Stunshot - Web Hosting and DevelopmentSearch Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
As a marketing strategy for increasing a site's relevance, SEO considers how search algorithms work and what people search for. SEO efforts may involve a site's coding, presentation and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site. Other more noticeable efforts may include adding unique content to a site, ensuring that content is easily indexed by search engine robots, and making the site more appealing to users.
White hat versus black hat
SEO techniques are classified by some into two broad categories: techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design and those techniques that search engines do not approve of and attempt to minimize the effect of, referred to as spamdexing. Some industry commentators classify these methods, and the practitioners who employ them, as either "white hat" SEO, or "black hat" SEO. White hats tend to produce results that last a long time, whereas black hats anticipate that their sites may eventually be banned either temporarily or permanently once the search engines discover what they are doing.
An SEO technique is considered white hat if it conforms to the search engines' guidelines and involves no deception. As the search engine guidelines are not written as a series of rules or commandments, this is an important distinction to note. White hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see.
White hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then making that content easily accessible to the spiders, rather than attempting to trick the algorithm from its intended purpose. White hat SEO is in many ways similar to web development that promotes accessibility, although the two are not identical.
Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception. One black hat technique uses text that is hidden, either as text colored similar to the background, in an invisible div or positioned off screen. Another method gives a different page depending on whether the page is being requested by a human visitor or a search engine, a technique known as "cloaking".
Search engines may penalise sites they discover using black hat methods, either by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether. Such penalties can be applied either automatically by the search engines' algorithms, or by a manual site review.
One infamous example was the February 2006 removal by Google of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany for use of deceptive practices. However, both companies quickly apologised, fixed the offending pages and were restored to Google's list.
Getting indexed
The leading search engines - Google, Yahoo! and MSN - use crawlers to find pages for their algorithmic search results. Pages that are linked from other search engine indexed pages do not need to be submitted because they are found automatically. Some search engines, notably Yahoo!, operate a paid submission service that guarantee crawling for either a set fee or cost per click. Such programmes usually guarantee inclusion in the database, but do not guarantee specific ranking within the search results. Yahoo's paid inclusion programme has drawn criticism from advertisers and competitors. Two major directories - the Yahoo Directory and the Open Directory Project - both require manual submission and human editorial review. Google offers "Google Webmaster Tools", for which an XML Sitemap feed can be created and submitted for free to ensure that all pages are found, especially pages that aren't discoverable by automatically following links.
Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site. Not every page is indexed by the search engines. Distance of pages from the root directory of a site may also be a factor in whether or not pages get crawled.
How can we improve your site's rankings?
At Stunshot, we only ever employ white hat SEO techniques. Any new web development we undertake is always built with search engine ranking in mind. We can also take an existing site and perform a full analysis, producing a report for our clients to show exactly what needs to be improved in order to achieve higher rankings.
Get in touch with us today to discuss how we can help improve your website's visibility on all the major search engines.