Google Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tips and other ways to drive traffic to your site

Yes there are other search engines, but let's face reality - the word "google" wouldn't have been put in the dictionary as a verb unless people use it a lot!

How does Google work? Each page that has been put into the Google search engine (known as indexed) is given a page ranking - a value from 0 to 10. The page ranking is like a "vote" by the Internet world of how useful your page is - so each time a page links to yours, it's given another vote to say it's useful. The more important the page is that links to yours (ie the higher it's page ranking), the more weight that vote has. The page ranking determines how high on the list of results your page appears.

When someone searches for keywords in Google, your page is examined to see if it has the required keywords - if so, it is added to the search results. Where it appears depends on your ranking and the relevance of your page to the search.

You can find out your page ranking by downloading & installing the Google toolbar - when you navigate to a page, the page rank for that page will show in the toolbar.

So here are some techniques I've learnt to help you optimise your site for the Google search engine:

• The most important thing is to have fresh, informative subject matter so that people will start to refer to your site and link their own sites to it. These are known as backlinks - where a site links to your site but you don't link to theirs. There is more value to you in having a backlink that is part of an article or a discussion (for eg - hey have a look at this great site - it should answer all of your questions) than just a link on a page full of other links.
  • This is much easier to do with sites offering a service or an information site than with a site selling a product, because information or service sites lend themselves to writing articles that are useful to people. However if you're selling a product you can become an "expert" on related topics and write articles about those.
  • This can be done with a Blog or just web pages.
  • If you write articles, submit them to relevant web sites for inclusion (with your web address included, of course!).
• If you swap links with a site, this is known as a reciprocal link - it may help drive some traffic to your site but it's not rated as highly by Google as a backlink.
• To optimise your site for search words, try to include the search words in your page as much as possible while still having the text readable and useful to the people using your page. I have heard the numbers 2-5% frequency used - in other words, try to have 2-5% of the text on your page being your search words. If the search words appear in your domain name it is given a higher value, and also if they appear in your title it is also given a higher ranking. It is also better to have your search words appear higher in your page.
• Have a different title for each of your pages to prevent Google seeing them as the same page - and include your keywords in the title.
• Don't try tricks like filling your page full of keywords and "hiding" them by using the same colour writing as the background - Google is wise to that one!
• Beware of link farms - sites whose sole purpose is to link to other sites. Google treats these with disdain, and if your site happens to be using them it can affect your site ranking as well.

Other ways to drive traffic to your site:

• If you're selling a product you could try running a competition to give away one of your products - this can give a legitimate way to gather people's email addresses so you can send them a newsletter showcasing your products. Always treat these addresses with respect - don't sell them and always offer a way for people to unsubscribe. If you are sending the newsletters out using a mail client - put the list of addresses as a BCC so the addresses are kept private.
• Advertise your site in your email signature and on your traditional paperwork - letters, flyers, business cards etc.
• Become an "expert" in your field by participating in related online forums.
• Develop relationships with people in complementary businesses - for eg if you take wedding photos, develop relationships with wedding planners, florists, wedding caterers etc that can send work your way - and vice versa.

There is a lot more to optimising your site for Google, but hopefully this gives you some ideas to get started.