Search Engine Optimisation - SEO

Welcome! We are one of the fastest growing organisations within the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) industry. This is largely due to two factors, which are the proven affordable results we create, and the simple scaleable way in which the company operates.

With a current turnover in excess of £2million, a very successful team of employees which is rapidly growing, and a customer base of over 2500 we have the structure in place to deliver the results you are looking for. We have a very simple philosophy; MAKE IT WORK FOR THE CUSTOMERS. When it works, customers are happy to keep paying for cost effective results. This means we have no up front fees and no long-term contracts.

What is successful Search Engine Optimisation - SEO?

Successful Search Engine Optimisation is quite simple. It is about delivering the best results for your investment.

Google Image Before we start you can see if Search Engine Optimisation - SEO is for you by answering these four questions:

Do your customers use search engines to look for your industry/ products/services?
Does your site appear for all the possible phrases your customers may search for on search engines?
Is your website specifically designed to represent your business or service in a way that will attract customers?
Is your price or service competitive in your market?

What you must look to ensure is that you choose “the best search engine optimisation company.”

It is vital that you do not choose a specialist Search Engine Optimisation -SEO company that only works on this one aspect.

Search Engine Optimisation – SEO is only one of the major components. SEO Warning The industry falls into four main skill sets, which are:

Web Design & Website Marketing
Search Engine Optimisation
Web functionality
Internet marketing

In order to achieve the best results you have to take important elements from each area. Here are some aspects from each category that you may find interesting:

Web Design:

Not all websites can be indexed properly by the search engines. As a result you may pay £1000’s for the design and when you come to use a Search Engine Marketing - SEM Company often you have to pay again for the errors to be corrected.

The design of your the site does not match your target market. The colour scheme and layout are very important as they dictate to a certain market. For example bright fluorescent colours are price or emergency related whereas black, navy and maroon are prestige colours.

Search Engine Optimisation & Marketing - SEO:

search engines There are a number of Search Engine Optimisation techniques, how do you know which ones are being applied to your site and what they are?

Keyword selection, it is essential you choose the most productive keywords to optimise; they are not always the most searched for phrases.

Internet Marketing:

How do people buy? Geography is very important. If you are optimising locally it is important to use local telephone numbers.

You may spend money on various links but how effective are they? We can allocate specific telephone numbers to specific mediums and use your website analytics to see which ones are generating the most cost effective traffic and business.

Web Functionality:

Many e-commerce shops are not compatible to our methods of Search Engine Optimization - SEO. The Search Engine needs to see your site right down to the individual product level..

Do you have effective shopology, i.e. are associated products linked to each other to maximise on sales?

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SEO Video Blog

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - Sitemaps XML / HTML Video

Nick and James explain the basics the advantages of XML and HTML Sitemaps and how to generate them online. All the videos from Nick and James can be found on Youtube.com/crearegroup.

Search Engine Optimisation Blog

Business blog reviews and social media networking

The importance of Social Media Networks ( Twitter,� Myspace.com, Facebook� , Stumble Upon Mixx, Delicious)as a platform to promote interesting and engaging business reviews is fast becoming a valuable tool in a link building campaign for SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Even though this idea has been around for years what has changed recently is the [...]

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - Sitemaps XML / HTML Video

Nick and James explain the basics of sitemaps and how to generate search friendly sitemaps online, both XML and HTML.

The basics of onsite SEO (optimisation) - SEO Video Blog

Nick and James explain� the basics of internal / onsite SEO as a follow up to their keyword selection video. You can visit our youtube channel to view all our videos at http://www.youtube.com/crearecomm and if your interested in web design then check out our web design video blog http://www.youtube.com/crearegroup.

How Can Diverse Online Marketing Techniques Benefit Your SEO?

As a business, in order to find success online it is important to have a fully functional website. Firstly, it should tell customers exactly what your company does and secondly, it should show them exactly how they could purchase your products and services online. It is also essential that you are aware of how you can market [...]

Search Engine Optimization Video Archive

XML / HTML Sitemaps

Explaination of how to generate both XML and HTML sitemaps automatically using free online tools.

Keyword Selection

Tools and methods of choosing keywords to help towards a successful search engine optimisation campaign.

Onsite Optimisation Basics

The most important formats and factors to include in your search engine optimisation campaign.

What Are Meta Tags ?

Nick and James discuss the SEO, Design and Marketing aspects of Meta Data and how to utalise them.

The Search Engine Optimisation / Optimization (SEO) Encyclopedia

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Techniques

The mini SEO Encyclopedia is brought to you by the Creare Group and provides a basic set of information on search engine optimization (SEO) and the principles and history of SEO. The Creare Group also release regular SEO tips and information on our SEO Blog.

1.0 Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation.

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO (used to represent both Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Optimisers), is becoming increasingly important to companies as a means of improving not only the quantity, but also the quality of traffic to their website.

SEO focuses around the central premise dictating that the higher a website ranks in a list of search results from a search engine, the higher number of visitors it is likely to acquire. It is important to use responsible Search Engine Optimisers in order to meet the criteria that determines the success of an SEO operation, facets of which include a thorough knowledge of what people are likely to use as key words when performing a search, and the ways in which search engines function.

The primary services provided by Search Engine Optimization consultancy firms and agencies involve altering both the content of the website and the HTML coding.

This course of action is followed with a view to considerably improving the relevance of the site to particular keywords that are likely to occur. SEO relies on up to the minute expertise in specific market areas, market conditions and geographic locales to provide companies with successful results.

The process of Search Engine Optimisation is generally an ongoing one, and must take into account domain-specific searches, which are relatively new and use highly refined databases from which they extract their information, in addition to more wide-ranging regional and national search engine criteria.

The value of devoting time to an effective SEO programme is growing all the more obvious, as those websites that are most prominent in search engine results are increasingly emerging as those that receive the majority of online customer traffic, which can only be a good thing.

1.1 SEO and Marketing Strategies

Search Engine Optimisation as an effective marketing strategy depends strongly upon the increasing sophistication of eye tracking technologies. Indeed, web usability is currently at the forefront of commercial eye tracking research, making it both an exciting and a relevant field in which to be involved. Studies indicate that the eye is predisposed to scan a results listing from top to bottom and left to right (when this order is relevant to the language used), making SEO an indispensable marketing tool.

Search engine optimization often specialises in ‘organic’ search engine listings although websites can also be marketed purchasing paid listings. Despite the fact that SEO does suffer from a lack of definite guarantees and certainties, it is often a successful marketing strategy, particularly with regard to its potential ability to generate returns on investments through web traffic.

1.2 The History of Search Engine Optimisation.

Danny Sullivan, a renowned SEO specialist, has observed that the phrase Search Engine Optimisation started to be used in around 1997. Web search engines began to emerge in the early 1990s, and the beginnings of SEO as a technology were formulated in the mid 1990s as search engines began to grow more sophisticated. Early techniques involved SEOs submitting URLs to search engines, which would then send out spiders to extract links back to other pages from the submission.

Effective Search Engine Optimization relies on indexing, a process in which a page of the submitted URL is stored by the search engines, in order for an indexer to extract information about the page (e.g. keywords) that can then be crawled at leisure. Search engines began to grow and adapt through the 1990s to ensure the search results they explained were as relevant as possible to the searches carried out by increasing numbers of users.

Complex algorithms dependent on multiple factors were developed to prevent manipulative webmasters and SEO agencies from gaining high rankings through inappropriate methods. More recently, search engines began to depend on a wider variety of factors, including the personal details and search history of web users, to provide the most relevant results, leading to many new SEO approaches. The key is to gain as much insight as possible into the confidential algorithms used by search engines in order for effective Search Engine Optimisation to take place.

1.3 SEO: Getting Indexed.

Indexing was previously referenced as a crucial factor in successful Search Engine Optimization, and is designed to optimise the chances of producing relevant results in response to a search query. It can take on many forms, for example, using links from other sites and internal linking within a website in order to ensure prominent listings on search engines. In addition to this, SEO uses XML sitemaps that allow information about URLs to be recorded by webmasters, including when the URL was last updated, the frequency with which it changes, and the importance of individual URLs on the site as a whole.

Google, MSN and Yahoo use the same protocol, which means that having a sitemap allows prominent search engines gain access to information about updated web pages. Crawlers are also used by these search engines, which ‘read’ text, hyper-links and the content of keyword rich meta tags. After obtaining this information, the search engine is able to index the information and include it in its page ranking process and relevant databases.

1.4 Modern Day Indexing Methods and New Technologies in SEO.

One modern day indexing method is known as Gaudi, or Google Audio Indexing, and allows SEO the develop their uses of speech technology to locate words and phrases within an audio recording, even allowing users to skip to the relevant sections of video and audio footage. This enables Search Engine Optimisation to expand the areas in which it can perform, including popular cultural forums for information such as YouTube.

YouTube’s demographics particularly appeal to SEOs, as its user base is unique in its field in terms of its wide age range, world-wide popularity and the fact that over half of users return frequently to find new content.

Another vital practice for modern SEO is the need to ensure all pages containing flash animation are easily accessible to search engines, as crawlers are now able to operate within flash to obtain information. It is important to use separate URLs for groups of content in a Flash file, as this is the best way to make certain content is indexed and to boost link popularity. Further to this, SEO should ensure information relating to copyright and loading messages should be displayed in image format to avoid being indexed.

1.5 SEO Techniques.

Internal Optimisation: Search Engine Optimisation relies on two main techniques, and the first of these is internal optimisation, which focuses on altering and adding internal content to ensure high rankings. Content that often benefits from SEO includes:

The Title – this should use keywords relating to the website and attract users to your site from search engine results pages.
The Meta Tags – most important of these is the Meta Description Tag that serves as the subtitle to a website and can be used effectively in SEO as a sales pitch.
The Body Text – this should prioritise the use of keyword rich semantic HTML, in addition to good copy, which is essential for Search Engine Optimisation to attract users.

External Optimisation: External optimization refers to the process of ensuring the links that direct users to a site and the internal links within that site are simple and effective. Some Search Engine Optimisation techniques relating to this include the use of ‘links’ pages, ‘link’ exchange processes, in addition to reciprocal link exchanges. SEO uses external optimisation to calculate the relevance of a website to particular search engines through the extent to which it is linked to user search criteria, an essential measure of Search Engine Optimisation success.

1.6 White Hat and Black Hat Search Engine Optimisation.

These are phrases used to describe the methods of SEO, which fall into two general categories. White Hat Search Engine Optimization techniques are those that are recommended by search engines as an integral part of a site’s design, where Black Hat SEO techniques are those not approved by search engines. The benefits of White Hat Search Engine Optimization techniques include:

Long lasting results A conformist approach to search engine guidelines
A regulated methodology that does not allow for deception.

White Hat SEO also aims to guarantee the web content indexed by a particular search engine is the same as the content seen by users. This branch of SEO focuses on adjusting site content so that it can be accessed by spiders as swiftly and effectively as possible. Black Hat Search Engine Optimisation, on the other hand, operates using techniques that are often deceptive and are best avoided if a company wishes to preserve its online integrity. Methods employed in Black Hat SEO include spamdexing, which in turn uses practices such as:

Repeating unrelated phrases
Inserting hidden text
Producing duplicate content

1.7 Search Engines and SEO.

A web search engine is a tool designed for the purpose of finding and refining information on the internet. Thus in order for successful SEO to take place, a thorough knowledge of the functions performed by search engines and the ways in which they operate is essential. As the amount of available information on the internet has spiraled, early search engines found themselves unable to keep track with such high data levels, forcing the emergence of new methods. Search engines have continued to develop, with many entering the markets in an impressive manner, recording phenomenal gains and boosting the need for Search Engine Optimisation.

Three of the most prominent search engines in today’s markets include Google, Yahoo and MSN Live Search, although with regard to the international markets there is some variance, with Baidu as the most popular search engine in China, for example. Google: Google is widely recognised as the world’s largest search engine, it endeavors to organise the immense amounts of information that are available on the internet, and is often used as a general measure of SEO success.

Yahoo: A search engine founded in 1994, Yahoo! Inc. is the world's largest international online network of integrated services and has a significant presence in upwards of twenty markets around the world. MSN Live Search: Live search queries have undergone a dramatic increase in recent months, seeing their market share grow to around 10%, the rebranded search engine is becoming a more significant competitor, leading to a need to be aware of its practices in SEO.