Not another search engine optimisation article!
Oh yes - the internet is absolutely littered with search engine optimisation articles; there's how-to-guides, theories and debates about hidden meanings in every word Matt Cutts from Google utters. There's articles about doing it the right way (White Hat search optimisation) and the fraternity that goes to the dark side (Black Hat) who go to extensive lengths to trick the system for good rankings. All of us web designers and digital agencies keep up to date with all of the latest news in this field and we're constantly tasked to evaluate new things to stay ahead of the pack. There is no doubt that all of my web designer colleagues on the South Coast will agree with this!
Truth is though, the best way to know how it works is to be there for the long haul, have a long established sense of how it has worked over time and have an understanding of the impact of some of the more recent changes (most obviously, the Google Penguin update a few years ago). It's most certainly not, but for me search optimisation almost becomes a feeling - it flows through in your copywriting style, with a good sense of keyword density, the code optimising you do and the new things you try outside of what you'll find already written for you on Google.
While I am not the Obi Wan Kenobi of SEO with some kind of search optimisation mind-trick wizardry, we've got an excellent understanding of what actually works and doesn't, what can be done in a practical sense and what can be done if you've got a higher budget. Good optimisation is not trying to follow some magic formula, because if there were an optimum one it'd change too frequently… not only that, it can be a vastly different exercise on a case to case basis.
My first foray into search engine optimisation was when Altavista was still around and it was the very early days of Google. Working with my colleague Rob Joyner, our small multimedia firm - Lime Multimedia - ranked #1 for the term “Sydney Multimedia” and sat around position 3 or 4 for “Sydney Web Design”. We were very young, early 20s - if only we knew the true potential of what we were sitting on! For these kinds of terms these days, it can be a massive undertaking to rank well and really it's the realm of multi-million dollar business. This is why, for smaller businesses with a lower marketing budget, localised search terms are a winner. These are normally words that convey your industry or service combined with suburb names or town names. This is where you can have some great wins and truly start to see increased traffic to your website.
We'll follow up on this article next week with some practical search engine ranking optimisation methods that can be accomplished from home, or through the help of a web developer.
Our search engine ranking wins - South Coast region
We're confident in our ability to improve your search engine rankings. The proof's in the pudding though… so here's some keywords we've measured over various sites (results accurate as of 20/09/2016). These are just a few sites we've built, maintained and improved upon.
Batemans Bay Cycles | batemansbaycycles.com.au
Overview - we rebuilt an outdated, unoptimised site and included our basic search optimisation service
An improvement over 2 weeks, with everything singing within 1 month. This site ranks #1 for over 5 key terms, and within the top 4 for most other bike/cycling related terms for the Batemans Bay locality.
- #1 Batemans Bay Bike Shop
- #1 Batemans Bay Bikes
- #1 Bike Shop Batemans Bay
- #1 Batemans Bay Bike Hire
- #1 Batemans Bay Bike Service / Batemans Bay Bike Servicing
- #3 Bike Trail Batemans Bay
- #4 Bike Riding Batemans Bay
- #4 Cycling Batemans Bay
Narooma Building Services | naroomabuildingservices.com.au
Overview - new site build with a new domain name and absolutely no search engine presence.
Within 4 weeks it started to rank, and around 2 months page one results. This site is over 2 years old and it's rankings are starting to slip, however it still ranks on the front page for most of the original terms:
- #1 Narooma Construction
- #2 Narooma Builders
- #3 Narooma Renovations
- #7 Narooma Commercial Builder
Island Charters Narooma | islandchartersnarooma.com.au
Overview - low budget search optimisation.
Starting point was most terms being found at the bottom of page 1, or on page 2 and 3. We rebuilt the site and gave some practical tips to keep the rankings up. Now we have over 20 keyword phrases at #1, #2 and #3, including:
- #1 Narooma Diving / Diving Narooma
- #1 Scuba Diving Narooma
- #2 Narooma Snorkeling / Snorkeling Narooma
- #2 Narooma Charter Tours / Narooma Charters
- #3 Whale Watching Narooma / Whale Watching Narooma
- #3 Fishing Narooma
- #3 Montague Island Tours
Tilba Online | tilba.com.au
Overview - over 40 keyword phrases at #1, including:
- #1 Tilba
- #1 Tilba Accommodation
- #1 Book Tilba Accommodation
- #1 Tilba Holiday Accommodation
- #1 Tilba Farm Stay
- #1 Tilba Holiday
- #1 Tilba Stays
- #1 Things to do in Tilba
- #1 Tilba Tilba
- #1 Central Tilba
- #1 Find Tilba
- #1 Tilba Map
- #1 Tilba Wine
And there's more…
We've plenty more sites that have performed well that we'd be happy to show you in person. So if you'd like to discuss your digital marketing options please feel free to call us on 1300 799 688 and make an appointment.