andrew green
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search engine optimisation (dorset)
the business-oriented web marketing solution for your business
A bit of history about search engines and search engine optimisation (SEO)
A few years ago, it was pretty easy to get high rankings on search engines: stuff your page full of keywords, submit your site and there you go ... until someone else did the same. And, basically, that was the state of search engine optimisation (SEO) in those early days!
It didn't take long for the search engine companies to realise that, since they would only get people using their
sites if they delivered good results, it was useless serving up results which bore no relation to the search which
had been done.
So they started developing increasingly complex sets of rules ('algorithms'), in order to attempt to determine whether a page was relevant to a given search. These search algorithms now can contain more than 100 different tests on the page content, title, description, keywords, links, etc, etc.
The response from web designers and SEO consultants trying to use search engine optimisation was to adopt various techniques to convince the search engines into thinking that their sites were relevant. The most popular so-called 'search engine optimisation' technique was to avoid altering the visible page text, but include keywords in tiny, unreadable fonts - like this: keyword or making them invisible, by putting them in the same colour as the background colour (eg white text on a white background).
It didn't take long before the search engine designers included tests to check for this. Typically, if your - supposedly 'optimised' - site was found to be using these techniques, it would be placed far down in the rankings, or even removed from the search index completely. So much for search engine optimisation, you might say!
As time has gone on, every search engine has utilised increasingly complex technology - all with the intention of delivering the most relevant results for their visitors. In particular, they now attempt to replicate what a human visitor would look at on a page to determine whether it is relevant and appropriate to his or her search. And search engine optimisation (SEO) has become increasingly difficult, as we attempt to 'second guess' what a search engine is looking for ...
What most people think about search engine ranking and search engine optimisation
So, is there anything you can do to get your site high up on the results - even on page 1?I've heard many, many fallacies about search engine optimisation, the most popular ones being:
-
"Search engine ranking is just a lottery - there's no need for search engine optimisation"
Favoured - and believed, in good faith - by many web designers. After all, if search engine optimisation can't be done, then there's no point in the client asking you to do SEO, because it's a waste of time! -
"You have to pay to get good rankings"
This one stems from the - conspiracy theorists - idea that, in order to get good rankings in the Yahoo search engine, you have to pay the $299 annual fee to be in the Yahoo directory (which is a completely different list of sites). Or that, to get good search engine rankings in Google, you have to pay to be in the Google paid listings (the ones that appear down the right-hand side on the Google results). -
"It's easy"
This search engine optimisation fallacy is based on the idea that good rankings on a particular search keyword can be obtained by putting that keyword in the (invisible to the viewer) list of keywords at the top of your page (for the technically-minded, in the 'meta tags'). And doing very little else. Now, a few - minor league - search engines still use this list for ranking purposes. A few of these search engines actually require them to be there. However, the major search engine players (Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL) now virtually ignore them. So, as a search engine optimisation technique, this one is dead and buried.
So what is 'search engine optimisation'?
The art of search engine optimisation (SEO) is a highly complex process, requiring many different skills:- knowledge of the latest SEO techniques which work;
- knowledge of now outdated optimisation techniques which no longer work;
- spending time continually keeping abreast of search engine technology and search engine optimisation requirements;
- the - absolutely crucial - ability to create keyword-rich optimised page text which not only works for optimisation purposes, but also works as marketing copy for your service, product or company;
- the ability to stand back and look at the website as a whole and analyse whether, when search engine optimisation work gets you those visitors, your website will achieve the results you want - particularly in terms of the 'conversation' between the site and the visitor.
I should emphasise here that, when I refer to SEO, I am talking about a rigorous and comprehensive search engine optimisation process.
Many people still labour under the misapprehension that putting a few keywords in the webpage 'meta tags' will achieve good search engine optimisation results, when the reality is that this will achieve absolutely nothing.
In addition, many so-called search engine optimisation 'experts' (who might well have approached you offering "guaranteed 1st page positions on Google"), use a hotchpotch of - highly dubious - techniques: 'gateway pages', hidden page redirects, web address 'cloaking', and many other methods which produce short-term results and then always result in the websites which they have 'optimised' being completely banned from search engines.
And genuine SEO consultants will NEVER EVER guarantee positioning. I could only do this is if I knew the exact details of Google, Yahoo and MSN's search engine 'algorithms' - and if I had that information to hand I would be a very rich man indeed!
Click here
to read Google's own information about search engine optimisation - what to look for and what to avoid.
... apparently, they also receive emails starting:
"Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories ..."!
In contrast to this type of spurious, so-called 'optimisation', my expertise has been painstakingly built up over the past five years, working on real business websites, and I keep up to date with current search engine trends on a daily basis.
"This is simply superb work - I have spent an hour going through it step by step - can not fault it.
If this is the standard of phase 1 can't wait for phase 2."
, CEO of www.iXat.net
, CEO of www.iXat.net
My search engine optimisation results
The latest data on which search engine people actually use shows:Google 46% Yahoo 23% MSN 13% AOL 5%
However, since Google provides results for AOL and the entire Excite network, the real percentages for search engine optimisation purposes are:
Google 54% Yahoo 23% MSN 13% (source - www.searchenginewatch.com, July 2005 - figures are for the USA, but representative of worldwide English-speaking searches)
Google relies very heavily for its search rankings on what links it finds into a site ('in-bound links'). Since they only update their record of these periodically and since they favour older 'established' sites, good positioning on the Google search engine is difficult to obtain for a new site, or for a site with few links to it.
However, their continuing pre-eminence means that it is Google which we always have to aim for - even though improved search rankings might take some time to appear.
My experience is that, once we've attained a fair number of good-quality in-bound links and the site is around 2 years old, Google is very easy to optimise for - and they re-index very frequently, so improved search results appear within the fortnight.
It might look, from the percentages above, that the other two search engines aren't worth bothering about - but it's important to remember that those July figures are taken from 4.5 billion searches - 23% ... or 13% is a fair number of searches!
MSN launched its new search engine in mid-2004 (prior to that, they used Yahoo results). From the very start, they've favoured the type of text-based, highly-focussed, keyword-rich pages which I tend to produce, and I have always obtained excellent search engine optimisation results with this (relatively) new search engine.
Yahoo remains very easy, in search engine optimisation terms, and I nearly always get excellent results in Yahoo on the first pass of optimisation work. Yahoo, like MSN, do not favour old sites with loads of in-bound links, so your (relatively) new site can easily rank well on Yahoo.
It appears that Yahoo prefers a lower density of keywords on the page, so it can be rather an SEO juggling act to supply the (high) density which MSN requires, the medium-high density for Google and the lower density for Yahoo.
As far as the remaining 10% (including Ask [Jeeves]) are concerned, results appear on them - but, whilst I could trumpet search engine optimisation results for these, we have to concentrate on the 'Big 3'. You will only get substantive traffic from the smaller search engines if search engine optimisation work on your site is concentrated on very heavily-searched keywords (like, for example 'Britney Spears'!). But, of course, heavily-searched equals highly competitive ... you don't get something for nothing!
The search engine optimisation (SEO) results I have achieved speak for themselves.
Below are shown the current results for just a few of the sites for which I'm conducting ongoing search engine optimisation work. A dash (-) indicates a result outside the first page (20 results per page for Yahoo; 10 per page for MSN & Google).
Note that, with Google so pre-eminent in the UK search market, I don't tend to check Yahoo and MSN seacrh results regularly these days - simply speaking it's Google results which my clients are looking for.
www.1-art-1.com, www.abstractartgallery.net, www.its-raining-men.com & www.feltmaking-workshops.info (search engine optimisation work carried out together for these sites)
On Google alone, out of 92 keyword phrases currently targeted, 76 appear on the first results page, 5 on the 2nd page and 4 on the 3rd page.
| keyword phrase | Yahoo | MSN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| textile artists | 6 | 1,2 & 20 | 5 |
| UK abstract artist | 9 | 12 | - |
| abstract art pictures | 8 | 2&6 | 8 |
| british textile art | 1&2 | 7&15 | 6 |
| UK feltmakers | 1&2 | 1&5 | 8 |
| fibre art | 3 | 9 | 5&7 |
| textile art UK | 1 | 6&7 | 4&5 |
| abstract art UK | 8 | 5&9 | - |
| contemporary textile art | 1 | 2&9 | 2,3 & 9 |
| feltmaking | 2 | 10 | 5 |
| feltmaking workshops | 1&9 | 2&3 | 9 |
| textile art | 6 | 4&16 | 12 |
| etc ... |
Notice how these sites, which have been optimised for an enormous range of different keywords, tend to fare less well on MSN, which favours highly-focussed pages. These are all search phrases relevant to that business and represent remarkably good search engine results for any small sole-trader website.
In addition, I have carried out search engine optimisation work on these sites for image searches on each major search engine. This type of search is used very heavily by people looking for art on the net and my SEO results are as follows:
Yahoo image search:
- 'abstract art pictures' - 12 images on the 1st page (out of 20), plus the 1st 16 on page 2
- 'art uk' - all 20 images on the 1st page (including 3 from LovefromMe - see below), plus 10 on page 2
- 'textile art' - 16 images on the 1st page (including 8 from LovefromMe - see below)
- 'fiber art' - 12 images on the 1st page
- 'fiber art uk' - all 20 images on the 1st page, plus 18 on page 2 and 9 on page 3
- 'textile art uk' - all 20 images on the 1st page (including 16 from LovefromMe - see below), plus all 20 on page 2, all 20 on page 3, all 20 on page 4 and 12 on page 5
- etc
- 'textile art' - 3 images in the 1st page
- 'fiber art' - 3 images on the 1st page
- etc
- 'textile art uk' - the 1st 4 results on the 1st page
- 'contemporary textile art' - the 1st 2 results on the 1st page, plus another 2 on that page
- 'textile art' - 4 images in the 1st 5 results on the 1st page
- 'fiber art' - 2 images on the 1st page
- etc
www.myriadonline.co.uk - ongoing search engine optimisation for various phrases to do with natural toys, including important niche search results for this market:
| keyword phrase | Yahoo | MSN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| natural toys | 1 | 1 | 8&9 |
| natural wooden toys | 1 | 2 | 2&3 |
| natural art materials | 1 | 1&5 | 1&2 |
| natural craft materials | 1&2 | 1 | 1&2 |
| wooden stacking toys | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| ostheimer | 1&2 | 5&6 | 1&2 |
| ostheimer toys | 3&4 | 2&3 | 1&2 |
| etc ... |
www.LovefromMe.co.uk - ongoing search engine optimisation for various phrases to do with romantic gifts/presents:
| keyword phrase | Yahoo | |
|---|---|---|
| special christmas presents | 1 | 10 |
| romantic christmas presents | 3 | 10 |
| romantic christmas gifts | 1 | 2 |
| special christmas gifts | 3 | 7 |
| romantic presents for men | 1&2 | 2 |
| romantic presents for women | 3&4 | 2 |
| romantic gift for him | 5&6 | 4&5 |
| romantic gift for her | 4 | 4&5 |
| romantic present for girlfriend | 5 | 5&8 |
| romantic present for boyfriend | 1&2 | 6&7 |
| romantic gifts for women | 3 | 3 |
| romantic gifts for men | 1&2 | 6 |
| romantic gifts | 7 | - |
| romantic presents | 8 | - |
| etc ... |
There are many other search phrases for which this site is on the 1st page of Google, all of which produce real traffic on a daily basis. This an interesting example of how you can pick up valuable traffic from very focussed 3 and 4 word keyphrases - and it's generally the case that the more focussed the search is, the closer your customer is to a purchase. (Note - I am tending to abandon MSN for anything other than the highest traffic keywords, because their market share in the UK is simply not high enough)
www.bionenergycentres.com - search engine optimisation work for niche keywords associated with this business
| keyword phrase | Yahoo | MSN |
|---|---|---|
| polarity therapist bath | 1 | 1 |
| polarity therapist somerset | 1 | 1 |
| polarity therapy bath | 1 | 2 |
| polarity therapy somerset | 1 | 3 |
| polarity therapist uk | 4 | 4 |
| polarity therapy uk | 5 | 12 |
| polarity therapy | 9 | - |
| polarity therapist | 9 | 7 |
I achieved good results after the initial design and then improved on these on a 2nd pass of SEO work. These are particularly pleasing search results for both the client and me and I will be working to do further optimisation work to improve those that have poorer positioning.
www.brianjung.co.uk - search engine optimisation work for local-based keywords associated with this photography business
| keyword phrase | Yahoo | |
|---|---|---|
| wedding photographer bridport | 1&2 | 4&6 |
| wedding photography bridport | 1&2 | 5&6 |
| portrait photographer bridport | 1&2 | 2&6 |
| portrait photography bridport | 1&2 | 2&3 |
| wedding photographer dorchester | 5&6 | 6 |
| wedding photography dorchester | 6&7 | 10 |
| portrait photographer dorchester | 3&4 | 1&6 |
| portrait photography dorchester | 3&4 | 1&3 |
| wedding photographer weymouth | 4 | 7&9 |
| wedding photography weymouth | 4 | 5&8 |
| portrait photographer weymouth | 3&4 | 1&3 |
| portrait photography weymouth | 3&4 | 1&4 |
| landscape photographs dorset | 7&8 | 3 |
| portrait photography dorset | 8 | 20 (page 2) |
This was a site which I redesigned for the client, specifically to achieve good search engine results. When the site went live, the initial results were good, but these have been considerably improved with a 2nd pass of SEO work. These are good examples of what can be achieved with just a small amount of 'tweaking', following a design which had SEO always in mind. (Note - I am tending to abandon the MSN search engine for anything other than the highest traffic keywords, because their market share in the UK is simply not high enough)
www.andrewgreen.biz and www.andrewgreenassociates.com - search engine optimisation for various phrases to do with web design and proofreading in Dorset:
| keyword phrase | Yahoo | |
|---|---|---|
| andrew green | 5 | 4,5&8 |
| andrew green dorset | 1&2 (and the only result on Google Local) | 1,2,3&4 |
| web site design dorset | 13 | - |
| website design dorset | 12 (and no 7 on Google Local) | 20 |
| website advice dorset | 1 | 2 |
| web designer dorset | 16 (and no 6 on Google Local) | - |
| proofreading dorset | 1&2 | - |
| search engine optimisation dorset | 3 (and the only result on Google Local) | 4 |
| SEO dorset | 3 | 9 |
| etc ... |
As you'll see, I also achieve good (sometimes spectacular!) results on Google Local - the results appearing right at the top of the 1st page. With Google approaching 75% of the UK search market, it is Google which I now concentrate on - most website owners now find that the vast majority of their search engine traffic comes from this source. Yahoo is gradually fading into oblivion, so I treat Yahoo results as a bonus when they occur, rather than putting much effort into them specifically.
What must always be kept in mind is that you mustn't have over-optimistic expectations - with Google - for your search engine optimisation project. I must also emphasise the need for an extensive campaign to obtain links to your site.
I also optimised one of the pages on this site for image searches on photographs of Abbotsbury, the particularly beautiful village I live in, which is very popular with tourists and artists. My results for a search on 'abbotsbury photographs' are as follows:
Yahoo image search - 15 images as the 1st 15 results on the 1st page (out of 20)
And, out of interest, the results for image searches on 'andrew green' are as follows:
Yahoo image search - 12 images on the 1st page + 3 more on that page (out of 20)
MSN image search - 7 images on the 1st page (out of 20)
As part of the search engine optimisation process, I am also able to provide invaluable advice on site design and the user 'conversation', utilising my considerable experience of the internet, online and offline marketing, copywriting and proofreading.
Despite being a predominantly technical skill, I believe - very strongly - that SEO needs to be undertaken as an integral part of site design and textual/visual content. And I also believe that if your search engine optimisation consultant cannot do that, he or she is not going to give you what you want: results to suit your budget and improve your profitability.
It is these additional skills - built up over nearly 30 years in the computer industry - which provide that vital 'added value' to my clients and ensure that top-class search engine optimisation work by me provides top-class results for you.
So how much will search engine optimisation cost?
All my search engine optimisation projects are negotiated at length with you, the client, before any agreement is reached on the extent of the work and how many hours are required.One site might need only 5-10 hours initial optimisation work and then, perhaps, 2-3 hours each month for 3-4 months. A larger site might need a continuing SEO effort of 10 hours - or more - every month, for 6 months.
That is why that initial discussion process about your search engine optimisation project is so vitally important: even at my current modest rate of £45 (approx $80 US) per hour, SEO costs can easily mount up and it is of paramount importance to me that you feel you are getting value for money and that my work will help you and your business.
Search engine optimisation can provide just the boost your website - and business - needs and ensure a permanent 1st page search engine position, advertising your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This can be achieved for only a modest initial outlay and a couple of hours a month 'tweaking' your site, to maintain its position.
To start the search engine optimisation process off for your business - completely free of any obligation - just to email me, or ring me on 01305-871561.
I look forward to working with you on your SEO project.
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Search Engine Optimisation for your Dorset business from a Dorset-based web designer
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