SEO, or ‘Search Engine Optimisation’, has become a much more widely known and used term in recent years. Owners of websites who are looking to gain a competitive edge in promoting their content often hear about SEO as a means to make their website more prominent. http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo gives a good run-down on SEO for beginners. The basic premise of SEO is to optimise the content of a website in such a way that it appears favourably on search engine rankings for relevant searches – for example a delivery company in the UK would want to rank highly in searches such as ‘delivery companies UK’ on Google.
Staying Competitive
Of course, just because more people have a basic knowledge of the term ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ does not mean that everyone is an expert. The competitive nature of SEO is such that it is only the sites with the best SEO that will reach the top rankings on Google and other engines. This is especially true in hard-fought areas such as picture sharing sites or shopping for popular items, where known and established brands will tend to dominate. To make matters more complicated, the standards of search engines are liable to change from time to time as engine companies decide to improve or change their search algorithms, which can render boot high ranking pages from the top overnight.
SEO Consultants
This is where getting extra help comes in. The basic task of the SEO consultant is to make a web page more effective at achieving high search rankings. To this end the consultant may have many jobs to do, depending on the current state of the website. The various stages of SEO consulting are detailed here: http://www.webpronews.com/what-does-an-seo-company-really-do-2005-05.
Understanding Search Engines
An important part of the SEO Consultant’s job is understanding the various intricacies of current search engines, most importantly Google. The vast majority of site traffic today is generated through clicks from Google searches. One of the reasons that Google has remained so popular for so long is that the company constantly seeks to improve the quality of its search results. This means that old SEO techniques such as creating pages densely packed with keywords and very little content will no longer work as they once did. A good consultant stays on top of the latest techniques to gain a high search ranking from Google. This includes knowing where relevant information (including keywords) should be placed on the site, so that maximum visibility to Google bots is achieved.
SEO Value for Money
Gaining an edge in search rankings is undoubtedly beneficial for the popularity of any type of website. However, it makes sense to decide what level and type of SEO consulting is affordable. It is entirely possible to come up with a great, effective and SEO optimised website by yourself, assuming that you are willing to invest the amount of time required to research and perfect your content. This is probably a good idea for someone who is making their first website and needs to learn the basics – some experience in doing it yourself will even make it easier to pick a good SEO consultant if and when the time comes.
Quality Content
Current Google algorithms tends to value so-called quality content over keyword density methods – check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=El3IZFGERbM for details. Today’s SEO consultants must be savvy with re-writing or even creating totally new content for your website. A good consultant will work closely with you to decide on the particulars of this re-worked content, so that it fits the tone of the page.