Seo - The Gateway To Online Success-00-7641

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Websites rarely get to the top of the search engines by accident, especially on competitive search terms such as 'travel' or 'insurance'. More often than not, top rankings and profitable placements are the product of carefully planned and well applied SEO (search engine optimisation). How well is your site set up for SEO success?

The absolute importance of SEO (search engine optimisation) to your business

Search is big news. With in excess of 6 billion monthly online searches in the UK alone, UK internet users now spend 64% more time using search engines (31 million hours per month in April 2010) than they did 3 years ago.

Put simply - if you're not seeing your website at the top end of Google on searches relevant to your business, your Search Engine Optimisation is letting you down and you are missing out on valuable sales.

The fact that customers are not being exposed to your products and services when they search online means that they're probably finding and going to your competitors' websites instead. No matter how good your website, your proposition and your offering, if your SEO ...
... isn't right then it will inevitably be other companies in your sector, the ones with effective Search Engine Optimisation who are growing fat on business and profits that could be yours.

Whilst you deals may be better, your prices lower and your service superior, if people can't find your offerings quickly and easily then to put it bluntly - you don't exist. With 80% of people who search online never venturing beyond the first page of search returns and 50% of them only likely to visit sites listed within the top 5, you have a small window of opportunity. It's important to do all you can to make sure that you are there too. Cue SEO.

The 3 steps to Search Engine Optimisation heaven

Organic SEO, also known as natural search engine optimisation, refers to listings of search returns you see when you enter a search query. Your organic rankings can't be influenced by bidding on search terms (PPC) or buying sponsored links. Only Search Engine Optimisation can influence them. Google assesses a search query and returns what it considers to be the most relevant pages based on its search algorithm (a set of more than 200 'signals' that it uses to match queries with pages stored in its index).

Search Engine Optimisation needs time and it needs commitment. Most of all it needs a considered and professional approach. Here are the 3 all important facets of Search Engine Optimisation that when applied with experience and expertise are almost guaranteed to boost ROI.

1. On page SEO - refers to optimisation that takes place on your site such as applying appropriate meta tags, keywords and content to your homepage and web pages.

2. Off page SEO - refers to any work you do that encourages links to your site, for example from online articles, press releases or editorials. Inbound links are vital and links from well-trusted and well-ranked sites can play an important role in elevating your site above the competition.

3. Conversion. It's all very well attracting traffic to your website, but unless you are able to convert that traffic then the whole process is a waste of time. An often overlooked yet crucial component of successful Search Engine Optimisation is conversion. Well designed landing pages result in visitors completing calls to action such as placing an order, renewing a subscription or casting a vote.

Don't take chances with your online business - make sure that your site enjoys proper search engine optimisation.

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