Get yourself discovered

15 August 2007
Over 70% of websites are discovered via a search engine, so it is vital that your website ranks strongly for all relevant phrases.

A typical search on a major search engine, such as Google, can produce thousands, if not millions, of results. Without the right presence, finding your site will be like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

It is therefore crucial that your web site is listed prominently within search results for keywords and phrases relevant to your products, services or business. However, simply being listed in search results may not even be enough.

If you want potential customers to find your site then it is imperative that you are ranked on the first few pages of search results. The majority of search engine users will not bother looking beyond the first or, if you're lucky, the second page of results. Studies show that results on the first page of listings enjoy a click-through rate of approximately 75%.

What about your site? Do you enjoy a high ranking for the right search phrases on Google? If your site isn’t optimised then you could be missing out on potential business. If a user can’t find your site when searching for relevant key phrases then they might instead find a competitor’s site and become their customer instead.

It might seem like a never-ending battle, but it need not be. Here are HeadRed’s top 3 tips for achieving effective search engine optimisation:

1. Content – You need to make sure your site’s content is relevant, visible, up-to-date and possesses a strong keyword density. What are your target key phrases? Do these phrases appear in the correct locations on your page? Overall, you want the main content to be relevant to the key phrases you want to promote. For example, if your company sells widgets make sure the customer knows this.

2. Links – Effective internal linking will ensure all of your site’s pages will be ranked, not just your homepage. Furthermore, external links that point to your site will allow Google to properly assign page rank to your domain, resulting in a higher ranking. This could be as simple as asking your clients, partners or colleagues if they would be willing to include your link on their site. Or failing that, you can submit your site to any number of web-based directories.

3. Page Titles – Your page titles (the text in the blue bar at the top of the browser) should be clear, concise and to the point. Google looks at these too, so ensure that they read properly and contain keywords relevant to your business.

Your website can provide significant return on investment, but it can only do this if it attracts quality traffic. HeadRed can help put you on the right track so you too can enjoy a constant stream of targeted traffic to your site.