Search Engine Optimization

Your shingle is on the wall, but no-one's looking. The only person visiting your site is you. You need search engine exposure.

Search Engine Tricks

While there are tricks to getting good search engine rankings, only sites which also contain useful, well written content offering a quality product/service will ultimately be successful. A recognized Resource Area on your site is a sure fire way to increase search engine rankings.

There are hundreds of search engines, most of which change their rules constantly and most of which seem to be in profound transformation. Some search engines share their data with other search engines, some are free and some are paid.

Search engines change their rules both to give users more focussed feedback and to outwit sites that manipulate the rules to get good rankings and there are extensive differences between what one search engine will permit and what another will not.

Your Role Here

Before putting pen to paper to start your site content, make a list of key words and phrases that typify and describe your business. There may be many more than you think.

Ensure that your titles, headings and content - particularly the first paragraph - are peppered with these words and phrases. These words and phrases should be those that potential visitors far away will use to find you. Put yourself in their position.

The Role of your Web Designer

Your designer should know all the current tricks of the trade to get you 'above the fold', i.e. within the first ten results. Beware the 'We will Submit your site to 3,000 Search Engines' routine. Search engines know these people and penalise them.

Warthog Web Design keeps a close watch on search engines and most of our sites rank very highly - often at the top. Remember that there are many tricks to get a good ranking but search engines also penalize those sites they think are exploiting the system so therefore the web designer treads a fine line. What works well with one search engine is penalized by another.

Your web designer should be willing to submit your site to the main engines (perhaps at a fee) and because search engine rankings are time sensitive, you should ask what he intends to do to keep your site up there over the long term. Warthog Web Design offers a search engine optimization option for both its own sites and other's together with a bimonthly/quarterly optimization contract.

Lots of Visitors - But are they Buying?

Finally, again, whilst search engine tricks will get you noticed, only the quality of your Websitewill keep you there. In the long term, the site will be judged on its merits. There is no magic bullet.

Server Logs list all activity on your site including which search engines your visitors used and which search words and phrases they used to find you. This information enables you to tune your site to visitors' expectations.

By now, you should know enough to look at a Websiteand pass an informed opinion about it.