Steve Johnston

Google Search Engine Optimisation Services

The main thrust of my Google consultancy involves helping my clients optimise their web sites for the Google search engine. I focus on the following principles:

1. Content optimisation for Google

When producing the text, images and other media for a web site, its creation must be constantly mindful of the vocabulary the target audience will use when searching for the products on offer, regardless of where they are on offer.

In addition to the inclusion of key vocabulary, its incidence and frequency should reflect its relative importance, as this will contribute to the determination of its relevance to a particular search query. Google likes grammatically correct content, and paragraphs are better than lists. Google also likes lots of content and lots of fresh content particularly.

Content optimisation issues:

The Content requirements relate to features that are apparent when the web site is viewed in a web browser. They include:

  1. Search expressions
  2. Page Contents
  3. Copywriting
  4. Navigation
  5. Web addresses
  6. Title tags
  7. Images
  8. Rich media
  9. Destination content
  10. Content management

2. Visibility optimisation for Google

The technology decisions made to develop a web site must always bear in mind the ability that Google's software crawler - called Googlebot - has to gain access to and interpret the content. This means everything from the implementation of best-practise HTML mark-up to present the semantic organisation of the content and its relative importance; efficient coding practices that decrease the signal-to-noise ratio in the HTML; through to crawlable URLs and appropriate server methods for redirects.

Visibility optimisation issues:

The Visibility requirements are those which are inherent in the way that technology serves and renders the web site pages. They include:

  1. HTML best practise
  2. Semantic organisation
  3. Server redirects - 301, 302 etc
  4. Site migration management
  5. File naming
  6. Meta data & Robots.txt
  7. URL construction
  8. In-site search
  9. Site maps vs. Google SiteMap
  10. Accessibility overlap

3. Reputation optimisation for Google

Google uses the occurrence of references to a particular site or web page from around the web to assist in its calculation of the its relative importance. Google is interested in the relative reputations of sites as demonstrated by the flow of links in and out of them and considers these representative of the veracity of the sites they are pointing at. Reputation optimisation looks to develop strategies and tactics that actively and passively encourage the linking behaviour of relevant sites to the target site.

Reputation optimisation issues:

The development of a good reputation, in the conventional sense, is a solid principle on which to build online reputation. The issues include:

  1. Inbound links
  2. Destination content
  3. Interactive tools
  4. Community participation
  5. Publishing activities
  6. Asking for links
  7. Anchor text
  8. Online public relations
  9. Blogging activities
  10. Infectious agents

Measuring the Success of Google Search Engine Optimisation

Measuring the success of an optimisation project is relatively easy. Google optimisation has worked when you can see a significant increase in referred visits from Google, as measured by the search phrase reports your web analytics product produces. The referred visits that count most, and that I will always work towards, are those that are generic expressions that identify the product or service on offer, but not the web site owner's brand (try IndexTools for your web stats, if you are not satisfied with your current product).

Web Sites with Google Search Engine Optimisation in mind

The best possible time to implement a Google optimisation strategy is when the requirements for a new site or for a site's redevelopment are being established. Optimisation is a marketing discipline, not a technical one, so it needs to be considered at the very beginning of a web project in order to make the most of the opportunity Google provides as a key customer acquisition channel.

I will shortly be offering an e-book for download with my Web Site Development Wishlist for Google Search Engine Optimisation detailed for web site owners to give to their developers. Please watch this space for further news.

Copyright Steve Johnston 2005.