Search Engine Optimisation 101

By Aisling M. Brennan
Online Marketing Account Manager

A number one ranking on Google is the objective of most initiating an organic marketing program. As you may know that's easier said than done. Organic search engine optimisation is now a more popular way to attract visitors to websites than other online programs (pay-per-click, online advertising, email marketing, sponsorships, etc.) due to the opportunity to gain longer search engine visbility thus providing a greater return on investment.

Unfortunately some of the tactics now employed to get a search engine's algorithm to prefer one site over all others on specific keyword phrases have also denegrated into what the search engines now consider SPAM. This natural progression is no surprise, considering the benefits of a number one position on Google or Yahoo!. Even though search engines (most notably Google and Yahoo!) have done an excellent job keeping up-to-date with the many workarounds devised to "fool" the organic search ranking process, your website may be engaged in one or more of these tactics without your knowledge, thereby running the risk of being penalised by search engines as a result.

There has been some recent discussion amongst search engine experts about "Black Hat" versus "White Hat" SEO tactics. While not having the space or time to detail these here, below I've highlighted some of the essential "White Hat" tactics that you should be aware of:

1. Content is king when it comes to organic SEO. Aim for approximately 200-300 words of relevant content per page. This text should be peppered with keyword-rich terms within the headers, as text links, alt text, within navigation, etc.
2. The most important places to utilize these keyterms (restrict to 3-5 keyterms per page) are:
   -in the <Title> tag
   -in the visible copy that human users read
   -in onsite and offsite HTML links
3. Complex GUIs (graphical user interface) hinder the crawlers' ability to access the site and index the pages.
4. Optimize the source code of each page:
   --Remove code bloat
   --Use external CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
   --Place all JavaScript code in external include files.
5. Ensure the Content Management System is search engine-friendly.
6. If possible, replace graphical text with CSS.
7. Ensure there is an abundance of cross linking on the site.
8. Avoid keyword stuffing, hidden text, link farms, cloaking, multiple URLs with duplicate content, multiple domains with duplicate content, deceptive redirects. These are considered SPAM.