve all seven. This requires time and effort, and do you really have the time to do it if you run your own business?
The following are the 7 skills that I believe are required for SEO work:
Web design creates a visually appealing page
HTML coding is the process of creating code that is search engine friendly and sits underneath the web design.
Copywriting is the process of creating readable text on a page.
Marketing What are the real searches being conducted, and what key words are generating more revenue for your company?
A keen eye for detail - even minor flaws can deter spiderbots from accessing your site.
Patience - every change takes time to take effect, so patience is a virtue.
IT knowledge - an understanding of how search engine programs and the algorithms they utilize function
Many website designers create increasingly eye-catching designs with animations and innovative features in the hopes of attracting visitors to their sites. This is the first major blunder; employing such designs may actually reduce your chances of achieving a high Google ranking. Yes, all of that money you spent on website design could be worthless if no one ever finds it.
The reason for this is that you must first convince the spiderbots to like your site before you can attract visitors. Spiderbots are bits of software used by search engine corporations to scan the Internet and examine all of the websites, after which they rank the sites using complex algorithms.
Spiderbots are unable to scour some of the more complicated strategies utilized by web designers. They visit your site, examine the HTML code, and then leave stage right without bothering to rate it. As a result, you will not appear in any significant search.
I'm shocked at how many times I visit a website and quickly realize it's a waste of time and money. The problem is that neither the site designers nor the company that paid for the work want to know. In fact, I've quit being the bearer of bad news (too many shootings!) and am now attempting to solve the situation.
As a result, optimizing a website to be Google friendly is frequently a trade-off between a visually appealing site and one that is easy to locate. The second skill is optimizing the HTML code itself to make it spiderbot friendly. I differentiate this from web design since you truly need to get your hands dirty in the code rather than utilizing a website design tool like FrontPage. This is a talent that takes a long time to master, and just when you think you've nailed it, the search engine companies modify the algorithms that determine how high your site will appear in the search results.
Even the most ardent amateur has no place here. Results must be regularly monitored, new code must be introduced or removed, and a watchful eye must be kept on what the competitors is up to. Many people who build their own websites believe they will be found because they look excellent, yet they completely overlook this stage. You will always struggle to get your company on Google's first results page if you don't have a deep technical understanding of how spiderbots work. We really have seven test domains that are used to test various theories using various search engines. Keep in mind that different search engines employ different criteria and methods to rank your site; there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Finally, I mentioned that copywriting is a skill in and of itself. This is where you write the actual text that visitors to your site will read. The Googlebot, as well as other spiderbots such as Inktomi, adore text, but only when it is written neatly and in good English. Some people try to cram keywords into their website, while others use white writing on white space (so spiderbots can see it but humans cannot).
Spiderbots are extremely intelligent, and they will not only not fall for these techniques, but they may deliberately penalize your site in Google terms, which is referred to as sandboxing. Google basically sin-bins new and naughty sites for 3-6 months; you can still be found, but not until results page 14 is very handy!
The spiderbots read both the English and the HTML code, so the copy writer must understand how the two interact. My advice to anyone who is copywriting their own website is to use standard, well-constructed English sentences that can be read by both machines and humans.
The fourth skill is marketing, which is exactly what we do when we market your site, and thus your organization and products/services, on the Internet. The idea here is to build up the site such that it can be found in the searches that will bring you the most business.
I've seen a lot of sites that pop up when you type in a company name. Others can be found by typing Accountant Manchester North-West England into Google, which is fantastic except no one ever does. As a result, the marketing talent necessitates a comprehension of a company's industry, what they are really attempting to offer, and what true searches may yield profits.
The next ability is a keen sense of detail. A minor modification to a web page can cause an error, preventing spiderbots from crawling your site. I recently included a link to a page that didn't include www. in the address.
The link was still functional, but the spiders had stopped crawling, and it took my partner to figure out what had gone wrong. We recently purchased a highly advanced html validator that detects mistakes that other validators miss. These mistakes do not prevent the pages from appearing correctly to humans, but they do present major issues for spiderbots.
Even from SEO companies, almost all of the code I look at on the web with this validator flags serious problems.
Patience is the sixth skill, or is it a virtue? Some people appear to desire to make daily improvements and then track the consequences of those changes the next day. Unfortunately, it can take up to a week for perfectly correct modifications to take effect, during which time you've already made six additional changes.
Add in Google's reluctance to accept new sites into its listings right away, as well as a three month waiting period for new sites, and you have a completely uncontrolled situation. We tell all of our clients that SEO work should be viewed as a six-month marketing campaign, because it is only after that time that a true assessment of the work's efficacy can be made.
The seventh and final skill is an understanding of how search engines and algorithms function, which requires both IT and math skills. People who have programmed at a system level have a natural sense for how spiderbots will read a page, what they will look for, what tables they will create, and what weightings they will assign to certain parts.
All of this helps to paint a picture of the database that will be built and how it will be accessible during a search. Unfortunately, this is the most difficult skill to learn because it requires many years of systems programming experience.
In conclusion, I would add, "If it were easy, everyone would do it!" I hope you will notice that competent SEO businesses require more than just a little site design to help you grow your organization. Make certain that anybody you hire for SEO services is capable of covering all bases.
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