Many people seem to think that the only search engine worth optimising a website for is Google. However the truth is that if you aim to make your site friendly for the Google search engine then it will also do well in others such as Yahoo and Bing (formerly MSN). In my experience plenty of traffic, and therefore customers, comes from the other search engines so it is worth paying attention to them also.  There are certain basic steps that need to be taken when optimising a website for the search engines and many webdesigners fail to realise just how simple it can be.

On Page Search Engine Optimisation

The most important thing to realise is that a website will not rank well on Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) if there is no way for the engine to tell what your site or page’s topic is. Google cannot read images, javascript or flash therefore the only way (currently) to let the engine know what the page is about is to do it with words. If these basic ingredients are followed, the chances are that on that basis alone and improvement in your websites rankings will occur. Mainly because so many people don’t bother, so if you do, you’ll be a step ahead.

Page Titles - or Title Tags

Using the main keyword or keyword phrase within your title tags is the first point to check. But remember you want it not only to be found high on the search results but also for real people to actually be inspired to click on your listing. The title is what appears in the search results as the heading for your listing so it is better to make this a compelling headline that people want to click on that contains the main keyword as opposed to merely listing the keywords.

Think about it for a minute - if you were searching for a florist to send flowers to someone for their birthday and you came across the following 2 results - which would you choose?

Flowers-Florist-Flower Deliveries-Florist Sydney

Beautiful Flowers Delivered by Local Florist in Sydney.
In the next post on “Optimising your website for Google” I’ll be discussing the description that shows in the search engine results, how to use it to help with  rankings as well as how to maximise your click through rate.

Want some help with SEO? Contact us at admin@linxhurricane.com.au