Search Engine Optimisation Explained

Search engines and directories are the means by which most, though not all, information is found on the internet. The ability to be found in a search engine is obviously a great advantage for a website.

What is a Search Engine?

A search engine is a database system designed to catalogue internet addresses. Most search engines contain a special program called a spider (also known as a 'bot' or 'crawler'). The spider visits a website and retrieves a copy of the files found. Later the search engine will process the copies of the files and reduce them to key data for inclusion into the database. The process is fully automated and as a result is responsible for most of what we think of as search engine content.

What is a Directory?

A directory is a manual entry database system. You supply the directory with all of the required information during the submission process. This information includes, url, title and a short summary of your website. The information you submit is checked by hand by a real person. If they are satisfied the site suits the category you have selected then the site is added to the directory. The two systems therefore differ primarily in how their information is obtained.

How do Search Engines find my site?

Several elements of a web page are used by search engines to list or find a website. The domain name (this is why jelinet.co.uk also uses godalming-web-design.co.uk), the page title, the keywords, the description, the H1 and H2 tags and most importantly the text content. The title, keywords and description are found in a special hidden section called 'Meta Tags'. They are entered into an HTML page by the web designer. The 'Keyword' Meta Tag used to be important, however it is far less so now. File naming conventions can also help, for example using keywords to name a page, tables in a page or an image in a page.

When referring to keywords I mean the relevant words used within the visible text of a page, not the Meta Tags. Copy needs to be written to make use of keywords that are most searched for. For example 'website' might be searched for ten times more often than 'websites' and so would be a better choice. It is possible to research which words are used more often and so tailor the copy within a page to achieve higher rankings. Using different words with the same meaning can make the copy more interesting to read and help with SEO. If the copy on a page feels repetitive and laden with keywords when you read it then the search engines will pick up on this and probably penalise your site. So, copy has to be written careful to make sense and make the most of keywords.

The H1 through to H6 tags are also visible text - the 'H' stands for 'Heading'. These give a keyword clue to the subject matter of a page.

Some search engines also use phrases in addition to keywords - they look for patterns of words (usually in the home page) that match a search request. These engines are tailored for searches that are more language based - for example 'Who is the Queen of England?' A site should be designed to utilise both phrase and keyword searches. Other weightings include how many links there are to your site . . . the more the better since the logic is that your site is popular!

What about the structure of my site?

The structure of your site is important. Search engines often only read approximately the first 30Kb of a web page, so if your important links are buried in too many tables, or at the bottom of a large page, the engine may not index them. Links to the site's pages from the home page are vital to search engines - this is how they index your site - by following these paths.

By separating content from structure (i.e. using CSS designs like this site) this problem is massively reduced; the search engine has far less structure mark-up to negate. Whichever way the site structure is built, the inclusion of a simple Site Map page helps with site indexing.

Framesets and inline-frames are avoided by most professional designers because search engines can't find their way through them to read the content of the pages. A frameset home page only contains information about which other pages to load. Some engines do read the no-frames content, in which page links can be placed, but it's not reliable.

What about Flash sites?

For the sake of Search Engine Optimisation Flash sites are not searchable. It's best not to create navigation menus in Flash, and if it has to be done then provide alternative HTML text-only menus.

Google has begun to index Flash pages by reading the text content of Flash movies, however there is a big problem with this. The page found is usually the swf (flash) file and not the html page it resides in! The result is that a Flash movie is orphaned from the site. This is an undesirable result that needs to be addressed by Google and is not the green light for Flash pages being acceptable for SEO, though the the future will be interesting.

I've heard of some good tricks for Search Engine Optimisation - should I use them?

Generally speaking - No! Search engine optimisation is about engineering and good practice, not trickery! For example, search engines used to use hidden elements such as commented out text (commented out text is hidden in the web page and not viewable in a browser) however this method is not recommended. The logic is that the commented out text might heavily suggest the site sells lawnmowers, when in fact it contains illegal software to download. Another example would be 'doorway pages' - pages loaded with keywords that re-direct to your site. These are also disallowed for similar reasons.

Placing a large number of keywords in illegible text the same colour as the background colour of a page will also be spotted and penalised. These are all traditional means by which search engines used to be tricked. To try it now could result in your site being banned, which is worse than it just not being optimised!

The Google rules

I am repeating this section from the SEO Websites page because I feel it's important! Search engine optimisation is a business with its fair share of rogues. Recently BMW's German website found itself de-listed from Google for breaking Google's most basic rules, which are published on their site. Please do take a look at Google's rules here - they explain very well my approach!

How quickly can you get our website ranked?

There are no instant results with Search Engine Optimisation. It takes time for a website to build up a good ranking. Publishing an optimised website is like planting a seed - it takes time to grow. Obviously, the healthier the seed and better the location where it's planted, the faster it will grow. Over time your site will be automatically picked up and added to many online free business directories. You should also take every opportunity to add links to your site from other appropriate websites. This is not generally done within search engine optimisation, however some companies will add your site to link farms. This is a practice to avoid.

Sites can also slip back down the rankings, especially if the competition improves their optimisation. Search engine results are relative and not absolute. Search engines do change their rules, though only radically in response to increasing cases of abuse. The most important on-going tweaking required is to keep content updated. For example, if you find there is suddenly media interest in your profession you need to mention this on your site. If your news relates to stories with a wider public interest then write your copy with this in mind.

So, search engine optimisation is about patience. But patience brings its own rewards.