> SEO Faq’s & answers

1. What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimisation is the process of making your website more search engine friendly in order to achieve search engine rankings that drive targeted traffic and customers to your web site. SEO is an ongoing process which involves with the initial on page optimisation of the site, (coding programming etc.) and off page marketing.

2. What good is having a web site if it can’t be found in Google?

Millions of Internet buyers are using search engines to find the products they want. Google alone conducts  millions searches a day and recent studies show that purchasers are about 14 times more likely to buy your products or services after finding your site through a search engine compared to tv, radio and newspaper advertising.

So you have a website, but can it be found by your customers? Often we see great looking websites created by designers all with the latest  functionality…but the website cannot be found in google. Put it this way, would you open up or refurbish your high street shop and then lock front door.  This is basically the same as not optimising your website properly so customers cannot get in to shop. I can’t stress the importance of getting an SEO expert on board at the design stage. It makes sense otherwise it could cost you more to alter later.

3. Why doesn’t my Web site rank very well in Google?

Having your web site rank high in the search engines is a science and the rules for search engine optimisation (SEO) are continually changing.

Here are some reasons why you may be having poor ranking:

a. Incorrect usage of the TITLE tags

b. Too many occurrences of the same word in a page (spamming).

c. Missing header tags and image alt tags.

d. Non relevant content and less than 200 words per page.

e. Not enough pages on your website.

f. No external links from other websites to your website.

g. The wrong type of inbound links from bad neighbour hoods.

h. Age of your domain.

4. How long will it take to see SEO result(s) ?

Time is the most important factor in seo life cycle. Search engines crawls your website from 3 to 6 weeks. Once your website cached by search engines, it will take at least 2 weeks to update the results. After that your need to keep an eye on your traffic by using analytical tools.

5. What is ranking dependent on?

Site ranking is  “cumulative” and is fundamentally dependent on the following:

* The specific keyword phrases (search terms) that have been targeted.
* The overall competitiveness of your industry – how many other similar websites are there.
* How well ranking is monitored and the site tweaked over time for SEO improvement.
* The progress of your inbound linking campaign.
* Number of competitor sites achieving new rankings themselves.

6. Can dynamic web pages harm my rankings?

If your are using any server side language like PHP, ASP , Cold Fusion etc, it would not effect your search engine ranking. But if your are using query string in URL then might drop that URL. But now a days search engines can read the 2 parameters in query string easily. It is recomended to use straight forward URLs.

7. Why might I need to have changes to my website?

A search engine spider is an automated program that looks at every URL submitted to its database. The search engine spider is a computer program, it is designed to look for and rank very specific items on each page it discovers. If it likes what it sees, the spider gives yoru site a higher ranking than it would if those elements don’t exist. There are now over 200 factors that Google looks at in deciding the fate of your website.

8. If these factors are so important, why weren’t they included when my site was originally created?

Most website designers haven’t learned the importance of search engine friendly website design. In almost every case we’ve encountered, the site designer is a highly skilled and creative person whose job is to put your ideas on the web. More often than not, the designers have not received any training in search engine optimisation and don’t think about it while pursuing a cool looking design.

Search engines are also constantly changing their ranking criteria. They do this to prevent gross manipulation of their search tools. Often, website designers are not fully up to date with changes to search engines.

9. Does every page of my website really need to be optimised?

Yes, if you want to gain the maximum potential of your web site.  Together the inter connectivity and synergy between your pages  and content reinforces the strength of your site , and when optimised the right way will help boost rankings. It’s not just your home page you should be optimising but your main category and all your product pages as well.

10. Can we try optimising ourselves?

SEO is a specialised subject and is one job that certainly requires an expert and experience.Yes you could do it your self  but it is also very time consuming and you are probably better off concentrating on other areas of your business.

Outsourcing your SEO is most definitely makes sense as recruiting a team of  technical SEO personnel would not be  cost effective. We do however offer consultancy to internal marketing departments on how to carry out seo inhouse.

11. Can any SEO guarantee first page rankings ?

Nobody can guarantee a number #1 position or specific ranking for your site for a given keyword phrase in the organic search engine results – if they do then they are more likely to be risking their reputation.  There are many talented people are working in the field of search engine optimisation, but no one can gurantee top rankings for highly competetive phrases. If some one claims they have close relationships with search engines like Google or Yahoo, get references of previous work and analysis how the phrases were competitive.

There are also simply too many factors that effect ranking positions including your competitor efforts and the addition of new sites and changing algorithms.

Obtaining a specific search engine ranking can be compared to managing a portfolio of stocks and shares. You can never be exactly be sure on an accurate forecast.

12. I found other services that are much cheaper: why is this?

Some companies take advantage of the uninitiated website owner promising top rankings for £9.99 or something similar. Beware of such promises – if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. That £9.99 will typically buy an automated submission to 5,000 “engines” that nobody ever visits or possibly even result in a domain ban for over submitting. Once the £9.99 campaign is finished, so is your domain. There is no such thing as #1 rankings in all search engines or “it only takes 2 weeks and £9.99″.

More importantly, most of these services only include submission, not optimisation, as a part of their deal. Submitting an un-optimised site to the engines simply will not improve your rankings. If you don’t plan on optimising your site before submission then you shouldn’t bother submitting it at all.

13. What’s the right time for me to start a search engine marketing campaign and how long will it last?

No time like the present! We usually recommend 6-12-month campaigns. There is a tremendous amount of  research, analysis, technical programming, and testing performed in the first 3 months in particular.

14. How often will I receive search engine ranking reports?

We send out search engine ranking reports monthly to our clients.

15. How often do you resubmit my site to search engines?

If your site is search engine compatible and optimised correctly, regular resubmission to engines is generally unnecessary although we find that monthly submissions to some search engines assists in maintaining rankings. Our ranking reports and maintenance checks keep track of your site every four weeks. If your site is already ranking highly, there is no need to resubmit it. However if any engines have lowered or dropped your site altogether (as can happen from time to time), it will be resubmitted to those engines.

If an engine has dropped your rankings considerably since last report, it is time to tweak your META tags or check the optimised pages for any problems. This is included as part of your Monthly Site Ranking Management Service. Search engines will generally pick up the changes during their next edit and re-rank the site accordingly.

16. How will I know if my business increases as better search engine rankings?

There are numerous Web Analytics tools available in the market that can help you to track the effectiveness of your campaign. By the end of the first six months, you will get an analysis of your activity at the end of the campaign as compared to the baseline established at the beginning of the campaign.

17. How can I get top rankings for my website?

If you want page one rankings on Google and would prefer to pay for them once they have been achieved, we can discuss your requirements and get a no risk, no obligation SEO Quotation.