In the previous Session we looked at How does a Search Engine work. In this section we look at 2 steps to search engine optimisation.

Download a PDF version of this lesson (29k) 2 Steps to Search Engines Optimisation. This lesson is a sample from the manual.

Searching on Google returned the following results:

Lessons:

1. Single word searches return large numbers of generic results. “Hawaii” relates to government, university or an almost unlimited number of unrelated topics.
2. The competition in single word searches is higher.

In our view there are only 2 basic steps to getting your website to be search engine friendly.

• Step 1 – Get on the Right List
  • Search engine users are searching for a specific result.
  • You need to identify the keywords that your potential visitors will be looking for. If your business is a hotel then list 5 above offers better prospects than list 1.
  • The right list is your target market. If the searcher is searching for “tax return” then accountants are more likely to be appropriate than say a ballet school.
• Step 2 – Get off page 1738
  • Once you have identified the keywords that your target market is searching for, the next task is convincing Google of the relative importance of your site so that you end up in the first few SERP’s.
  • A well targeted list is less likely to have competition.

You will recall from the SERP discussion that Google returns 2 lists of results and this offers two opportunities to get on to a low number page:

• Purchase sponsored links
  • The most effective way to generate traffic quickly is to purchase AdWords on Google auction [also referred to as Pay-Per-Click (PPC)].
  • To get started you need to open an account with Google.
  • The minimum start up balance is US$5
  • Negotiate the rate per click for your chosen keywords and set the daily expenditure limit.
  • This is purely a numbers game i.e. test and measure whether the number of hits x conversion rate are generating a profit or not. Amend keywords and/or copy to optimise results.
  • A modest investment in AdWords is a good way to quickly measure the effectiveness of new keywords. You will get a response within 24 hours to establish the effectiveness of keywords.
• Free search engine results
  High ranking result or perhaps even # 1on the free listing is the most cost effective long term strategy.

Once Google has included your website pages in the SERP that match the query phrase it uses PageRank© formula to decide what order to display the results in.
The PageRank© algorithm is top secret but we have been told by Google that it uses more than 100 determining factors, some of the most important of which are:

• Number of Inbound links: When one page links to another page it is casting a vote for that page and so the more links (votes) a page receives, the more highly Google ranks that page.
• Quality of Inbound Links: I.e. you inherit PageRank© from pages that link to you.
  
  
  
  • NB! The PR calculation above is a simplification to illustrate the principle. We don’t know specifically how the Google algorithm works.
  • Inheritance means that PageRank© is both received and passed on.
  • PageRank© bleeds with external links.
  • Increasing the number of outbound links dilutes the quality of inheritance passed on.
  • Google doesn’t distinguish between internal and external pages.

To establish PageRank© for any page you will need to download and install the Google toolbar to your browser.

So how will you know when your ranking is good enough?
The best guideline thus far is based on data released by AOL. [http://www.jimboykin.com/click-rate-for-top-10-search-results/] based on 9,038,794 searches conducted in August 2006 with click through rates as follows:

So it is clear that to be effective you need to strive to get your listing on to page 1 of the SERP for your chosen key words. Some sites spend literally millions of dollars to get their sites to page 1 and keep them there. You need to undertake a cost benefit analysis to decide whether the effort justifies the return from increased sales for your business

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or Go on to the next lesson on Keywords and Key Phrases