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The real secret of search engine optimisation

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a hotly debated topic amongst web professionals. Its purpose is to gain the highest possible ranking for your website in search results, so it is more easily found and hence attracts more visits – and, hopefully, custom.

Of all the techniques advocated by search optimisation experts, there is only one actually guaranteed to work: the provision of high-quality original content.

Historically, SEO has evolved along the following lines:

1. Someone discovers a factor which is treated favourably by one or search engines and devises a technique for exploiting it. Temporarily, they achieve high page rankings for their sites.
2. Spammers and other dodgy characters start using the same trick to boost their valueless wares.
3. The search engine companies adjust their parameters to reduce the effect of the technique. The “optimised” sites lose rankings and so SEO practitioners look around for new approaches.
4. The cycle starts again from the beginning.

Thus many SEO techniques have gradually lost their value, and SEO, from being an element of the design stage of a site, has become for some a never-ending, and hence costly, activity.

However, by recognising what the search engines really want, it is possible to achieve success without recourse to constant SEO. There is one golden way to achieve long-term high rankings, and it is this: make your site interesting or valuable to visitors. It’s sites that pass this test that the search engine companies are striving to identify, and sites that fail it will, sooner or later, be downgraded.

After all, if a search engine returns nothing but page after page of useless content-free sites, who will want to use it? The search engines are in competition to return the most relevant results, so sites that are informative and genuine are the ones they are after.

In short, as ever, content is King on the web. Sites that are optimised for people work best for search engines too. We can help you build them: call us on 01805 625149 today.