Search Engine Optimisation

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation, is the process of creating and developing websites for major Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Live. Search Engines want you to do certain things when you make a website and if you do these things, Google and other Search Engines will place you higher in their SERPs or Search Engine Results Pages.

Put simply, SEO, means making your website work better for Google.

Technically speaking, Search Engine Optimisation is the creation of websites to conform to HTML, CSS and W3C guidelines to obtain better rankings in Search Engines. There are certain things a web developer must do when creating a website, for example, writing accurate and unique title tags, creating descriptive alt tags for accessibility, using optimised images. The SEO process is on-going, for once a website has been optimised on-page, the Search Marketer then needs to optimise the website off-page, for example link building.

Search engine optimisation is divided up into “white hat” or “black hat” SEO. At SEO Brighton we only practice White Hat SEO. White hat SEO is ethical and responsible optimisation, using well written content, user friendly navigation and clear directory architecture to obtain better SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

Black hat SEO is using unethical techniques to obtain better SERPS; the manipulation of code, cloaking techniques and things like IP redirects. There is a massive grey area between white hat and black hat SEO which is sometimes called "grey hat". At SEO Brighton we only practice "white hat" SEO.

It is thought eventually, search engines will become so fluent at detecting black hat techniques, that the black hat SEO will eventually fall by the way side. Consequently, an emphasis is being placed on mixed media content, Web 2.0 innovations; RSS, blogs, video, to place websites higher in the SERPs.

Why Do I Need It?

If you have a website and you want visitors to see your site, you have to rank in one of the major Search Engines. It's no good being on page six for your keyword search terms. You have to be on page one and at least the top 5 if you want customers to visit your site. Based on varying datasets it is thought that for competitive keyword search terms, the number one position in Google will receive over 56% of click throughs, with second position receiving 13.5%.

(Source: Cornell University Laura A. Granka, Thorsten Joachims and Geri Cay)
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/People/tj/publications/granka_etal_04a.pdf