Search Engine Optimization

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:11:02 +0000

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimization (Optimisation) or SEO as it is commonly called refers to the art/science of gaining higher rankings in Google or other search engines. Many Search Engine Optimisation Companies offer various SEO Packages or SEO Services in order to achieve this single aim. If you look at our SEO packages or Local SEO Packages you will notice that our techniques primarily involve building or modifying your website to reflect the target keywords that you are hoping to rank for. This involves choosing search engine friendly URL’s and a directory structure and content that reflects the target keywords.

Your first task for Search Engine Optimisation is to choose a search engine friendly domain name. Ideally one significantly close to your target keywords. This works well now but there is talk about Google reducing the importance of having the target keyword in the domain name. I agree with this because the domain name has taken on an importance far beyond it’s real significance and negates the potential for website branding. Many sites perform well in Google due to this factor alone and a whole industry has grown up promoting this. As a consequence companies are hoovering up domain names with significant keywords especially .coms and as a result there are millions of domain names being sat on with the sole purpose of selling on the domain name like Internet Real Estate.

Optimised Website Structure

Before building any website you must conduct keyword research to decide upon the appropriate website structure that reflects your target keywords as you know that this is one of the factors that Google bots will be measuring when they crawl your site. For instance if your url contains the keyword Google and there is a link form your Home Page Google will most probably rank that site higher than it would otherwise. Website Optimisation begins with the structure.

Title Tags

The Page Title is the text between the tags. If there is one necessary element, this is it. Not only for SEO reasons, but also because users rely on it to know what a page is about.

The title is also very important because most of the time, it is used in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). A well put together page title can have a much higher click-through rate.

Here is an example from Hotels.com.

Their main keyword is [hotels]. Its a good title because they the main keyword, once as the first word, and once later in the sentence, and it is also very user friendly. It makes sense. If you try searching for [hotels] in Google, you will see that they have been very successfully. (I must add that that success has come from Off-Page Search Engine Optimization or Link Building.

Body Text
The body text is any text between the tags. Body text, or page content is important for on-page optimization, because without it, there is very little for search engines to judge a site by. More body text is generally better, but you want to keep paragraphs short (short paragraphs help hold the attention of readers). Use your keyword as much as you can In A Reasonable Manner. Overuse of your keyword will result in an Over Optimization Penalty (OOP).

Important elements of the Body Text

First Sentence of the Body Text

Try to use your keyword somewhere in the first sentence of the body text. It sets the tone, and reinforces to the search engine the fact that the keyword is important.

H1 Tag and H2 Tag Text

The H1 text is the text between the

Header

Anchor Text (internal)

Anchor text is anything between tags. In other words these are links. Anchor text helps search engines know what the link leads to. So a link with the anchor text Click Here is not very descriptive, while one that makes use of your keyword is much better.

One element of the Anchor tag that is usually overlooked is the Anchor Tag Title. This is not visible unless the user hovers the mouse pointer over the link. Here is an example for the keyword [foo].

IMG ALT Attributes

The IMG ALT is important for on-page SEO and probably more important because it is required by law. For disabled users who cant see your images, the alt text should describe what the image is. This is a good thing because its another place to use your keyword.

URL/ File Name

It can be helpful for pages to be named using the keyword. For example if a page is about Green widgets, then you would name the page green-widgets.html. Always make sure to use a hyphen and not an underscore (do noteven think about using a space), since most search engines have a hard time with underscores.

Meta Tags
Meta Description and Meta Keywords
Meta tags go anywhere in the tags. They are only for search engine use. There is a good reason that I have put Meta Tags at the end of this article. They are becoming less important to on-page search engine optimization. With that said, it cannot hurt to use them. I will briefly describe and give examples of both.

Meta Description:
Include a complete, descriptive sentence that describes the page. Make sure to use your keyword, but do not go overboard.

Meta Keywords:
Include a list of keywords. The best way is to write your body text, and then select keywords from that text. Do not use keywords that are not in the page.

I think you get the idea. 7 SEO follow all the above guidelines when optimising the ‘Home Page’ of a client. For deep pages we prepare an individual proposal based on the keywords you are looking to optimise for. Please bear in mind that as with the hotels.com example no search engine optimisation is complete without Off Page optimisation or Link Building also.

Pay As You Go SEO

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:52:09 +0000

Pay-as-You-Go SEO

Firstly 7SEO traditionally use to charge a deposit, usually a third of the total amount up front. The second stage would be paid within one month and the final instalment the third month. Our Pay as you go SEO services offer advantages but one of the problems we found was that optimising and achieving Google Page 1 ranking for your chosen search term is only the beginning of the story as far as search engine optimisation goes. The truth is that even search terms that you rank highly for often require some form of maintenance and we felt it was unfair to clients to give the impression that once you achieve your ranking for your chosen search terms the job was done. So we gradually moved to a Pay as you go SEO model with a straightforward monthly fee. In this way the client knows exactly how much his SEO/Online Marketing is going to cost each month whilst preserving cashflow.

7SEO Pay-as-you-go seo price plans start from as little as 100 pounds per month for obscure National search terms or some local seo terms and should suffice for non-competitive search terms. Some examples are given in Local SEO

How does it work?

7SEO charge an agreed fixed monthly fee that you pay in advance by bank transfer or if you prefer using company debit or credit card facilities. We simply send you an invoice with a link to pay. Whatever is easiest.

Each month you will receive your 7SEO monthly report detailing exactly the campaign we are working on your behalf and the Ranking results for your chosen search terms. For certain packages we monitor several hundred keywords on your behalf although they may not all be directly optimised 7SEO methodology often results in related keywords receiving improved rankings as a result of our processes.

At the beginning of each month you will also receive an invoice for the coming month for your records. If for any reason you should wish to stop your standing order then you simply call your bank to arrange this after you have informed us in writing. Alternatively, you can inform us and we will cancel any process for your debit card or credit card. All debit card and credit card transactions are made on secure servers utilising optimum payment gateway and processing facilities.