SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation is the process of endearing your web site to search engines - predominantly Google with arguably 93% of the UK market - in order that they consider your site to be the sort of site the searcher is looking for over others.

Search engines make money selling advertising.

The search engines make their money selling paid ads within their search pages. So the more likely they are to accurately display the web sites and information a searcher is looking for, the more likely that searcher will use them again and the more eyeballs they will have to entice the advertisers with. They are therefore motivated to try and give the searcher or 'end user' exactly what they are looking for.

THE trial and error of SEO can be time consuming.

Given that companies like Google don't publish the algorithms used in their search engines, this has left web site owners with the task of trying to guess what they need to do to rank highly in search engines. This process of trial and error can be technical and time consuming.

Enter the SEO executive..

In some cases SEO executives have tried to manipulate these algorithms to their advantage. As a result SEO has been referred to in the past as a 'dark art' - with disreputable companies finding ways to farm links from web sites that have no other real purpose, and Google combating this by demoting these sites in their rankings using such widely-known algorithmic penalties as 'Penguin' and 'Panda'.

But it's not so difficult to succeed in increasing the organic search visitors to your site using tried and tested Google-friendly methods. With perseverance and some creativity the process is actually quite simple once you know how.

Establishing your web site as an 'authority'.

In its simplest form SEO can be divided into two parts:- What you do on your site ('on-site') and what you do on other sites ('off-site'). The on-site is all about creating a format, structure, and semantic architecture (i.e. the words and phrasing you use) that establishes your site as an authority on the core subject or product of your web site. The off-site is about PR in its internet form - getting your brand recognised by other sites that are in some way related to or interested in your subject or product, and in such a way that search engines notice. This process establishes you as an 'authority'.

For some of you reading, this is basic stuff. For others it may seem like a bigger job than you first imagined... Our monthly SEO packages are scalable and break down the building blocks of our process in more detail. For a more in-depth discussion on how we work or to talk about your business needs please drop us an email at: mark@seoforsme.co.uk