A lot of people think that your website being online and your website being on Google are the same thing. This is understandable, 92 percent of all internet searches are on Google, so if your site isn’t findable on Google, it may as well be offline. But the act of getting your website live is not the same as getting it on Google.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. Google has an algorithm that ranks sites based on many different factors, and this ranking determines the order that your search results are returned to you when you do a Google search.
Nobody knows exactly how the algorithm rates sites, not even Google. It is a black-box algorithm, constantly changing and evolving itself. Google gives it desired parameters, and it then decides the best way to achieve these parameters. The basic rule of thumb is to make your site as appealing and easy to use to visitors as possible, as those kinds of sites are the ones that Google wants at the top of their search results.
If somebody promises you they can guarantee you page one google search results, it means one of four things:
- They work for Google and are willing to risk their career to tweak the algorithm
- They are offering you an expensive ongoing SEO campaign
- They have found an exploit or loophole (When Google finds these, they tend to blacklist the sites that were taking advantage of them)
- They’re lying
SEO involves website best practices, choosing good keywords (search terms), and ensuring your content is well written.
If you’ve bought a website through OurAuto, we offer basic SEO with our hosting packages. This does not guarantee page one results, as lots of different factors can affect your google search ranking. Competition is a big one. If you have a competitor in your local area who is paying for an ongoing SEO campaign, that campaign is going to push them up the ranking and push you down the page.
SEO is long-term project. You should expect to see results from SEO within 6-12 months.
A lot of our customers are contacted by companies offering them SEO work. We would advise you to be wary of these offers, as SEO takes a long time, and if you accidentally hire an unscrupulous SEO company, they may use an exploit which may show you some results in the short-term but end up nuking your site into obscurity in the long term. If you’re looking for quick results, you want SEM.
What is SEM?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. Rather than trying to build your site’s ranking up organically, you pay Google directly for top placement for certain search terms (keywords), and they are displayed above the organic search results.
These are clearly marked as Ads, as you can see, and they often push the organic search results down the page. SEM provides quick, short-term results that aren’t going to damage your SEO. SEM can even help your SEO, as the more legitimate page visits you get, the better your search ranking will be.
If you’re interested in purchasing some SEM, get in touch with OurAuto today!
What can I do to improve my SEO?
If you can’t afford an SEO campaign and want to try and improve your search engine ranking, there are a few things you can do. Make sure your site has an SSL Certificate. Regularly update your site, as Google favours living sites. The golden rule is to look at your website and think: “Is this what I would want to see as a customer?” the more convenient and easy to use for your customers, the higher Google will rank your site.
If you’re in an area with high competition, you should probably consider an SEO campaign. Have a chat with someone here at OurAuto and we can start working on a campaign to help push you up the rankings.
