Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
[Have a look at my new blog Free DIY SEO which is all about search engine optimisation. The emphasis is on SEO advice for individuals and small businesses.]
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) helps a website to appear near the top of the organic search engine results. These are the results listed and ranked by search engines rather than sponsored listings, which advertisers pay for.
Most search engines display sponsored links alongside organic results in this way.
Being on the first page of the organic results (or even better, at the top) has two main advantages over paid listings; it needn’t cost you anything to get there and searchers click on them more often. The disadvantages are it takes a lot of work, time and an ongoing commitment.
If you want instant results, paying for a sponsored maybe the best option.
SEO and Design
SEO is often considered separately from the design of a site; however SEO and good website design are in many ways the same thing.
For instance, it makes sense and is good design to have each page of your website concentrate on a specific message. This coincides with the good SEO practice of having each page target a specific keyword or phrase.
So, it is a good idea to think about SEO at an early stage in the design of a website - especially deciding on keywords and phrases. In fact, if your website is a marketing tool - a way of getting more work - it’s essential you think about SEO while designing and building it.
Note that SEO is not a quick fix - there is no miraculous way of getting people to suddenly visit your website. It takes a lot of work and time, and these pages are only a brief introduction to what is a huge subject.
[What are the stages of SEO?->stages in seo]