What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)? A net egg guide for dummies...

The primary goal of search engine optimisation is to get your web site listed within the search engine's database and index. The search engine index is a database and store of web site information called content. When a search engine spider crawls your web site it sends back to the index a copy of your web site's content from that point in time. The search engine algorithm will call upon this information every time a user makes a search relevant to your web site. The search engine's algorithm will rank, based on certain criteria your pages content vs the other pages in it's index, and then decide which page is most relevant to that search. This ranking decision is almost instantaneous and dictates your final position within the search results. So the secondary goal of search engine optimisation once your site is indexed is to make your site's content more important to the search engine than your competitors, so that you appear higher in the results for your most important key phrases. If you are new to the concept of SEO please read on as we have tried to put the processes into layman terms, if you just want the nuts and bolts of net egg's search engine optimisation package please follow this link.

How is this goal achieved?

Site usability and structure.

Web site content.

After assessing the structure of your web site the next port of call is to look at your web sites content. There is a phrase in the world of SEO "CONTENT IS KING!" and never has there been a truer statement said. Search Engine spiders are suckers for unique quality content, they love it and they can't get enough of it. What's more they love content that changes form day to day, hour to hour, if it's always changing and you tell them that, they will be back time and time again to read it. Content must be unique to your products and services and really give the world wide web something completely unique that has not been seen before. The more unique your content the better. Never, never go off and rip other content for the sake of getting content, if it's already in the index the search engine won't like it.

Web page optimisation to key phrase and words.

Now we have our unique content the next stage is to optimise the content to point to key phrases and terms that best describe your business, products and services. The search engine's algorithm assesses the content of a page and draws from it that this content is about 'X'. What we need to try and achieve is that the assessment the search engine makes is the assessment we want it to make. For example if we were a company that sold 'tyres' we would not want the search engine to think our pages were about 'wheels'. Although this is related we really want the search engine to know we sell 'tyres' and that is our key term. So there is a process of page content optimisation to ensure that when each product and service page is assessed by the search engine, it is marked down as a page about the keyword we want the search engine to associate with the page.

Web site submissions to the search engines.

Joining the WWW community through link building.

Now the search engines know your site we really want them to come and visit you as many times a day a possible. A search engine spider crawls links and jumps from link to link sucking up the information as it goes. If your web site is not linked into the world wide web the spiders will not find their way to you naturally, they will only find you when they do a periodic check up. So a strategic link building program will aid in getting your site linked into the World Wide Web. Link building is the process of getting inbound links linking directly into your web site. The better the link the better it looks for your site. Good links can make huge differences in the way a search engine perceives your web site. Imagine if you will that there are mini communities on the web. Each community could be a product or service or group. A good quality of link would be a link that comes from a portal that is within your community i.e. relevant to your products and services. Having hundreds of links coming from associated community web sites linking to you has a huge bearing on how the search engine perceives you within that community industry. Think if you will of the way a spiders web is constructed, every line draws to the center, your web site at first will be at the peripheral edge of this web, the web being your community. The greater goal of the linking program is to get your web site to the stage that it is in fact the center of the web. This means that everyone with related content within your community points to you, making you the most important site within that community. Being the most important site within the community gives you the best chance of being at the top of the results when someone searches that community.

Black Hat vs White Hat SEO.

There are stories about search engine optimisation, as some people would have you believe, that it is a black art of trickery and deception. It is not. If you follow the rules clearly laid out by the search engines, add a little unique pizzazz and play the game of link building you will reach the goal you set out to achieve. Using trickery and deception may work in the short term but in the long term could have catastrophic consequences. At net egg we abide by the rules and always get results. Remember though search engine optimisation is never an exact science and will always be evolving and changing, a true SEO company can never guarantee first place no matter how much your pay them. What net egg can guarantee is that we can substantially increase the exposure and the volume of natural traffic to hit your web site.

The complete net egg search engine optimisation package.

Our proven search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques, in line with your marketing goals, make your web site more accessible to search engines and align your site with the key terms your prospective customers use so that pages from your site appear higher in natural, crawler-based listings. Our expertise extends beyond driving traffic to your web site. We focus on increasing site usability through tried and tested means and delivering holistic recommendations for all of your online business efforts.

Introduction.

Our SEO program is broken down into key components which are outlined below. net egg’s key objectives and goals for the SEO program are as follows:

• Increase your web sites exposure on the world wide web
• Increase your natural traffic volumes
• Improve ranking on search engine’s for key search terms
• Optimised site content and structure to be inline with search engine best practices
• Continually manage and monitor content and site performance and react whenever necessary

Web Site Audit.

To initiate a successful SEO program we must first establish what needs to be done, to coin a phrase we kick the tyres and lift the bonnet of your web site. The web site audit will do precisely that. The audit will consist of 6 key components which will then be presented upon completion in a document to you. The components of the audit are as follows:

1 - Search engine visibility analysis.

The search engine visibility analysis provides a detailed technical analysis of your web site and information on how search engines currently view your site. We identify opportunities to improve the visibility of your site from an architectural, design and development perspective. Details of the document include how search engines view your site, number of currently indexed pages, link popularity, and an execution plan of recommended changes to ensure maximum visibility and rankings of your site.

2 - Product and services key phrases and keywords research.

The Keyword Analysis identifies the keywords or phrases your target audience are using the most while searching for information about your products, services or industry. Through this analysis, we will establish the right keywords and/or phrases for your interactive marketing campaigns. The keyword analysis gathers data on search demand, PPC campaigns, and looks at competitor sites and complementary products. This data is then translated into recommended keywords and/or phrases to use throughout your web site. When you have the right keywords and/or phrases you have the foundation you need to achieve your search engine marketing goals.

3 - Web Site benchmarking.

net egg will create a benchmark report which is a snapshot of site performance pre-optimisation. This will outline current rankings across the search engines and current natural traffic volumes. This document will serve as a measure of our search engine marketing efforts over the course of the campaign

4 - Web site usability analysis.

Usability is the key element for any web site. The Usability Analysis provides personalised solutions on how to improve the customer experience and conversion rate of your site. Usability is measured in different ways, from a customer filling out a form to someone phoning in an order. The analysis and recommendations help to increase your defined conversion rate for search engine traffic and visitors to the web site. The site will also be audited not from a human usability perspective but from a search engine spider perspective. It is important that the site is configured to allow search engine spiders and bots to move freely around. The path of the spiders will be monitored and recommendations will be made to improve the exposure of the web site’s key content.

5 - Analysis of the competition.

The Competitive Analysis provides an effective way to measure your competition from an SEO perspective. This includes information on the competitor’s search engine rankings, link popularity, search engine visibility, and other internet marketing efforts. Pricing, product offering and analysis of traditional marketing efforts are also analysed. This analysis enables us to determine where we can most effectively focus your program, as well as set realistic timelines for results.

6 - Inbound linking research.

Several of the top directories and search engines charge a fee to have a site submitted to them. Top information portals within your sector will also charge a premium for buying text/banner links on their web sites. We research and determine the most effective inbound link opportunities as well as consider which directories you should be submitted to. We will source the links and prices of the links (generally yearly subscriptions) and present that information to You with recommendations so that you can decide on which to purchase. We will also create pseudo personalities to do viral marketing on sites such as forums to build a substantial inbound link base. We will also source link exchanges where appropriate.

An overview work required.

Upon completion of the audit net egg will establish what needs to be done to optimise the site. These common SEO task components fall into two categories, site optimisation and page optimisation.

Web site optimisation processes:

Inbound directory, text link and search engine submissions.

The internet is like a giant spiders web. Search engine spiders crawl the web linking associated content together. The goal of inbound linking is to link associated content sites into yours, this gives more validity to the search engine believing that you are the masters of your trade as the rest of the industry link to you and say you are.

Directories are proven to drive relevant web traffic. For most companies, directory Inclusion will create a long term traffic model, with minimal up front fees. More importantly, directories are indexed by search engines regularly, and the web sites listed in them are seen by the search engines often. When a search engine identifies a web site link within a directory, it typically gives link popularity credit to that web site.

Inbound directory submission incorporates some of the most popular directories on the Internet. Purposefully selected, these directories are known to contribute traffic and link popularity to our clients' web sites. We will create titles and descriptions to use when registering with each directory and will determine the most relevant section within each directory to submit our clients' web site.

For us to be noticed by the search engines we will also direct submit the site to ensure that you are crawled and indexed. Search engines submitted to will include: Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN, DMOZ and many other leading providers.

Web site template optimisation.

Web sites are invariably built using templates. The template is key to the way a human or a search engine spider navigates or reads the content of the site. Poor template structure and site architecture can lead to poor indexing of pages and poor usability. We provide detailed information on recommendations for structure, layout and the effectiveness of end-user messaging. Internal link optimisation recommendations are provided to ensure that all pages effectively tie together to maximise search engine crawler results and to enhance your visitor’s experience.

Web site monitoring through analytics

Every time an action occurs on a web site be it a page load or a visit, a log of that action is created on the web server. These logs can be accessed and reported on using an Analytics tool. The Analytics tool will show within the logs valuable marketing data such as the locations of your users, the average time spent on the site, the number of visitors/day the source of the visitors etc. etc. Having a robust analytics package in place will ensure that we can effectively gauge the success of the SEO program as well as the success of all other online marketing activities. There are varying tools available on the market ranging from free, to buy the box or monthly subscriptions.

Upon choosing a package our team will implement and configure the tool to display your desired results.

On-site Linking

Customised recommendations are provided on how to effectively tie all pages together through an onsite linking strategy to maximise results. Implementation of the recommendations will improve the opportunity for search engine spiders finding your site, improve navigation and positively impact the overall visitor experience.

Google site-maps and maintenance

Creating a proper Google site map helps to ensure the most important pages of a site are crawled and indexed by Google. We develop, optimise and properly submit a Google site map according to Google’s specifications and then confirm that the site map has been accepted. This site map is updated and resubmitted as and when major changes occur to the site and it's pages.

Web page optimisation processes:

META tags

Our team of experts assists you in making informed keyword selections based on our keyword analysis process, your site's overall content, as well as page content geared toward category, product and other more specific pages. After developing a keyword analysis for a given page, we then create page-specific META tags. Search engines use META tags as a tool to help determine the purpose and intent of a page and when used consistently with content and other SEO tools, help drive relevancy for your site.

Page content optimisation (Remember content is King!)

Search engines give massive sway towards quality unique content. You are the masters of your trade so there is no-one better to write quality content than you, where you will struggle is the optimisation of the content to pronounce key terms to the search engines. The quality of the content is one thing but the association of the content to key terms is another. Our optimisation process will optimise the content to achieve the correct keyword density levels for the page. This will then associate the page with the desired keyword which the search engine will use to rank the page against. The better the association of the keyword to the page the better the page will rank for that term.

Page source code optimisation

The source code of a page defines how it is spawned in a browser. Spiders read the source code and pull out information which relates to the page that users of the page may not see. This hidden content within the source code of the page has attached to it a value which the search engines attribute. We will optimise the source of the page to ensure pertinent content is present within the hidden fields. Modifications will include the use of Alt tags, Image descriptions, and the optimisation of Header tags.

and finally...

Dedicated account management

net egg will give you a dedicated Account Manager who would be your primary point of contact in the development, implementation and ongoing management of your campaign service. The Account Manager will have scheduled calls with you. This service model ensures we stay abreast of any changes in your business environment and stay aligned with your expectations as well as deliver marketing ideas and insights beyond organic search. During these calls we review past service deliverables for any opportunities for improvement in process or quality, review outstanding deliverables for dates and schedules and lay out future deliverables to ensure we are continuing to move down the right path.

How much does net egg search engine optimisation cost?

How long is a piece of string? This can be our only response! The cost of the service will be entirely down to the volume of work required by you. There are some quick wins like site submissions and small link building programs which we can give you very competitive quotes for, but really to fully optimise a web site will be entirely down to how much of the service you need and want. For a free informal discussion and quote about your needs please contact us today.