Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is often seen as a "black art" that only highly paid specialists with "inside knowledge" can perform. Although there is some truth in this, SEO is not brain surgery and the principles behind SEO are simple:

1. Find out which key words or phrases people are actually using
2. Create a "theme" for each page based on a key word or phrase
3. Put your keywords in the best places
4. Use your keyword or phrase in links to the page
5. Improve your Google "Page Rank"
6. Submit your site to search engines

Content is King!

Keeping your website up to date with lots of relevent content is the best way to get good search engine results.

Consider your "human" visitors

Don't get so hung up on search engine optimisation that you forget your real human visitors. They need to find relevant, concise information about your product or service, don't let search engine optimisation get in the way of this.

The rules can change

The search engine market is very dynamic and ranking algorithms are changed very frequently in order to provide the most relevant results to users. Your ranking may therefore fluctuate wildy. Don't worry about this too much, the worst thing you can do is to try to "spam" the search engines as this can result in your site being de-listed altogether. Given time, if you follow these basic rules your site will get an appropriate ranking.

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