Impact Media's SEO Blog

The filters within Google Analytics allow the tracking, monitoring and recording of a variety of different metrics. One particularly useful filter allows you to track your site’s position within the search engines when a visitor clicks on your listing.

This information can be incredibly valuable as you may be optimising your site for one phrase, but this filter can show that a slightly reworded phrase delivers better quality traffic. If you have e-commerce tracking and goals set up then the real value of these visitors will clearly be displayed.

Before creating the filters it is important that you create a new profile in your Google Analytics Account. Give an appropriate title like, ‘Search Engine Rankings’. There should always be a profile in your Analytics Account which has all your data with no filters, otherwise you won’t have a record of your overall traffic.

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If this were a law court, the title of this blog post may be deemed something of a leading question. However, the question over the validity of SEO is one that continues to be raised, and rarely more vehemently than in a recent piece by Derek Powazek.

As a representative of the accused, you shouldn’t expect much of the following retort to be all that sympathetic to Mr. Powazek’s assertion that SEO is an industry full of ‘Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists’; however, a riposte may be necessary to raise a case for the defence.

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Why do rankings fluctuate?

It is not all that uncommon for rankings to go up as well as down over a period of time. Even following prolonged SEO work, there will be some terms that slip for a time before regaining their position. This can be just a few places or, in more extreme cases, dozens of rankings; so why does this happen?

Well there are a number of reasons for a fluctuation in rankings. The most common one, particularly where temporary shifts are concerned, is a reshuffling by the search engines. When the likes of Google or Yahoo make small changes to their algorithms, some sites may experience sudden drops or gains in their rankings. Over a short period of time these will level out and a stable position will emerge once again.
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How will SEO Help my Website?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about improving your website’s authority and ranking on sites like Google. The higher your position within the search engines, the greater your chances of attracting specially targeted traffic.

In terms of on-site changes, SEO is limited to your content. A website’s copy is the perfect opportunity to implement all-important keywords, which will ultimately help search engines recognise what the impetus for each page is and can rank it accordingly.
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How are Search Engine Rankings Decided?

All search engines rankings are determined by a complex algorithm. Very few know the exact programming of the algorithm, but through testing and universally available information, SEO experts are able to put together strategies that will help improve a site’s rank.

Yahoo, Bing, Google and Ask will all have their own unique algorithm, which in turn means that their search results can differ. Whilst there are similarities across each search engine, the programming tweaks ensure that each has their own identifiable SERPs. This is why some people prefer to still use sites other than the standard industry favourite Google, and will continue to do so.
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Can You Guarantee a Top Ranking Position?

One of the most regularly questions asked and the easiest to answer, no we can’t. Nobody can in fact. The only way that anybody could guarantee a top spot is if they were working for the search engine itself and were privy to the extremely sensitive information that determines how the algorithm functions. Needless to say, that is extremely unlikely.

SEO is a process built around continuous development. Even the most seasoned specialists invest a great deal of time to learning each and every day; it doesn’t stop. There’s no magic answer in search engine optimisation, it’s about building knowledge and implementing the changes that will provide the greatest benefit to an individual site. Website strength is then gained over time, helping the search engines to see its value to the searchers and subsequently ascribing greater authority to the site and its pages.
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Everyone wants to be Number 1 on Google!  Why?  Because those businesses that are Number 1 on Google get the greatest share of traffic to their site.  If you have a website and you aren’t placing within the first page on Google or one of the other search engines – then you don’t really exist.  Getting a good ranking equates to increased chances to convert interested visitors into satisfied customers.

Without this, no one will find your site; very few people even look beyond the second search page.  Getting a first page ranking is a priority for all businesses using the web to promote and sell their products and services.

There are various ways to improve your rankings and experts will tell you that it’s difficult to be sure which makes the biggest improvements fastest.

Content

They say that Content is King.  But the truth is that engaging, informative, constantly updated and search engine friendly content is the King of Kings.  Adding content keeps Google’s spiders crawling all over your site.  The content has to be original and make sense in order to cater to your human visitors.  Content can come in the form of articles, blogs, press releases, landing/squeeze pages – whatever style you believe will work best.

Keywords

Using a range of keyword tools, you can find out the best keywords and phrases that will attract the right visitor to your site.  It’s no use getting to Number 1 on Google for keywords that are unrelated to what you have to offer.  Be as specific as possible and think of combining your keywords into the phrases that people would use when searching for your product.  The key to choosing the best keywords is to choose words from the perspective of your potential visitor.  What would someone type if they wanted what you have to offer? This can be very different from how you might market the product traditionally.  The keyword density has to be just right so as not irritate Google, so if you’re not sure, consult an expert.

Links

The search engines look at your popularity with others and if you appear to have a steady stream of people linking to your site, it looks like your website is something that should appear higher up in the rankings.  Many people buy links from Link Farms and once Google finds out, they will punish your site, even making it disappear off the search engine rankings all together.

Black Hat SEOs

There are many dodgy characters out there that can make you Number 1 on Google.  But their tactics and techniques are highly questionable, their results tend to be temporary, they charge very high sums and eventually the search engines catch up with you and punish you and not the black hat SEO. It’s just not worth the risk!

Improving the rankings of your website is a tricky business.  There are many ways that people trying to get higher rankings can mess up their optimization and damage their relationship with the search engines.  No one knows exactly how many different levels or facets the search engine algorithms have, but through years of experience, reputable SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) companies have developed techniques that increase the chances of a good ranking on Google or one of the other search engines.

At Impact Media, we offer a professional search engine optimisation service for UK based businesses that are looking to achieve greater returns from their website.