Google is the world no. 1 choice for search engines. It is estimated 1,100,000,000 unique monthly visitors use it. Compare this figure with Bing, the no. 2 choice of search engine with an estimated monthly visitor of 350,000,000 there is little surprise Digital Marketing Agencies focus on Google. Google was launched in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who met a year previously at college. Google was Registered as a domain in 1997 after the two college friends begin collaborating on a search engine called BackRub.
Since this time Google has grown and grown and is now worth an estimated $32.7 billion and is ranked as the top #8 employer to work for by Forbes’ in their best place to work 2016 article. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/12/14/the-best-places-to-work-in-2016/#795ce89a52fe
The internet and how users use the internet is ever evolving. It changes on a yearly, monthly, daily, even hourly basis so search engines have naturally evolved. How many of us use online shopping? We can use the internet to order Pizzas, buy a new television, it’s a means in which we communicate with family & friends. Search engines primary focus is on creating a personalised search experience.
Search engines send “spiders” to crawl through the internet checking website content. It searches for the most relevant, authentic, authoritative, useful and trustworthy answers to the question you have asked. It understands the words the user has entered!! It’s a mind blowing process.
From the data entered, the search engine will produce a list of results. The order of those results will depend on a large number of criteria that Google’s algorithm will use to decide which results appear where. A typical example of a search on Google is shown below. Google is so advanced, it can make suggestions as to what the user is asking and may offer alternatives, in this example we use digital marketing agencies in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire:
Depending on the specifics of the keywords entered into the search engine and the location of the person searching, the results will vary. The more specific the search the more specific the results. As you can see in the below example I have entered TU Marketing into the search engine and it has automatically found us.
What is Search Engine Ranking?
Search engine ranking usually refers to the position a particular website appears organically in the results of a search engine enquiry.
A website is considered to have a high ranking when it appears at or near the top of the list of search engine results. Ensuring your website ranks highly is an incredibly complex area, we will touch on it briefly below when we look at SEO. Another way to ensure your website appears towards the top of the search results is to pay for it. This can be purchased through Google Adwords. Google Adwords can be identified by the yellow Ad box:
Search engine ranking starts at 1. All Digital Marketing Agencies aim to get their client’s ranking on the first page of Google (positions 1 – 10), preferably in the number one place, but not always. What makes simple sense will now become confusing, search engines rank individual pages of a website, as well as the entire site. If you search for a specific keyphrase you may see the home page rank in position no. 1 (the perfect ranking), however a ‘contact us ‘page, ‘blog page’, ‘information page’ may rank at a completely different number (say 10 (not such a good ranking)), so it’s not unusual to see more than one page from the same website ranking for the same keyphrase.
What is On Page SEO?
On Page SEO (Search engine optimization) is the process of improving your website so that it attracts more visitors from search engines.
Long gone are the days of creating a website and getting found in Google easily. In as little as 10 years, designing a website, using a simple domain name, adding some basic HTML codes, a little metadata and a few keywords has gone into a complex business. Digital Marketing Agencies and their uses being a prime example of the internet evolving. Where most businesses didn’t need help with their websites it’s now a fundamental part of business and any company not keeping up with trends will fall behind.
The goal of any SEO campaign is for a website to appear in the top of a search engine’s results based on organic results.
Key points in any SEO strategy is:
• Start with a plan
• Carry out keyword research
• Segment audiences
• Create content around your keywords
• Optimize content around a primary keyword
• Promote your content
• Ensure your website is available for mobile devices, such as iPhones and iPads
• Earn links to your content with external organisations
• Ensure your URL’s contain the right language
• Clarify Metadata contains the right language
• Research domains and Host Providers
• Set realistic goals for your SEO efforts.
Keywords (long tail, short and broad tail) are the words a user enters into a search engine. An article worth reading in relation to researching keywords is https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2013/01/08/keywords-are-dead-long-live-user-intent/?amp=1
SEO is confusing and don’t expect immediate results. With any SEO campaign it can take up to 12 months for results to start showing.