There are numerous search engines operating such as Yahoo, Bing, Ask, Alexa, Google, MSN, etc.  For the purpose of this blog we are going to talk about Google and why getting your website noticed there can determine how successful your online business can be.

Let’s face it the internet is a huge place and no matter how cool you think your website is if potential customers can’t find your site then it may as well not exist.  Making sure your site is Google friendly should be your number one priority.  It’s that difference between having a website and having one that works.

The role of a search engine like Google is to crawl as much of a website as it can before moving to the next website – gathering as much information as it can.  There are two main reasons why search engines don’t always find relevant information so that you can do business with whatever you are searching for:
1:    Badly ranked websites based on how they have been set up.
2:    Ignorance of advanced search engine features.

The following sections highlight what we consider to be the most effective ways address these last two points and therefore, for improving your site’s profile, increasing site traffic, keeping your site fresh and relevant in an ever changing world and therefore, having a positive impact on the financial result for your business.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a powerful way of increasing the profile of your website however, you need to ensure that you:
•    Review your keywords regularly – things are changing constantly in our fast-paced world.
•    Use long-tailed searches to capture those really detailed searches.
•    Use some thought and research when selecting your keywords.
•    Be careful with how your home page is set up – if it’s just a big graphic or Flash file you won’t always get a good search engine result.
•    Have a title tag on your site – nearly 40 million sites don’t, so imagine how those sites rank in searches.
In addition, the following points are worth considering with SEO:
•    Keywords in the file path don’t seem to have a great effect on Google rankings but Web pages with few parameters in the URL (www.chocolate.com.au etc.) seem to get higher rankings than pages with multiple parameters (www.chocolate-organic-byronbay.com.au ).
•    Smaller sites seem to have slightly higher rankings – so file size doesn’t seem to favour larger sites.
•    PageRank and the number of inbound links can influence Google rankings.
•    High ranking sites tend to have keywords in the title tag and ensure that targeted keywords are used in the body tag.
•    Keywords in the H1 headline tag don’t seem to have much effect but there is a greater influence on ranking when keywords appear in the H2-H6 headline tags.
•    Use of a targeted keyword in the domain name can increase rankings.
•    High rankings can also be seen with Web pages with keywords in image alt attributes or Web pages with keywords in image file names.  Using keywords in bold or strong tags only seems to have minimal ranking effect.

As we mentioned at the start of this section – you really need to review your keywords regularly.  If this is something outside your technical field, or simply don’t have the time, using an external source on a monthly retainer can be a commercially beneficial option to consider.

In summary, to optimize your website effectively you need to look at and optimize each of the following:
•    Keywords
•    Meta data
•    Content
•    Inward links
•    Header tags
•    Alt tags
•    Internal links
•    Web site structure
•    Website theme
•    Website code

Search Engine Optimisation

This is an advertising program that anyone with a website can use to generate income – once approved by Google for ads to be shown on your site.  However remember that although you receive income from these adverts appearing on your website, you can also be directing potential customers away from your site.

AdSense ads are related to the content of the page that they appear on. It’s one half of a pair – the other being Google AdWords – pay-per click keyword advertising program (more on that one later).

Visit them at www.google.com/adsense - and set up a free account if you think this is a viable alternative for your business.

I would suggest only considering using AdSense if you get a significant amount of traffic to your site now – based on the potential of losing business to the sites linked through the adverts on your site.

Search Engine Optimisation

These are pay-per-click adverts you see on the right hand side of the page whenever you do a search in Google.  In pay-per click advertising, the advertiser places ads based on keywords that are related to content such as a subject, topic, product or service. 

The advertiser creates short, text-based ads closely related to their chosen keywords, so that those ads can be shown on other people’s websites that feature the chosen keyword.  The advertiser pays up to a certain monetary amount (a bid) each time a website visitor ‘clicks’ on the ad.  The bid amount can be determined by keyword popularity and their budget – the advertiser varies their budget daily, but keyword worth can cost more for popular keywords.

With the bidding process, multiple advertisers can end up with the same winning bid – so more than one can win.

Set up is simple – visit them at www.google.com/adwords - it’s as easy as setting up an account but following the prompts can take a little time. However, once you have created an advert it will appear immediately.

As this blog is written Google Adwords is offering a $75.00 free trial – so maybe that’s an option for your business, provided your AdWords Account is less than 30 days old. Here’s the link:
https://www.google.com/appserve/fb/forms/auonline/?utm_source=rmktdisplay&gclid=CLXM2va3nqoCFQ4RHAodzT4L5A

Search Engine Optimisation

There are numerous benefits to having a Google sitemap – it’s one of their most valuable tools.  It allows you to tell Google when you have changed your website and what those changes were.  This then allows you more control over how quickly Google will re-crawl your website after completing the changes.

It also allows Google to send you important information about your website and visitors – making your site more effective.

Key benefits include:
•    By sharing info with Google it allows them to better index your website.
•    Seeing how Google crawls and indexes your site.
•    Learning the most effective search phrases to increase traffic.
•    Performance monitoring of your site.
•    Understanding Google’s view of your site.
•    Diagnosing potential site problems.

Search Engine Optimisation

We covered Analytics and what it can do for increasing the effectiveness of your website and therefore, improving your company’s performance in a previous blog.

Google Analytics is one of the Analytics programs on the market – check it out and see if it or something else better suits your needs.

Search Engine Optimisation

Making sure your site is Google friendly should be your number one priority.  It’s that difference between having a website and having one that works.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a powerful way of increasing the profile of your website, however you need to follow the correct set up and regularly update to make the most of it.

Google AdSense is an advertising program that anyone with a website can use to generate income – once approved by Google for ads to be shown on your site.  However remember that although you receive income from these adverts appearing on your website, you can also be directing potential customers away from your site.

Google AdWords are pay-per-click adverts you see on the right hand side of the page whenever you do a search in Google.  In pay-per click advertising, the advertiser places ads based on keywords that are related to content such as a subject, topic, product or service.

Google sitemaps is one of their most valuable tools.  It allows you to tell Google when you have changed your website and what those changes were.  This then allows you more control over how quickly Google will re-crawl your website after completing the changes.  It also allows Google to send you important information about your website and visitors – making your site more effective.