Auckland
based SEO Specialist, Andrew Haddleton, gives the lowdown on the basics of SEO
(Search Engine Optimisation)
As a
business owner or manager you want to be at the top of Google.
Many website
owners are confused because they thought that having a site would mean they
automatically got placed high in Google.
And most are
still wondering where is that extra business that they were led to believe
would appear, once they had a website.
It’s all
very frustrating for business owners, especially in these tight economic times.
And if you knew
how essential Google is to your business success, you would be horrified.
How
significant is a top place in Google?
Imagine what
you do when you are looking for a new product or service provider. Chances are you go to Google like most people
do.
- 81% of potential customers go on-line to find out more about
a business. (www.nielsen-online.com)
- 85% of websites are found by search engines rather than being
typed into the address bar. So if
you think people know your name or web address, that’s a dangerous
assumption.
- 91% of people only use Page 1 (google.com) so if you are on Page 3, you may as well not have
a website.
- 42% of clicks go to Number 1 (google.com) so even being on Page 1 doesn’t help you much. 10th
position gets less than 3% of clicks.
- “Small businesses who use the Internet have grown 46% faster than those that do not”. (International Business Journal)
Yet few
people know how to get up there and worse, they are sold websites that have no
chance of being ranked high in Google
Yet it
needn’t be that way. There are 3 simple
steps to getting high in Google but very few web-designers use them leaving
site owners high-and-dry or is that low-and-wet?
What gets
a website high in Google?
It’s helpful
to think what Google’s primary service aim is.
To deliver the best product (a
search result) to their customer (a searcher).
That’s it.
There’s lots
of technical stuff behind that but if you want your site to be ranked higher by
Google, just give your customers the best match to their searches.
That means
if your Home page says, “Welcome to our
site. We’ve been in business for…and have .. employees” that’s why your
site is low.
The
technical term for the getting higher in Google is Search Engine Optimisation
or SEO but I like to think of it as a translation service – translating what you,
the expert, knows, into what your customer wants.
You might
think you know what people are searching for.
After all, how difficult is it to describe your business?
You’d be
surprised. Most clients are amazed at
how many variations of their business people use. Some examples of different Search-terms
people have used for the same industry.
- Business consultant and business consultants.
- Book-keeper and bookkeeper.
- Event manager, events manager, event management.
- Panel beaters, panelbeaters, panel
beater, panel beating, smash repair.
- Tree surgeon, arborist, tree services, tree pruning.
Clients haven’t
included all of these different Search-terms on their websites. And, in most
cases, they have been using the wrong Search-terms.
So now you know
your site needs to match what people are searching for, how do you find out
what they are typing?
The three
steps are….
First, learn to speak your customers’
language.
Google actually
tells you what people are typing in their Keyword Search Tool. It’s free to use
but, as with most things free, it comes at a price….. understanding what it all
means. And there is a ton of data there
to learn.
Frankly,
many people who use the regularly use the data, don’t use it properly. That’s why so few websites make it to the
top.
Second, use that language everywhere,
even off-line. After all, it’s what your
customers are saying when they think of your business or service.
For your
website, it’s essential to use that right language in the right places in the
right way. Again, very few web-masters
or designers know what or how to use it.
Third, don’t rely on a sexy web-design
to get you top rankings.
Google
doesn’t care what shade of red you have, where the images are or whose face is
in the picture. It only cares how close
your words are to the searcher’s.
So make your
first priority finding out what people are looking for rather than spending
your dollars on a design which people will never find.
Make SEO the
foundation of your site, not an afterthought.
Bill Gates
said, “In the future there will be two types of businesses. Those on the
Internet and those out of business.”
It’s safe to
amend that to those on Page 1 of Google and those out of business.
Contact
details
Andrew Haddleton
0064 (0)21 458089
www.facebook.com/andrew.haddleton
http://nz.linkedin.com/in/andrewhaddleton
www.twitter.com/andy_haddleton
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