How do I get my website ranked?

We’ve all seen adverts and emails like these, but are they true?

• Submit your website to 1,000 search engines instantly.
• Top 10 search engine ranking overnight

The unfortunately answer is ‘NO’ and also “it’s complicated”! After all, if it were that simple, every website on the planet would be Number 1. Just because your site is registered with every search engine on earth, does not mean any of them rank you highly. In fact, by submitting a poor website to them all, you’ll destroy any chance of ever getting ranked. Sharp increases in popularity, especially for new sites, are often viewed with extreme suspicion by search engines. Is this site employing dodgy tactics?

Search Engine Optimisation is a constantly evolving and ever more confusing art. It’s one of those jobs that, with just a little knowledge, most developers could do quite well at. It’s also one of those jobs; that would be easy to make into a science.

The good news is, most websites are awful in terms of SEO. If you were to create short bullet points of the mistakes made on the average page or site, you’d cover several sheets of paper. Why is this good? For a lot of search terms; it shouldn’t be too hard to get a well designed website, ranked close to the top. Everyone else’s weakness could be your strength.

The first and often most significant SEO mistake?

SEO is done by geekie anorak wearing nerds, working from their mums’ dark basement- Right?

WRONG!!!!! – HUGE BIG FAT WRONG!

• SEO is done in the boardroom
• SEO is done by all employees including and not exclusively the marketing office and web developers
• SEO is done from existing, establish material
• SEO is done by people with no knowledge of coding
• Most importantly, SEO is done form info supplied by your customers, suppliers, distributors and possibly competitors.

Sure, some areas of SEO are best left a ‘nerdie mystery’ but hopefully, we can help you, to help yourself. The best advice is DON’T LEAVE CONTENT AND COPY TO YOUR WEB DESIGNER!

• Web designers have to say they understand SEO: it’s their job
• A lot of web designers think that SEO is about adding a few lines of code.
• When working within teams, web designers often compete to over complicate sites, leaving them invisible to search engines, irritating to visitors and slow to load.

The Biggest SEO Mistake?

The SEO expert is brought in after the website has been ‘finished’. SEO is not an afterthought and should be looked at as the foundation upon which a solid site is built. Before even a single line of code is written, a clear site map, a list of goals and draft copies of all content and graphics need to shown to the SEO guru. If this is not done; even for professionally created sites; an SEO expert may recommend that deleting and starting over to be the best option. SEO is integral to every aspect of design: content, code, graphic design, branding, scope, functionality, marketing……………

Every web developer thinks they have some secret way of doing SEO, but the simple fact is Search engines try really hard to keep websites that have quality content close to the top of rankings, not those that have ‘tricked’ search engines. Keep your content original and informative.

Remember, what gets your site listed today, might not work tomorrow and changes during the design process may have unexpected impacts upon future on SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages). Finally, even the best SEO expert will struggle to overcome some decisions made in the boardroom. The more work done up-front; before you even pick up the phone; the less labour intensive, time consuming and indeed successful the whole job will become. When you talk to the SEO expert, stay flexible, as some of the recommendations may not be what you want to hear. A balance must be struck and the implications understood.