Search engine optimisation is a marketing discipline. It is not a stand alone function.
Before any specific optimisation activity is undertaken it is essential that two areas are
non-search areas are appraised:
Understanding your Organisation’s Online Business Strategy
Good SEO requires a through understanding of your organisation’s overall business
strategy. How does search fit in with activities such as advertising, e-mail and direct
marketing? Is there a marketing plan? What does it say about objectives, strategy and
budgets? What is the overall direction of the business and what can search contribute?
Researching your Market Category, Customers and Competitors
Good SEO also requires a thorough understanding of the market category within which
the search project and web site will compete. What is the category size and how is it
developing. What other channels to market are there? What information is available
regarding their behaviour and attitude of customers? What role in the buying process is
played by the search marketing? Who are current and likely competitors? Once the above
is fully grasped you can proceed to the first real activity of SEO; Keyword selection.
Keyword Selection - Factors
Keyword selection is the first search specific discipline. Having explained that spiders
read and index text, we find that some text is more important than others. That text is
keywords. Valuable keywords are the words or phrases that prospective customers use
when searching in your market category. Keyword selection is therefore crucial and has
implications for so much else within search. I have drawn up a list of factors that should
be taken into account when selecting keywords.
Category Priorities
The first thing to remember is that the number of keywords you can use on any one site
or page has a finite limit. A general recommendation is that there is an overall limit of 20
Before any specific optimisation activity is undertaken it is essential that two areas are
non-search areas are appraised:
Understanding your Organisation’s Online Business Strategy
Good SEO requires a through understanding of your organisation’s overall business
strategy. How does search fit in with activities such as advertising, e-mail and direct
marketing? Is there a marketing plan? What does it say about objectives, strategy and
budgets? What is the overall direction of the business and what can search contribute?
Researching your Market Category, Customers and Competitors
Good SEO also requires a thorough understanding of the market category within which
the search project and web site will compete. What is the category size and how is it
developing. What other channels to market are there? What information is available
regarding their behaviour and attitude of customers? What role in the buying process is
played by the search marketing? Who are current and likely competitors? Once the above
is fully grasped you can proceed to the first real activity of SEO; Keyword selection.
Keyword Selection - Factors
Keyword selection is the first search specific discipline. Having explained that spiders
read and index text, we find that some text is more important than others. That text is
keywords. Valuable keywords are the words or phrases that prospective customers use
when searching in your market category. Keyword selection is therefore crucial and has
implications for so much else within search. I have drawn up a list of factors that should
be taken into account when selecting keywords.
Category Priorities
The first thing to remember is that the number of keywords you can use on any one site
or page has a finite limit. A general recommendation is that there is an overall limit of 20
