| In this guide, we'll be explaining some of the key | | | | seen sites for restaurants that have every dish |
| concepts behind Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for | | | | described in painstaking detail only to neglect to put |
| people who are developing a brand new website. | | | | opening times on the site. |
| There's a huge amount of SEO information available | | | | Try to keep your pages relevant but split up your |
| online these days and if you end up following all the | | | | content as much as possible. For each of your |
| advice you'll find you are quickly contradicting | | | | services plan out a separate page that can explain |
| yourself, normally because good advice in the SEO | | | | them in greater detail. Individual pages with a healthy |
| world gets old quickly. | | | | amount of content are much better for SEO than |
| Hopefully this guide will be of some help. We're not | | | | one incredibly long services page with a 1,000 word |
| going to go to in depth - this is in no way a complete | | | | wall of text describing your entire business. |
| guide for every single strategy and method used in | | | | Be sure to plan for the usual 'standard' pages as well |
| the SEO world. Instead, we want to focus on some | | | | as those relevant to your business, such as a contact |
| of the most simple and far reaching changes and | | | | page and privacy statement page. |
| knowledge you need to understand the basics of | | | | Decide and Plan Keywords |
| ethical SEO. As anyone in the SEO industry could tell | | | | Keywords are by the far the most important |
| you, any of the topics covered here could have | | | | element of SEO, because these are what underpin |
| multiple articles written just focusing on them alone | | | | your whole effort. Keywords are what people search |
| and often there is more than one 'right' answer. | | | | for in Google, so you want to start thinking about |
| When we think of making our site optimized for | | | | your own content and business and what you would |
| search engines, it's important to establish a balance. | | | | search for if you were looking for your site. You |
| SEO is a crucial part of making your website stand | | | | should also think about which terms are likely to bring |
| out online and find targeted traffic, but it's not the | | | | the most relevant traffic. |
| only thing you need to consider when creating a | | | | It's important to remember that despite the use of |
| website. Simply applying every single SEO tactic to | | | | the word 'keywords', these are often used as |
| every site you own won't be very effective and will | | | | multiple words. For example, if you run a holiday site |
| be widely unnecessary. Looking too obviously | | | | you'll want to focus on terms like 'cheap holidays in |
| 'optimized' will impact on your users, as well. | | | | Spain' rather than a single word like 'holiday' or |
| This is why the term ethical SEO is an important one. | | | | 'vacation'. |
| Ethical SEO is an SEO method that relies on trying to | | | | You can also check what keywords your |
| help Google find your page because it is relevant to | | | | competitors are using by checking out their HTML |
| searches, not just because you want the traffic. It | | | | source code and looking for their 'meta' tag, which |
| means not trying to trick Google (or any search | | | | should give a big list of what they think are good |
| engine) into giving you higher rankings. Using this | | | | keywords. Using meta tags used to be a prime |
| method will keep you safe from being punished by | | | | method of SEO but in recent years they have |
| Google's strict rules on SEO, and will also mean that | | | | become far less important, though many sites (and |
| what traffic you do get from your SEO work is | | | | some search engines) still use them. |
| actually useful and could lead to real sales. | | | | It's likely that you'll also find some of their more |
| Thinking about your Domain Name | | | | important keywords in the actual title of the page |
| How much does a domain name actually affect your | | | | which can be found at the very top of your |
| SEO? It's a question that's open for debate in the | | | | browser, above the URL. Of course, if your |
| SEO world. Some companies believe that using your | | | | competition isn't using good SEO you might not find |
| domain name to display keywords is the best route, | | | | what you're looking for, but if you spend some time |
| while others believe that keeping your domain name | | | | doing research into your market you should |
| interesting and memorable works better. | | | | eventually find some sites that have already decided |
| In most cases, the latter tends to be true. A short | | | | on relevant keywords. |
| and memorable domain name normally works best. | | | | Once you've gathered a list of keywords that you |
| It's also often more practical from a brand | | | | might want to use from your own thoughts and |
| awareness viewpoint to have a catchy name and | | | | from your competitors, head over to the Google |
| logo rather than calling yourself something like | | | | AdWords Keyword tool. This is an amazingly useful |
| 'bestcheapholidaydealsandoffers' which is both generic | | | | tool for finding out which keywords are the most |
| and difficult for users to type and remember. | | | | relevant and is a vital part of finding good keywords |
| Top Level Domains (TLDs) are also important. These | | | | of your site. Write your keywords into the tool, |
| are or.co.uk ends of your overall address. TLDs are | | | | making sure to keep to one keyword per line. |
| incredibly cheap so there's no reason at all not to go | | | | Make sure to set the 'match type' to 'exact' before |
| for quality. Avoid TLDs such as.info as these appear | | | | searching so the results aren't skewed by 'similar' |
| cheap to many users and give the impression you're | | | | terms. What you should end up with is the average |
| not that bothered about your site. | | | | search 'volume' of each term so you can see which |
| Local TLDs such as.co.uk can be useful if you are | | | | terms are likely to bring the most users. This tool is |
| looking to target one market, as they give the | | | | free and may not be as accurate as some other |
| impression of a service more in touch with | | | | tools such as Wordtracker, but using its results |
| consumers from that country. It can turn off users | | | | generally will give you a rough idea of search volume, |
| from other countries however, so try to avoid them | | | | at least for Google. |
| if you're looking for international business and stick | | | | As a general idea, a new site should focus on |
| with when possible. | | | | keyterms that have less than one million standard |
| Planning Your Content | | | | results. From this list you should be able to find the |
| Planning your pages in advance rather than jumping | | | | right keywords for your site, but remember no |
| straight into creating content is a very good idea. | | | | matter the search volume remaining relevant is |
| You'll have a much better idea of the site as whole if | | | | absolutely essential at this stage. Remember to save |
| you step back and look at exactly what pages your | | | | the keyword data as you may well need it in the |
| site will need to function. There's a fine balance | | | | future. |
| between a site with not enough information or too | | | | Look out for part 2 of this guide, where we will |
| much. You'd be surprised how many times we've | | | | discuss working with keywords in more detail. |