Search Engine Optimisation | Business Basics Series
Search Engine Optimisation or SEO for short, is the process of improving the ranking of your website it search engine results. There are many “ingredients” in the “recipe” that make up your website’s ranking in search engine results. Google, the market leading search engine, is constantly changing the value that it places on the different elements of SEO, but their main aim is to deliver the most relevant and up to date results to their users. Some of the factors involved in a website’s ranking include:
- Social Media – User’s linking to a website and discussing it via social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.
- Backlinks – Links from relevant or related websites back to your own website.
- Website Content – Although links are the main factor, having up to date, comprehensive and relevant content will greatly assist in your website’s ranking. Google’s primary aim is to provide the best search results to their users, so ensuring you have the best site in your category is the best strategy to win in the Google rankings.
- Meta tags and data – In regards to websites “metadata” or “meta tags” are pieces of information that are inserted into the HTML code of the website, but not displayed to the user in their browser. Although not highly weighted by Google any more, the more information you provide to Google and other search engines about what your website is about, the better chance you have of ranking well. Some other search engines like Yahoo and Bing are thought to give more weight to the Meta Tags.
- Responsive/Mobile Friendly Website – Google will exclude websites from search results if they are not mobile friendly, if the searcher is on a tablet or mobile phone.
Your first step in Search Engine Optimisation is to start with great content, then share it around and people will link to it.
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*Information provided is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publishing. Advice is general in nature, and may not be applicable to your particular situation.