SEO success!

My business website is ranking on the first page of Google for my new chosen keywords, hurray! As I explained in a previous post about making money online, I learnt all I know from free sources available on the internet then applied some common sense. There is no magic formula nor dark art involved. 


I have touched on SEO in a feature I wrote on Suite 101 last year on how to create a website for around £40 and this is what I wrote about website promotion: "Once the website is up and running, a website owner needs to ensure it ranks well on search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. A website owner should try to improve search engine ranking by using SEO techniques. There is good SEO and bad SEO and some search engines have developed formulas for penalizing sites that use bad SEO. It’s best not to stuff a site full of keywords without backing them up with articles and sound information. At all times when a website owner is working on content, they should bear in mind that easy-to-read text is more search-friendly than word games or puns. It’s also a good idea to caption photos as they will turn up on image searches. SEO can be learned from free online guides and from online conferences or workshops." 

This feature is just over one year old but a lot of it still stands. If I may update that section a bit, I'd say, just worry about Google, then the rest will come. Of course more social media tools have become popular, such as Pinterest and BrandYourself. Twitter has become massive with its millions of users and LinkedIn rules the professional world (Facebook for business? Not really unless you sell consumer goods).

So how does an ex web dummy like me and ex young bright thing get to know about social media trends? Well, there is  LinkedIn  and its professional groups, Britmums for blogging and a very handy newsletter from the Social Media Examiner. Yes, it's a lot of reading, but I'm getting results and keeping up to date with what is going on in the digital world.

Watch this space, an ebook for social media virgins beckons....

Five top tips to improve Google ranking from an SEO expert

Alison in action at a conference

I first heard of Alison Rothwell through the blog network British Mummy Bloggers (recently rebranded as Britmums). She set up a free SEO group and taught us lots of tips. Nowadays she is a very busy, successful lady indeed and I hope she doesn't mind if I post this "oldish" article - on the web  everything goes at the speed of light. I feel it's still relevant and it shows up her great coaching skills. 


Improving your Google PageRank will, of course, have a knock-on effect on your position within the natural search results. But don't make the mistake of concentrating solely on PageRank. Improving PageRank should be a part of a well-organized SEO strategy. With that in mind here are five top tips to help you improve your Google PageRank.

1. Create a Google site map

Google has a great number of free tools you can use. So if you don't already have one, head on over to Google.com and create a free account, then follow the instructions to create a sitemap. While you are there, take a look at some of the other free tools they offer.

2. Get good back links

It's common knowledge that the more links you have, the better it is for your PageRank. But while it's common knowledge, it's not entirely correct. It's not so much the quantity of links you have, but the quality. All links should be from relevant sites, preferably with a high PageRank themselves. A good way of getting quality back links is to post in relevant forums. Answer any questions that may have been posted and include a link back to your site offering more information. DO NOT spam these websites with links,  though, or you'll be banned.

3. Mind your spelling

Sorry, but Google doesn't like spelling mistakes. So always make sure your content and titles are spelled correctly. It was once common practice to optimise sites with misspelled words for popular search terms to try and fool the engines. Those days are over, if your site has misspelled words on it, your PageRank will be penalized accordingly.

4. Check out what your competitors are up to

Do a search in Google for the search term you want to rank for. The people at the top of the list are doing something right, so let's take a look at what they are up to. Type the following search string into Google "link:competitor.com", replace competitor.com with the url of the top ranking site. You will now see a list of sites that are linking to that particular webpage. Make a note of the links and try to get them to link to your site as well.

5. Don't forget the rest of your site

PageRank, like the name suggests, is an indication of the quality of the page you're on, not of the website as a whole. A common mistake is to concentrate on increasing the PageRank of your homepage, thinking that it will filter down to the other pages on your site. Well no it won't, try to get links into the whole of your site, for a number of different keywords. Do all this correctly and soon you'll start to see the fruits of your labours.

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 Alison Rothwell is an online marketing expert who prides herself on helping small businesses achieve their full potential. Whatever the size of your business, visit www.alisonrothwell.com to find out more about her SEO workshops and social media expertise.