Over the last few articles we have looked at Web Development and Design attributes of Websites. There have been moments where we have looked at these attributes in the light of optimizing them for Search Engines. Now lets take a deeper look at the role of Search Engines and how this impacts the way we market ourselves.

Search Engines have become the one-stop-shop of the internet. Internet users have chosen their favorite Search Engine and look to them to find the information they are interested in.

A Search Engine is only interested in providing relevant information to its users. By achieving relevant results to a users search they provide a positive search environment and therefore develop a good reputation for being a great Search Engine.

1. This brings the search for relevancy on the internet to the fore. Search Engines utilise a variety of methods to ensure they provide relevant results. The most popular of these methods is the use of a complicated and thorough Algorithm that searches the web; it organises and catagorises the internet. This information is stored in an index and when the user searches for specific keywords the Search Engine searches the index created by the algorithm and produces the results for the user.
2. So how does this affect us? How do we prove to the Search Engines that our website is relevant for the user? This is a very complex and time consuming process that a few web companies offer. However there are a few things to keep in mind when designing, developing and marketing your website that will put you on the front foot rather than the back foot with your internet presence.
3. Pay special attention to the title of the page (including URL) as this gives search engines the biggest clue to what content is on your website
4. Label Graphics because Search Engines can’t view a picture but they can read the title of an image. Use the title of the image to show the Search Engine what the image is on your website
5. Support Link Exchanges. Every website that links to your website is a vote of confidence that the content on your website is relevant to your keywords
6. Consistently tweak web content making sure that your website is continually growing and up to date. If a Search Engine visits you website twice and doesn’t notice any changes then it decides that your content is not as relevant as before. Simply because part of being relevant is being up to date.
7. Keep content logical and relevant to website keywords. This allows Search Engines opportunities to confirm what the Keywords of your website are and by default increase the relevancy and consistency of your pages

If you would like more information the topics discussed in this series of articles please visit www.sesalos.com/web/presentations to request a full presentation on: