Search engines consist of a number of software components, but their overall purpose is to maintain a database of web site addresses and, whenever a user makes an enquiry, to serve up a selection of web site addresses which have been identified by the engine's software as being most relevant to the enquirer’s needs.
Knowing the factors which affect search engine site ranking allows us to critically examine any web site, looking for aspects which are likely to cause a search engine to rank the site either high or low for any particular enquiry.
The most important factor is quality content. It may be stating the obvious, but the best way to ensure that your site is afforded high ranking is to ensure that the pages contain plenty of high quality, relevant material that will most likely satisfy the visitor's need for the information they were searching for. However, we can often also improve the ranking that a web site enjoys by making technical changes to the program code behind the web site pages. These changes or "optimisations" would not be very evident to a human reader, but may make the page look very different (i.e. more attractive) to the computer programs which decide the site rankings. It is this expertise that you purchasing when you hire an Optimistion Consultant.
To optimise the front page of a typical site costs about the same as a quarter A4 colour advert in one issue of a printed magazine. An optimised web site is marketing and promoting you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What other advertising can provide that sort of value?
|
