6 Secrets of Successful SEO Campaigning

The world of SEO still seems shrouded in mystery; it's incredible how so many misconceptions still prevail. It really is very straightforward when you look at the facts. Our 6 Secrets blow the lid on those who mystify in order to keep you in the dark.

1. SEO is not a ‘dark art’

Search engines exist to help people find the most relevant website as quickly as possible. The better they are at providing this service, the more popular they become. If they allow irrelevant sites to reach the top of their rankings they will lose their customers, something that they really don't want to happen.
Search engine optimisation exists so you can let the search engines know that your site is relevant to a specific search query and this means good old fashioned hard work and knowledge.

2. You can’t cheat the search engines!

In the past, people have tried to optimise their sites by ‘tricking’ the search engines with all manner of underhand tactics. This included filling pages with ‘invisible’ keywords or adding extra content to their pages that would only be seen by the search engine crawlers but not the human visitor. Search engines have got wise to almost every shortcut anyone has ever dreamt up. Pages that do this these days are going to be either banned or pushed far down the search engine result pages.

3. Links are great but only the right kind

Just as with other areas of SEO, many individuals (and less scrupulous search agencies) have tried to cheat the system when it comes to links to their websites. Because of this, search engines have made trust a key factor in their rankings. Their trust is not built upon the number of links you have but on the type, quality, wording and general appearance of all of your links. High-quality, relevant links need to be acquired naturally and this can be a painstaking process. Don’t get tempted to link build the quick and easy way, it is very unlikely to work and may even damage your rankings.

4. Pretty pictures need to be seen

A common area often overlooked is the importance of image optimisation. Forgetting to take your website images into account can have an important impact. Search engine crawlers cannot see or read images. Unlike textual content, images are simply blank spaces of no importance to a crawler - unless you label them correctly. Images, too, should take into account the keywords you want to be seen as relevant for.

5. Results cannot happen overnight

Good search engine optimisation requires patience. For brand new sites, it can take weeks if not months before changes made to the website actually begin to affect their rankings. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, when it comes to SEO patience really is a virtue!

6. One-off quick fixes are for cowboys

Long-lasting visibility in the search engines is unlikely to be achieved with a one-off revamp of relevant SEO factors. Visitors, trends, competition and markets are always changing, as is your company! It is vitally important to be ready to change your website with the times to maintain excellent search engine positions.

Find more SEO and SEM secrets at our head of search's site- Annabel's blog.