An intro to SEO 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is a wide-ranging topic that covers many aspects of how your website and your business interact with search engines. 

We tend to focus on Google as being a household name in Search Engines but there are many, and all of them work in a fundamentally similar way. All of them read your website and record a description of each of its pages - this process is referred to as Indexing (a name which comes from the older concept of Index cards, such as those found in a Rolodex). Once the search engine has added each page of your website to its index, it can then subsequently be matched against a search term that someone enters into the search engine. 

At its simplest, a search engine does two things when you perform a search: 

1. Find all pages that match your search term 
2. Sort them into a useful order 

From your perspective as a website owner, you need to make sure you have a grasp of both of these points. Firstly to ensure that your website is listed correctly in the search engine, such that its pages are present in the index with correct information and secondly that your pages attain the correct place in the order. 

That second point is something that many people fret over. It is the basis of the very well-used (and over-used) phrase - “the top of Google”. It is possible to worry far too much about whether your website, or its pages, are at the top of the search results. Please don’t concentrate on this, it's less important than you think. We’ll expand on that below..

Get indexed!

Believe it or not, Search Engines don’t actively look for websites, and they won’t find yours unless you tell them about it. This is more true for a brand new domain name than it is for a fresh website design hosted on an existing domain name, but the principle remains the same - make sure they know!   For most search engines there is a free process of submission. This can either be to simply let them know about your new website or to create an account with the search engine that does this and more. We would certainly recommend the latter as it can be a mine of useful information later on. 

For Google and Bing search engines, you will find this service is called ‘Google Search Console’ and ‘Bing Webmaster’ respectively. Both are free and both have good instructions to take you through the process of using them.

Don’t worry about your website ranking (yet)

For a brand new domain name, the rank of a website is zero. You start from nothing and have to work your way up. How long does it take to build a good website ranking? Months or years would be a reasonable For a brand new domain name, the rank of a website is zero. You start from nothing and have to work your way up. How long does it take to build a good website ranking? Months or years would be a reasonable and practical estimate. It's certainly not something to worry about at the start of your journey. When you grow to a point of success in the future, you may have the funds, people and means to address your ranking against your competitors.

Until then, there are better things to focus on:

• At the top of every search page, there can be Ads - you can do this too.
• Under the Ads will be a list of local businesses - you can be there for free.
• In the lower section of page 1 results will be your website pages - get these working nicely as some people do actually scroll down!

It's a little known fact but Google (and other search engines) don’t publicise how they work. It’s what we call ‘Black Box’ because we don’t know what's inside. This is the industry norm, don’t let anyone fool you to the contrary. We know what Google wants us to focus on - speed, security, quality, links etc. We just don’t know exactly how they process the results.

Added to that, Google changes its process regularly. Partly to make it better - partly to rule out the fakers. It is a movable feast. You can’t rely on it being the same day after day.

So our advice is to not worry about the ranking of your website and search results for its pages. Not yet, anyway. Instead, look to Google Business, Social Media and Paid advertising for your best advantage.

Find your own business 

When you have registered your website with the Search Engine you should be able to search for it. This can take a few days to start to work but don’t worry if it does. When your website is indexed you will find it by searching for simple things:

• Search for your website address exactly as it is written - this should always be in the top position in results as its highly specific
• Search for your business name exactly as it is written - unless you have a popular business name (e.g. Apple) you should be at the top, or near to it.

Did you know?

All of those people who contact you asking if you want to get to the top of Google - they are selling Advertising. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.. but it is an extra cost to your business each month. Don’t jump into it without doing some research!

Here’s a recap

The top of most search results features paid adverts, local business listings and then website listings - these are three different strategies

• Do register your website with Google and Bing (others if you wish). It's free to do!
• Do make sure your website is listing correctly once you have done that (see above)
• Don’t worry about where your website ranks in the results initially - this is an uphill battle and a distraction
• Do read our insight on Google Business Profile - it will help you!
• Start to plan a strategy for reaching out to potential customers via Social Media, local networking groups, telesales or email marketing and even word of mouth.