SEO Strategies

What actually makes a good SEO strategy?

Which are the most important factors? Are there techniques that should be avoided?

With so many changes from Google over the last 12 months, what now makes an effective SEO strategy has become a topic of much debate and discussion. Many companies are still trying to sell their services based on outmoded techniques that are now classed as unethical and as such, should be avoided at all costs.

Note:  SEO is about so much more than just a few site changes or links

Things you should do

• Write content for your visitors, never the search engines. The reason behind this is that poor SEO content sounds like it has been written by a robot and will result in people not trusting you = high bounce rate and no links. You want links!
• Give your pages thoughtful titles. A page that is titled based on that page’s content will help visitors identify what they can expect to find and the search engines to determine a little more about how well targeted it is.
• Give your page a well written description. The meta description is seen in the search results so the more time you spend on making this interesting and enticing, the better. This will help draw visitors into your site.
• Plan your site. So many websites achieve poor rankings through bad designs. Simple planning of your site structure and architecture can help avoid simple mistakes. Think about using a Mind Map to help you achieve all of your thought processes.
• Reduce the number and size of images. This plays a large part of any SEO  / Design best practice. No-one wants to wait ages for images to load – this includes search engines!
• Remember your Sitemap. So many websites go without this and are ignoring basic best practice changes that the search engines want to see – remember, even the small changes can make a difference.
• Keep content and titles unique for every page. The search engines thrive on unique content. Make every page different and you will benefit greatly.
• Use Crumb Trails. Look towards the top of this page and you will see what a crumb trail looks like. It is a way to see where you are and how you can get back again. It is also great for the search engines as they can crawl your pages more readily.

Things you shouldn’t do

• Never beg for links. There is nothing worse than spam that lands in your inbox from someone who wan’t to exchange links. Exchanging links does next to nothing, so don’t waste your time… or others!
• Never submit your site to “500 search engines for £29.99″. This is known to do absolutely nothing at best, but has been known to be damaging to sites as well – will you take that risk? No, we would not advise you to do so either.
• Never go near Black or Grey Hat techniques. This should go without saying, but what was once considered a white hat technique, might now be black. Ensure you know exactly what you are doing – or your SEO consultancy knows! Many companies don’t care about customers and will still perform un-ethical techniques.
• Don’t copy content. At first you might wonder why, but are you aware that Google is now penalising websites that do copy content? Write your own, or have someone write it for you. Take no chances here!
• Don’t keyword stuff. Keyword stuff was a technique used a long time ago but has since been clamped down on by Google. At the time of writing this, it is acceptable to have a keyword in the URL, the Page Title, in the page heading and a few times in the content – never go beyond this point.
• Don’t leave your SEO until the last minute! The longer you leave it, the longer it will take to get to the same level as your competitors - who have already started theirs! SEO is something that pretty much every website owner will need to do at some point, so leaving it is just putting off the inevitable.
• Don’t start something you wont finish. Once committed to an SEO campaign, see it through to the end as finishing half way through could be damaging.

These are just a few of the many SEO techniques that you should and shouldn’t follow today. The lists above are nothing more than a few of the more obvious ones, but please do contact us if you have any questions relating to points here.

Effective SEO Packages

For 10 years we have been developing SEO packages that change with the times and often exceed our customers expectations.

We believe in complete transparency both ways. This helps us to understand your business, and just as importantly, you are able to see exactly what we are doing and how we are doing it.

To find out more about our SEO services, please contact us.

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