Search Engine Optimisation

Google, the King of the internet. So popular we have even converted the noun into a verb- let’s google it! Without it I doubt I would use the internet half as much. I challenge you to try and find someone who hasn’t googled their own name to see what comes up! I did recently (for research purposes obviously) and the results included a voiceover artist, an award winning cook book writer, and an actress who’s credits include the slightly dubious title of ‘the Empress Strikes back’. I must point out that although I have a voice, I can cook and I can attempt to act, none of the above Rebecca Woods are me. As I scrolled through the results, number seven jumped out at me, it was me! my Facebook page!

This got me thinking, what do I have to do to get my Facebook page to be the top result when someone searches for Rebecca Wood? This is exactly the same question newspaper websites ask themselves when posting an article. What do we have to do to ensure our story gets to the top and as a result gets the most views?
The answer: Search Engine optimisation (or SEO if you want to be media ‘trendy’)

Google tracks 1 trillion websites, so just how does it work out which ones to put first in its search results?

It is all based on a sites reputation. Google looks for signs of quality clues, such as, who has the best links or the most visitors. When you enter a topic into the search bar, Google will scan all its websites and pick up on articles, videos and any other material if keywords have been tagged along with this information.

This can cause a real problem for the pun meister at the Sun. Its witty, outrageous and often blatantly offensive headlines work brilliantly for the front page of the daily paper, but they do not work well with search engines. Many headlines consist of few words, and none of them are keywords, making search engine optimisation efforts more difficult. Let’s go back in time to when Caledonian Thistle staged the huge upset over Celtic in the Scottish cup. The Sun printed the famous headline ‘Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious’. Now, this is a flash of inspiration for the print version, but for online- what googler is going to think to put that into the search box when they want to find out about the match? In today’s world you would have to include the keywords in the title, such as, ‘Caledonian Thistle beat Celtic in Scottish Cup’. Okay, I know it lacks creativity but if you want the traffic, you have to make sacrifices!

With all of this fresh on my mind I have created this blog for optimal traffic optimisation. It is full of links, keywords and has a simple to the point title.
All I have to do now is sit back and wait for the traffic to come hurtling through like the M4 on a bank holiday weekend. Well, I can dream can’t I?!

Image courtesy of manfrys @ flickr.com