How can I maximise my site's chances of getting into & staying in search engines?

• Concentrate on providing information-rich, relevant content that appeals to human visitors. It may sound obvious, but it is essential that it is well written, without spelling mistakes and grammatical errors! Each web page should be focused on one specific product or subject in order to rank highly for that search phrase. Always remember that 'content is king!'


• Ensure your content is written with your 'key words' in mind. These are words or phrases that a visitor might use to find your website when searching on the internet. However, it is important to use them in the correct way.
  
  
• Ensure your website design company and/or search engine optimiser isn't going to use any dubious methods to try and get the site listed in search engines.
  
  
• Make sure the site is 'search engine friendly' and will be designed to the latest Industry Standards.
  
  
• Use navigation that is easy to follow and make sure your visitors know which page they are on in your website. Don't let them get lost in your site, or you risk losing them to your competitors!
  
  
• Have a sitemap. That way, when the search engine 'spiders' visit they will follow all of the text links from your home page. If one of those links is to a sitemap, then the spiders will go to the sitemap and as a result, should visit every page you have linked to from there.
  
  
• Keep your site's information fresh by updating regularly - for example you could have a 'News' page, which will also make visitors return. An out-of-date website implies a lack of business!
  
  
• Have a robust linking strategy: ask websites that are complimentary to your business to consider placing a link from their site to yours. They may request a link in return so do be prepared return the favour, although a non-reciprocal link to your site is worth more from a search engine point of view.
  
  Search engines place value on links from well-ranked sites to other sites, since it implies that the recipient of the link is a valid source of information. Do NOT trade links with 'link farms', or sites that have scant, poor, or irrelevant content.