Content, content, content are Google’s watchwords. Create great content that users want and you will rank well in the search results.

It Seams straight forward – Yes?

NO - far from it

Google appear to have thrown all that to the wind. For some time now I have noticed the huge rise in directory listings within the search results. I understand that directories have a place, but if I am looking to find a builder through Google, I want to find a builders website, not a directory listing this builder or that builder.

If I wanted a directory I would have typed Yell, Thompson or another such company into the search box.

What are keywords?

Keywords are the search terms that you type into a search engine whenever you want to do a search. They can be a single word or a number of words, depending on what you are looking for.

How to discover your keyword!

The best way to discover the best keywords for your website is to go through each page individually and write down the keywords that you would use to find that page. Try to be as creative as possible don’t just stick to the obvious try to think out of the box. Try to think of phases rather than just one or two words as the more specific you can be the easier it is to target your customers.

The next step is to ask / bribe your friends, family, collogues, neighbors kids, in fact anyone you can possibly get, to do the same.

Take all the keyword suggestions and add them into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, this will allow you to filter your keywords to display them in a number of ways.

So your new website has just gone online, its perfect the web designers have done a great job and it is just the way you imagined it. But what next, unless it is for your own personal use you will want to attract visitors or customers.

Today websites can be likened to small children; in order for them to grow they need to be nurtured. It takes a lot of time, care and dedication to create a successful website and getting it online is only the first step. Without some level of search engine optimization (SEO) the chances of your website being a success are greatly reduced.

Search engines use complex algorithms which are extensible a long serious of instructions to deliver a list of search results based on a users search terms. Search engine optimization is the process of increasing a website visibility within the search results, the higher up the list the more visitors a website is likely to receive. SEO can be complex and cost considerable sums of money, but there are a number of things that website owners / managers can do to increase their position within the search rankings themselves.