Having enjoyed a previous career in banking I believe that Search Engine Optimisation can be compared to generating wealth. If you do the wrong things and listen to the wrong people, you could lose heavily and you might even be left with nothing!

Much the same lesson was learned by some website owners Google’s Penguin update.  I give below a few pointers on Good SEO practice:

1. It is important to know that time is a factor

When you are young and invest your first few pounds in something you won’t expect to become a millionaire overnight. It takes time and effort to build your wealth and if you save regularly, you will probably be wealthier than people who either don’t save at all or not very often.  If you save too little, you won’t get rich as quickly as someone who saves half their salary regularly as a wealth building strategy.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) works in much the same way. If your website is young (fairly new), then it will be unlikely to rank highly in the search engines for many of your keyword phrases.  You need to optimise the page and page content and build back-links to your website and you have to do it regularly. The more time you invest in optimizing your site and building good quality links, the sooner you will get results.

2. Do things in the right order

When you start saving, you cannot participate in the big return schemes that require a large minimum lump sum investment. It’s the same with SEO. If your website isn’t ranking yet for your keyword phrases, then it doesn’t make sense to target very competitive keywords or ‘broad’ keyword phrases such as “Accountant” or “Printing Company”

The big players in your niche already have the high rankings for these broad keywords and they have several advantages over you such as:

• more back-links
• more visitors
• more credibility
• more trusted by Google

Better to start with very targeted keyword phrases that consist of 3-4 words. It is much easier to get high rankings for these keyword phrases and you will also get higher conversion rates with these ‘long-tailed keyword phrases e.g. “tax accountant in Sevenoaks” or “Lithographic printers in Sussex”.

The more rankings your website has already, the easier it will be to get high rankings for the more competitive keywords. Then you can start to compete with the big guns for the more general keywords.  Learn to walk before you try to run!

3. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is:

We have all met people who promise to make you rich overnight. Others promise incredible profit for little or no effort. As with your savings, if you do not understand what you are getting in to don’t do it!

Again, it’s the same with SEO. If you use aggressive (and often dodgy or even ‘black-hat’) SEO methods then you put your website at risk. In the past, aggressive tactics could have delivered great results for a short period. Unfortunately, all of them also lead to massive problems with Google in the long run.

After Google’s recent Penguin update, many websites have been banned from Google because they used spammy SEO tactics that promised quick results.

If you are approached by people offering “thousands of back-links with no work” or ” a fully automated SEO solution” then you should be very wary. In both finance and SEO, there are a few people who are less than honourable – Don’t fall for them.

Getting your website on Google’s first result page isn’t impossible and certainly does not require any magic potions.   It does requires some hard work but it is possible if you do the right things in the right order and enlist the help of profession SEO experts like GB Web Marketing.

If you would like more information about SEO services please leave a comment below or id preferred use the contact form.  GB Web Marketing – Professional SEO services for businesses in Surrey, Kent & Sussex.