Why do you need search optimising?
- It doesn't matter if your website is the best in the world
- It doesn't matter if you have the most fabulous products in the world
- It doesn't matter if you sell them cheaper than anyone else in the world
So let's see why that is.
Firstly, the great bulk of a website's traffic will come from search engines. That is because most visitors are first-time visitors to your site. They need to know you are there, and they find you through searching for resources like yours. If what you seem to offer appeals, they click your link and there they are.
If you aren't up near the top of the results, they will need to be serious researchers in order to find you. It's not impossible of course - I was looking through a Google website account the other day and noticed they put some regular traffic the way of a site, for a result at #97 in the SERPs. There are two things you derive from that: those were serious researchers; and, maybe we better promote that product a bit better and move it up the table...
Obviously there are hundreds or even thousands more clicks on the results that are up at the top. A new site won't have any residual traffic at all (that is, traffic not from a search engine) - at least, none to speak of. A big site with a lot of quality links, or with a big community, might see 35 or even 40% of their usual traffic if the search engines switch off the tap; though 20% or less would be more common. So we need the search engines on our side.
Those visitors must be targeted traffic. This means they need to be genuinely interested in what you most likely have to offer. They are no use to you if they aren't, as they'll 'bounce' - leave straight away. So, they're here, and they're interested - what then? If you don't convert them to buyers - or to sign-ups, or phone orders - they're gone.
Now you can see a few more necessary qualities your site must have. As well as being directly relevant to an enquirer's search, the site must be interesting, it must involve the visitor, and it must show the way to the goal both the visitor and the site owner have - an order, or some other result of benefit to both.
An SEO advisorTo present those qualities optimally, a website needs a specialist to ensure the factors are correctly arranged and balanced. In addition, only a specialist can ensure that the content is actually going to be found by search engines; which is why you need search optimising.
To take a simplified example, it would be possible - and in fact natural - to write a page of interesting and useful text about the benefits of a Bentley's dual braking and electric systems, which human readers would clearly see as entirely relevant (and very useful), but which search engines would dismiss as not relevant. Unless the words 'Bentley', 'Bentley cars', 'Bentley autos', and 'dual braking system' are mentioned frequently, and perhaps emphasised as well, then a search engine cannot see the page as relevant - though to a human reader it is obviously so.
As you can see from the example, the best and most relevant pages, and websites, will still need an expert's eye to ensure they are presented optimally, simply in order to be found.
A new website will therefore need a talented team to start it off in the right direction. Firstly, an owner with a great idea, and enough drive and ability to get it on the road; then a good designer and site constructor; maybe a talented developer, to create that functionality you need; a reliable website host; perhaps a security consultant, especially if it's an online store; and finally an SEO consultant.
Without that last guy, the site's going nowhere. In fact, they should have been #1 on the payroll, if you wanted to do it right. That's because, out of everyone else on the team, he (or she) is the only one who really cares about the whole project; who is affected by everything everybody else does; who tries to help everyone do their job right; and who probably ends up holding the whole thing together - because they are at the centre of the project and responsible if it doesn't go places.
So just remember that, for your next start-up...
Hiring an SEO Consultant
A tricky question for most, since the qualities you need aren't really visible on the surface, especially to the uninitiated. We can't really improve on what has already been written on this subject by search engine optimising consultant Dan Thies, so there's no point trying. He also points out particularly well that it's a two-way street. A good idea would be to look at his appraisal and start from there. From our point of view he dwells perhaps a little long on the subject of keywords, but then again that is his speciality. If we re-wrote it, the result might seem, to others, to over-emphasise the technical areas we are strong in, so it can't really be any other way. See what you think.
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