If anyone out there is possibly as naïve as I was, you might’ve believed that when you write something amazing, the search engine spiders are so grateful for your quality content that they automatically place it at the top of their list. Luckily I kept this little fairies-in-the-garden-fantasy to myself and thanks to Quirk quickly learned the harsh truth. If you want your website and its fabulous content to rank well on the search engine results pages (SERP’s) you need to optimise, optimise optimise – and that there is no such thing as fairies.

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO involves optimising websites to achieve high rankings for selected key phrases on the SERP’s. Simple enough? In theory – but this eMarketing technique takes just a tad more than simply phoning a friend to see what phrase they would expertly type into a search engine and then sticking it randomly around your site. SEO involves optimising the HTML code, content and structure of your site with targeted key phrases that are relevant.

I could throw some stats at you - the search industry is HUGE; websites get 90% of their traffic from search engines; users usually only look at the top 30 results, with the top six being the most viewed – but you all know that right? With the explosion of New Media, it’s not about convincing anyone about the benefits of SEO, it’s about teaching people how to use this incredible technique. So here goes, the top five tips we have for effective SEO – we look forward to seeing you all on the first page of your desired SERP soon!

This is one word that's going to be repeated throughout these tips – a lot. With excessive keyword use you can essentially rank on the SERP’s for anything – but if it’s not relevant to your product – then it’s useless. While a phrase like “buy Barbie” might be hugely popular and you conveniently sell barb wire – it’s close, but no cigar. Search engines will not be impressed with your feeble attempts at sneakiness and neither will users. I mean how many people who are looking for a Barbie doll are likely to say, “Oh wow, I actually also needed some barb wire and didn’t even realise it, how convenient…”

When starting out your keyword research, don’t be swayed by the massive search volume of some phrases. Remember… bigger is not always better. Massive volume = massive competition. A keyword like safari has a record number of searches, but because of that, a huge number of other sites will also be targeting that word. Supplement high volume words and phrases with lower volume ones which have less competition for a good balance.

Do not be afraid of synonyms when selecting keywords; search engines are smarter than you think and can usually recognise a rose by any other name. Grouping synonyms together increases their on-page relevance and also prevents the poor copywriter from having to find creative ways to use the same phrase over and over again on the same page. Programs like Google’s nifty AdWords offer you the synonyms that are recognised by Google, pretty much doing the work for you. For instance, by making your main key phrase safari and your secondary phrases expedition and trip, you strengthen your chance at ranking. Use these secondary phrases as primaries on other pages to further increase their relevance and your site’s ranking.

There are many, many tips for content optimisation, so don’t take this little blurb as the be all and end all of the process – just the basics. Firstly, never underestimate the power of the Meta, though some may argue otherwise. Spiders use the Meta to deduce the topic of the page, making the exact use of the key phrases vital. Spiders also assign more relevance (that word again) to headings, making it an obvious place to use your key phrases. Another good place to add in key phrases is in the alt text and title tags of images. This is useful in two ways – firstly, if the image doesn’t load, the user can still get an idea about what was there. Secondly, spiders can’t read images (well, yet anyway) but they can read the alt text, giving you another place to insert a key phrase to help improve your rankings.

There is nothing worse than reading a page that repeats the same random phrase over and over. And let’s face it – searchers are not always kind and we often have to deal with phrases like “window glass conservatories” which annoyingly just don’t seem to fit into a sentence that easily. In cases like these, don’t stop your creativity from flowing. End a sentence with window glass; add in a full stop and start the next sentence with conservatories. Spiders aren’t too phased by punctuation, so make use of this loop hole.

Beyond being that little bit sneaky, try and make your SEO copy style as readable as possible. Users like to scan pages, not actually read them so make your copy as user-friendly as possible. Bolding and highlighting pulls out the key points for users and search engine spiders (so use the key phrases here as much as you can) and paragraphs, bulleted lists and headings should all be used as much as possible.

Linking between pages is an important part of SEO and the usability of your site. Nothing sends users away faster than an unnavigable site. But using links willy nilly is a pointless exercise and can actually harm your SEO efforts. Essentially, a link on a page must be relevant to its original page and the one that it lands on and must use a relevant word or phrase as the actual link. It is no use writing a page about Barbie dolls, using the word chair and linking to a page on Barbie shoes. Rather try linking the word accessories on the original page leading to the shoes or, even better, the accessories page. Irrelevant phrases or pages affect the quality of the link which means less link juice and will indirectly and negatively impact on your rankings for that term. So... you have been warned, always link wisely.

So there you go – my idea of SEO tips in a nutshell… If they were useless, don’t worry, Lyndi will be back next time with real pearls of wisdom!

Update: For some more great advice on SEO, check out Tammy's post: A Beginner's Guide to SEO