SEO is essentially a constantly evolving study of what factors the search engines take into account when they ‘rank’ you in their natural search listings. These organic listings are what we predominantly see when we search for any keyword. They are not to be confused with the Pay per Click entries. On the major Search Engines, you’ll see a box at the top, and a column down the right hand side. These are the paid adverts. Whereas the free listings are taken from the main index. The Search Engines look at a site’s relevancy and value when establishing its position in the hierarchy.

We want to be right up there where we can be seen. Nobody will know we’re there if we’re way down on page eight! It isn’t possible to say for certain exactly which measures SE’s use to grade sites. They keep it a closely guarded secret!

Because of this, much technical expertise has developed around the subject. We have Search Engines constantly developing new technology on the one hand. Leading to great mystique over their ratings methodology. On the other hand, there’s Search Engine Optimisation. SEO empirically measures and tests data to establish the more significant factors that the SE’s are using.

The objective is to maximise both ‘on-page’ and ‘off-page’ optimisation. There are also ‘off-web’ factors such as demographic and geographic information - but we have no control over this area. (We’ve covered ‘Off Page’ factors in a separate article, as there wasn’t enough room here.)

‘On-Page’ SEO

It’s possible to change the pages of your website to make them ‘friendly’ to the Search Engines. It’s not too complex - it just requires setting your website up the right way. Doing things such as: Keyword seeding (in the right places and the right amounts), using H1 and H2 header tags (and to some extent meta-tags) and internal linking.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand the technical terms. The bottom-line is, that while it is the easiest to control, it has the LEAST affect on your ranking. To be blunt, some would say it hardly has any effect at all. Search Engines used to credit on page factors in the past. Not any longer though.

The only time that ‘on-page’ becomes important is when you have taken care of ‘off-page’ and have a lot of inbound ‘back-links’. If that’s the case, internal linking and a certain amount of on-page fine-tuning can reap rewards.

Some Words Of Caution… A phrase that shows vast numbers of results should not be your first SEO target. For instance, if you typed into a Search Engine the term Car insurance, seventy million results would be listed for the UK alone. It’s fairly obvious that seventy million competitors is a few too many for someone just getting started.

And Yet - When car insurance is prefixed with ‘Southampton’, it becomes a less intolerable three hundred thousand. (Which could be useful if I sold car insurance in Southampton!) You might think that still sounds a lot, and yet it’s not in SEO terms.

I could expect to get ranked far more easily for the longer phrase. In reality, getting ranked for car insurance would cost a fortune! I’d actually be head to head with the really big boys. So not a great idea - especially, in fact, when there are much better ways to go about it.

Therefore, we’re looking for phrases that yield less overall results - but quite accurately sum up what we do or what we offer. These ‘long tail’ phrases might contain a number of specific keywords. They could be anything from two to seven words in length. Generally we use 3 to 4 words.

It’s sensible to start SEO work on terms that yield under half a million returns. (If the sites on the front page haven’t used SEO techniques, then we might go with bigger yields). Over time we’ll gain ground on the larger search terms. This will happen automatically through building back links. We can go for some of those after several months if we’ve SEO’d well. A line of attack like this makes business sense. Basically we zone in on people who are specifically searching to purchase.

Your home page isn’t the only place for back-links. Spread them liberally around your website. This technique is referred to as Deep Linking. For example, build links to the pages that group products. That’s because pages like this generally have links to several individual pages. So don’t limit the back links to one page. Google and the other SE’s are looking more and more at how individual pages on your site are listed and treated.

Basic SEO theory and ‘on page’ factors have been covered in an earlier article. However, what really matters concerns off-page SEO. It’s a sort of selection process. If another site places a link to your site then that site has given you a vote of confidence. They’re saying, “Look at them - they’ve got something interesting to say…”

There are 2 main bits to the link. First, the actual URL or web address of the page they are pointing to. And second, the ‘anchor text’ or ‘keyword phrase’ that is highlighted on the web-page for you to click. That page can then be seen as receiving one ‘vote’. To clarify, that’s a check in the box saying raise this site up the organic Search Engine lists for the phrase embedded in the link.

It always works in this way. The keyword phrase and targeted page are completely tied to each other. You can’t create a vote for a page without some highlighted anchor text. The anchor text notifies the Search Engine about the page’s content - and thus what search term it should come under. This is vital to understand: The anchor text controls which searches you would appear for.

Therefore, can you see why “Click HERE for more information” is next to useless for creating SEO value? We’ve simply voted for the words Click Here. Who in their right mind would type “click here” in the search box to find a site? Nobody would.

That’s the reason the anchor text must be right. It denotes which terms you’ll be ranked for. (Before we move on - are you aware that if you did search for Click Here, you’d see Adobe Reader Download listed first). Did they do that on purpose? Of course not! It’s simply that ‘click here’ features on so many sites to download Adobe Reader.

In short, anchor text phrases are always used by the SE’s to place a vote. And why not? Google wants to emulate what a real human being is looking for and would like to find. The content of your page isn’t necessarily relevant. You’ll rank for the terms in the anchor text phrases that point to you. That is how it is.

Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that… Because the SE’s also use the page title and wording of the page being pointed at to correlate the results. Along with a host of other things as well. (To give you an idea, the spread of the sites linking to yours, and their relevancy to your site).

But the essence of this shows that the single most important factor in SEO is lots of back-links. If these back links come from a variety of sites and have well phrased anchor texts, then so much the better. The weight, or influence of the site stands for a lot as well - A link that’s come from Adobe for example would rate much more highly than one from a local newsagent’s site.

Identifying which keywords to use deserves time and effort. Before you settle on the right ones for you, give due diligence to your competitors keywords. Fundamentally though: Which words do potential clients ‘Google’ when they’re searching for the things you supply? When you know that, you know which keyword phrases and anchor text to use.

Interesting answers often come up when you do your researches and tests. The phrases that perform best are sometimes quite unforeseen. So many different phrases come to mind when we think of what to search for. Someone may type in SUPPORTIVE MATTRESS if they’re looking for a better night’s sleep. Yet ‘more sleep please’ could be someone else’s first thought.

Would you really want to trust your marketing to vague ideas and feelings about what might be typed in? A lot of measuring, testing and research of each term is of vital importance. They’ll form the basis of ALL the visitors you’ll get to your website. Picture an advert featured in the Yellow Pages. You won’t receive any calls if you’re listed under an inappropriate heading. Search Engine Optimisation can only be effective with painstaking and detailed keyword research.

We’ve discussed the basic premise of Search Engine Optimisation, (including factors pertinent to ‘on-page’ optimising) in an earlier feature. But ‘Off-Page’ SEO is what’s really important. It’s rather like a voting scheme. Site A gives a link (vote) to site B. It’s as if they’re promoting the value of the site.

A couple of main parts feature in this link. The web address (in other words the actual URL) of the targeted page. And then the keyword or phrase for that web page. A ‘vote’ is then generated for an individual website page based on that keyword phrase. i.e. one vote towards this site appearing higher up in the natural listings when we type that phrase in the search box.

This always works like this. The anchor text and page pointed to are irrevocably tied together. You can only proffer a vote for a web page that has anchor text highlighted. Search Engines utilise Anchor Text as an indicator of what the page’s content is. Read that again, because it’s vital… The anchor text determines the search terms your site will be rated for.

For this reason, a highlighted link with ‘CLICK here to read more’ would serve no SEO purpose - can you see why? ‘Click Here’ becomes the keyword phrase we’ve created a vote for. Who on earth is going to search for that term? There isn’t anybody.

That is why the anchor text is SO important. As the keyword phrases you will be rated for depend on it. Incidentally, the Adobe Reader Download always comes top if you do search for ‘Click here’ on Google. Is that because Adobe want to rank for ‘click here’? Heck No! But think how many web pages include a link to their site with the words click here…

So to count a ‘vote’ for a web page, the Search Engines always go to the anchor text. It is the logical thing to do. The SE’s process tries to follow the logic of a human being. It even won’t matter what the rest of the page talks about in some ways. If all the anchor text phrases that point to you say ‘yellow balloons’, then that’s what you’ll rank for! That’s irrefutable!

Naturally, there’s more to it than that… The Search Engines also take into account a pages’ title and its wording. Plus a whole bunch of other factors as well. For example; how spread-out and relevant the sites are that are linking to you.

But the essence of this shows that the single most important factor in SEO is lots of back-links. If these back links come from a variety of sites and have well phrased anchor texts, then so much the better. The weight, or influence of the site stands for a lot as well - A link that’s come from Adobe for example would rate much more highly than one from a local newsagent’s site.

Selecting the right keywords to build ratings for is quite technical. (And you should perform a lot of keyword and competitor research before putting any strategy into place.) The main thing is - What does an enquirer search for when they’re looking for your products and services? Because that’s it! The answers give you your exact keyword phrases.

Getting it right though takes a lot of measuring, testing and research. It’s so often the case that the phrase people expect is NOT what produces the most results. Different people view what they’re looking for in various ways. If you’re desperate for better quality sleep, the words ‘comfortable mattress’ might come into your mind. Whilst the line GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP could be used by someone else.

It’s simply not worth relying on supposition. DO NOT under-estimate the value that well-phrased keywords can carry. How much visibility your site gets is absolutely dependent on this. An analogy could be drawn with a listing in the Business Yellow Pages. You’re not going to get any enquiries for Car Repairs if you’re indexed as a Hairdresser! Successful SEO is the result of meticulous analysis of keyword research.

SEM is the solution for all on-line promotions. Therefore we must address this issue. It’s not rocket science that businesses should be on the web. It’s not enough just to be online though. If nobody can find you, you might just as well not be there!

Look at it this way - imagine a retail enterprise with new premises: Stock has been bought, and the overhead is high. The staff are all poised - And discover they’re in a tiny backstreet, 3 miles out of the city centre on the 4th floor, and the road outside is closed due to a diversion. Worse still, no thought has gone into promoting where they are. Can you see a fundamental flaw? And so it is for most websites.

Marketing has undergone a huge change because of the internet. A decade or so ago, it was fashionable to jump on the website bandwagon. Complex graphical websites costing thousands (or tens of thousands) were regularly launched. Obviously, this new business was very welcome to web design companies. Then it became apparent that no-one was visiting these sites. There was a belief that if you built it, they would come. Sadly, this wasn’t true…

Modern internet marketing requires a fundamental shift in thinking from traditional marketing. People used to established marketing techniques would say your web site is simply an advertisement of your company and its products. As a result, they’ll try to get you to promote the site on radio, TV or in the press. Essentially they’re working in the same way as they’ve always done. They start with a flashy sales site, and then try lots of ‘off-line’ avenues to get people to look at it. Completely missing the point of the web environment!

The World Wide Web isn’t simply a passive display board. It’s a vast interactive tool for people all over the world. We can discover in-depth information, research products and services and chat with others before we buy. The Search Engines - such as Google and MSN (now Bing) - have made this easy for us as customers. They’ve put together massive directories to guide us. Yellow Pages would be a nightmare if it wasn’t indexed properly. How would you ever find what you wanted?

The Search Engines solve this dilemma. And so marketing is forced to move on. If you want customers to find you on the internet, indexation by Google etc. is paramount. Yet if you only show up a few pages in, you might as well forget it. By the time you get to page 5, you can forget it, unless you’ve got a very detail-oriented and persistent customer!

But Search Engines are interested in making money - so to overcome high rating difficulties, paid advertising was introduced. You Pay Per Click, so you’re only charged for your ad when someone clicks on it. How refreshing was that? Because now you didn’t have to spend anything until an interested person looked at your web page. Advertising in this way requires well informed judgement, but if handled properly it can be very worthwhile.

Alas, the market is bombarded with this form of advertising these days. Prices have risen hugely. This is mostly due to high bids being put in by marketers with no experience. Some words and phrases command such high click prices that profits aren’t possible for many companies. This happens mostly where lots of clicks are essential to get one buyer. So Search Engine Optimisation is now becoming a preferred method for many to get to page 1.

To illustrate the challenge: Visit Google now and search for some of your company’s keywords. Do you feature in the first three lists? Most likely not. In other words, you’re no-where to be found. If the answer was yes, are those terms actually being used by customers?

You could be relatively happy with PPC. But are you professionally managing your campaign? What kind of returns are you getting? Do you measure the quality of each campaign and draw up accurate statistics? Without testing and measuring, you can’t be sure what works best. There will always be an element of guesswork (and consequently less than perfect results) without accurate stats.

Sales statistics are now clearly showing that both UK and worldwide commerce is undergoing a paradigm shift towards online sales and marketing. Companies must acknowledge this, to survive and flourish in today’s economy.

(C) Jason Kendall SEO. Go to EvolveSEM.co.uk for in-depth ideas on SEM Consultants.