If you've looked into how to get your website found on Google, I can guarantee that you've found yourself reading about SEO. Search Engine Optimisation, to give its full title, is an art form. Each website design company has their own understanding and techniques. In a nutshell it's about Optimising your website for the search engines. Still confused? Let's break down what SEO actually is and how it promotes your website.

 

Search Engine Optimisation

Noun: The process of maximising the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine - Oxford Dictionary

 

SEO, at its simplest, is the methods in which website designers can use to ensure that Google lists a website for the correct subject matter. For every new website design that's created, the search engines have to have a look at it and try to work out what it's all about, and who may want to find that website going forward. There are many different things that Google will scan for, but the general understanding is that content is key in ensuring that Google can understand your website. 

I tend to think of it like this: if your website talks frequently about plumbing, then Google's scanning bots will come away thinking that the page is to do with plumbing, and therefore the site needs to be listed when people search for Plumbing - sounds straightforward right? 

The trouble is that unfortunately, you're not alone, there are millions and millions of sites for plumbers (786 million to be exact), but there can only ever be one 'top result'.

How does MY website stand a chance?

So, now we know that Google has to look at a site to work out its purpose, we need to think about your audience, and what are they actually looking for.

Firstly, they want someone who can actually help them. A Plumber in Glasgow, while perhaps very skilled, isn't going to be able to assist with a leaky tap in Brighton. Google, being as clever as it is, will try and suggest sites that are geographically near you to begin with, but as our search was so board, it did as you asked and compiled a list of every website design that includes the mention of plumbing, and this is why there were so many results. By adding in the location to the search, we suddenly only get listed the sites that are relevant to our location, a search for 'plumber Brighton' brings us to a much smaller 2.3 million sites - or actually only 184 after Google filters out duplicates, or web pages that just list every known word. This is where Search Engine Optimisation comes in to its own.

By focusing your website for the key words and phrases that your customers will be looking for, and baking these in to the heart of your website design, Google can get to know its purpose and what to index the website for. The more relevant the site is to the search, the higher it goes. The more trustworthy and reliable the website is, the more Google can trust your site and keep pushing it up the rankings.

While there is obviously a lot more that goes on under the bonnet of your website, hopefully this gives a basic understanding of how important SEO is in making sure Google understands your website and lists it correctly.

If you would like to have a chat about how we include SEO as part of every website design package to make sure a website is pulling its weight and promoting your services, then get in touch with our team who can explain things further and as simply as possible.