Our approach

Our approach to Search Engine Optimisation

By now, you probably have a good idea of the key components required to establish an SEO campaign.

The next question is “How do we start the process”?
We could keep it really short and just tell you “we do a load of stuff”, but that really wouldn’t do justice to what we do.

It’s not easy and we’d rather give you a clear picture of what’s involved. We do however simplify the process by dividing it into three phases.

Phase I – Website Review

You could also call this a ‘Website Audit’.

In a nutshell, the first phase is about gathering intelligence. Here is a summary of the areas we cover in all three phases.

YOUR WEBSITE AND ITS ONLINE MARKETPLACE

We look at where you sit in relation to your competitors and view your current web logs to identify where traffic is coming from. This will include which search engines are performing best, your conversion rates, which keywords are working well and agreeing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in order to set achievable goals. It’s at this initial stage that working closely with you will pay huge dividends in the long run.

KEYWORD RESEARCH AND RANKING REPORTS

Keyword Research is pivotal in learning about visitor behaviour and finding ‘sales triggers’. It can make or break a campaign so we take no chances and use sophisticated software to assist us in this process.

Once we have gathered this information we will decide which additional keywords/phrases will be worth investing in and will submit a report detailing exactly where your site is listed amongst the popular search engines.
We’ll also highlight where your competitors are ranked.

CODE, STRUCTURE AND IMAGES

Often overlooked, your site’s code plays a major role in your campaign’s success; and it is fair to say that this is one of the most technical elements of the process. We’ll look closely at the current directory structure of your website and the file naming conventions that it uses. Images on the site should utilise descriptive file names and will benefit from correct Alt Tags to help search engines identify ‘image content’ and relevancy to the page.

META TAGS AND INTERNAL LINKING

We’ll pay close attention to how we can improve your Meta Tags and in Phase II we’ll need to gain access to your CMS (Content Management System) or database. This involves deciding on how we can make them more relevant to page titles and content.

Anchor Text is the name given to a description of an internal link nested on a page. We will see how this can be improved and make sure there are no broken links leading to an Error 404 message.

EXTERNAL LINKING AND COMPETITOR REPORTS

Internet directories play an important role in external linking. Time will be allocated in creating links to these rank boosting sites. At the same time we’ll make sure that you aren’t inadvertently linking to sites that could be doing you harm and having the reverse effect – a common mistake.

We’ll identify and analyse competing websites that outperform you on Google and the other major search engines; being sure to review their incoming links, page content and meta data.

A report will be submitted identifying which keywords they have failed to spot or fully optimise and find out exactly why they are outranking you.

In other words, we will ‘reverse engineer’ your competitors.

WEBSITE INDEXING AND SERVER ISSUES

A sitemap is great way of letting search engines know you exist and giving them the opportunity of indexing you. We’ll submit these maps in multiple formats and optimise site code to make sure good and relevant content is at the top of the page.

Alias domains will be correctly pointed to your website. If your site is undergoing changes to structure or file names, we’ll make sure that the appropriate server-side redirects are set up to tell the search engines where each page is moving to. In addition, we will check load times and analyse log files to ensure server-side issues are not affecting the search engine’s ability to index your website or penalise you for duplicate content.

And after all that…

…you’ll receive a list of actions and responsibilities for implementation in Phase II.

Phase II – Website Review Implementation

We’ve done the research, gathered the intelligence and picked your competitors to the bone. Knowledge is power as they say and we are now armed and ready to go into battle.

We hope that we have managed to simplify the first phase for you, but now the real hard work begins – the implementation. It’s all a matter of importance and tackling those parts that will produce the quickest results. So jump on board and let us get to work on that all-important analysis. Getting you to where you want to be is totally doable – it just takes a little know how.

Phase III – Website Support and Maintenance

Wouldn’t it be great if you could do something once then never have to worry about it again? Sorry, we don’t have great news on that front. Remember, it’s marketing and you will need to keep re-fuelling the tank to make sure your business keeps on the road to winning new and repeat customers.
So maintaining and tweaking the campaign on an ongoing basis is essential.

The good news is that once results happen, this strategy pays for itself time and again. Those rumours you heard about highly successful internet marketing strategies generating fantastic revenues were true. They really do work and you will be very pleased you invested in such an important modern marketing necessity.

You’ll be safe in the knowledge that you will have full access to one of the most comprehensive and powerful stats analytical tools on the market. We don’t use Google stats to plug into your site. Don’t get us wrong, they’re good, but we have a far better package created by Yahoo. It will tell you everything you need to know in real time and you can just login to it whenever you wish.

Remember, with us there is no tie-in or contracts to sign and we are only too happy to chat with you whenever you feel like picking up the phone.

We take our role in the growth of your company very seriously and want the opportunity to show you in reality the real and tangible benefits of choosing Optimease to help you.

So, go on… give us a call today.