How do I get my website to the top of Google?
Your website appears in a top spot on Google for your chosen keyphrase. Next thing you know, orders start coming in faster than you could have hoped for, and you are rolling in the money. If only it was that easy!
Well, it can be done. We’ve done it lots of times for clients in many different industries. There are no secrets to search engine optimisation (SEO) - it is something that you can do yourself - although getting it wrong can be costly and time consuming to put right.
So, what is SEO? It is one of several methods used in online marketing, and is an important part of an overall marketing strategy. As the name implies, search engine optimisation is the process of optimising your website so that the search engines display a link to it when surfers search for your products or services. Simple, eh?
We believe that all website owners should at least understand the basics. As a starting point, you should work on the following:
- A good design with clean code - remove potential spider stoppers or trouble spots in your website. Avoid entirely Flash websites as they are extremely difficult to optimise. If your website was designed more than 18 months ago, it probably needs updating - think of it like an MOT for your website. Contact Distinction for a free website audit!
- Excellent content - written for people, not search engines. The search engines are attempting to determine what is useful to readers, so the best way to get long-term results is to create content that is useful to readers.
- A well-structured site - divided into clear content areas, with good links between them.
- Good, relevant links to your site - not purchased links, not link exchanges, just good links coming to your site. This is the difficult bit, but you can find a useful guide on our website.
- Choose your keywords wisely - don’t choose a one-word phrase (evidence shows that people rarely search like that) and try to put yourself in your customers shoes (how would they search for your products/services?).
- Location targeting - use it to your advantage. Although the web is global, don’t underestimate the power of geo-targeting your audience to get more relevant visitors to your site.
The above list is hardly scratching the surface - we’ve not even mentioned file naming conventions, page titles, meta tags or site maps!
If you’d like to know more about search engine optimisation services from Distinction, please contact us or give us a call on 0870 890 0430 and we can arrange a free consultation. You should start to see results within three months (just in time for the Christmas sales!) or sooner if your website is already well indexed - so why wait any longer?
James Bloor is Managing Director of Distinction Limited. He has been designing and optimising websites since 1997 and is a Qualified Google Adwords Professional.
You can contact James directly on 0870 890 0430 with any website, ecommerce or search engine marketing enquiries.