Search Engine Optimization (or optimisation as the British prefer) is a key web marketing activity.

According to Wikipedia it is the job of “improving rankings for relevant keywords in search results by rectifying the web site structure, and content such that they could be easily read and understood by the search engine’s software programs”.

This definition infers that:

1. SEO improves the visibility of a web site only for predetermined keywords;
2. sauce for the Goose may not be sauce for the Gander: in other words, optimisation for one search engine may not work well, or even at all, in another.

So far, pretty good. It could be improved or at least made more honest though in two respects:

1. SEO does not necessarily “rectify” anything. Perfectly decent web sites may not be search optimised at all, and perfectly awful web sites (riddled with technical and usability errors) may yet be perfectly optimised.
2. Except in romantic novels, SEO is less concerned with how a web site’s structure and content can be “easily read and understood” by a visiting search engine, and more with how the structure and content can be adapted to ‘persuade’ or influence it. Ironically this touch of realism appears to make SEO synonymous with rhetoric, which as Lord Baldwin of Bewdley reminded us, is the harlot of the arts.

One might argue that there are harlots, and then there are harlots. The same is true of SEO. A spot of careful and moderate SEO may go, in many cases, largely unnoticed by the web site user, certainly it won’t degrade the integrity, usability or technical correctness of the website beyond acceptable levels. But it is a compromise – between quality and search-effectiveness, and it will cause problems if it goes too far.

What sorts of problems? Well, poor or excessive search engine optimisation commonly creates the following usability defects:

1. Deception. This is a serious problem relating to the use of keywords within pages that are not relevant to the content of that page. This is very prevalent in the top listings of most search engines. It is serious because it assumes that people do not mind being deceived, which is a rather brave assumption. My experience is that people tend to have a low tolerance for web sites that waste their time (unless they come with that objective).
2. Bookmarks and browser History. You want people to bookmark your web site so that they can return easily. Browser ‘History’ entries let you easily find sites you’ve been to but haven’t bookmarked. SEO routinely perverts the titles and descriptions of web pages in order to make them seem relevant to target keywords; resulting in bookmarks and history entries like “UK business office furniture hire – chairs, tables & desks. Furniture Hire.”, rather than the more obviously useful and accurate “Kilroy’s Furniture Ltd. | Contact Us”. These problems get worse as ‘keyword reinforcement’ techniques often use the same title across many web pages. Perhaps it’s poetic justice, but this technique actually reduces the likelihood that, should anyone visit your web site, they will be able to find their way back again, which thereby perpetuates a dependence on search engines.
3. Marketing glaze. Many studies have shown that on the web, although I suspect everywhere, people avoid anything that looks like advertising and tend to ignore text written in marketese (marketing-speak, the lingo of sales). If the content on your web site is stuffed with keywords, and reads like a commercial, you really cannot expect anyone (other than children, who are the rather predictable exception to this tendency) to hang around long enough to actually buy anything or explore your web site.

These problems will:

1. do nothing to enhance your reputation;
2. keep you dependent on search engines;
3. turn away many adult visitors;
4. significantly reduce your web site’s effectiveness.

Search Engine Optimization is also not the only way to get your web site listed. And on its own it will not work miracles with your search engine positioning. Having a well-rounded relevant web site, and a carefully researched marketing programme, is how one gets a good Google position, and SEO is a part, but only a part, of that process.

There are occasions though where SEO is unnecessary or maybe even inadvisable: if your web site is part of a large organisation, like a government, the BBC or Microsoft. It’s not necessary because, providing you get some links from key pages on the main organisation web site and providing that your web site is built properly, your position will rise regardless of SEO. And it is inadvisable because – for a government web site, or any site that has to follow policies on accessibility, usability and technical conformance – SEO can quite easily break your obligations to those requirements. In this latter situation organisations should meet the requirements first, then undertake SEO and retest to ensure requirements are still being met, discarding ‘optimisations’ that prevent conformance.

Most of us though aren’t lucky enough to get incoming links from the BBC homepage, so we have to degrade our web sites to some extent in the cause of search optimisation. I suppose then the only question is: how much of a harlot are you prepared to be?

How can I get my web site onto Google’s first page of results?

I think I hear this question (or its variants) more often than any other, which maybe isn’t surprising as it seems widely held that a web site faces doom having the temerity to turn up on any page other than Google’s first.

Well, how do you do it, how long does it take, is it even possible or worth doing?

Some people claim that they can get any web page to the Google top ten, pretty much on demand; Google says they can’t. The answer lies in very Liberal fashion somewhere in between – because actually you can but you probably shouldn’t.

For most commercial web sites, to cheat the Google system and leap in at the top you have to bend some rules. However, you also have to bend your website out of the streamlined, purposeful shape it hopefully possesses; leaving behind, when the process is complete, an inane object likely to send visitors fleeing for the exit within seconds. And then Google will probably discard your listing when they find out (and they will find out; let’s face it you won’t be hard to find). So Google is kind of right: you can’t really cheat your way to the top – because it is tantamount to commercial suicide.

This holds true in situations where there is fierce competition for particular search terms. However, where competition isn’t so hot there are ways (such as blogging) to work with the Google system and still achieve a page one listing. The fact that this happens (and can happen so quickly) is both Google’s strength and its Achilles’ heel. Currency and relevance are what made Google such a good search tool in the first place and if it’s used according to the manufacturer’s instructions the system works very well.

The position of a web page is worked out by considering many factors, chief amongst which is its Google PageRank™. PageRank measures a web page’s importance and is determined by the nature of the links between that page and others: a link from a highly rated page does your ranking more good than a link from one with a low rating. The PageRank algorithm has subtle and extensive implications beyond the scope of this article but it does show that getting links to your web site is very important.

Ultimately though, relevance to the search terms will always win out, which is why a search for your company name (unless it’s very common) will usually bring your website up number one, as will using strange word combinations – even Google knows of only one “shoemaker of distinction” (it’s in South Africa). The only snag is that people don’t normally search for company names or strange word combinations, they search for things like “curtains”, “motor bike insurance” and “cheap holidays”. Oh well, back to the PageRank.

Considering all this, a good starting strategy would be to:

• optimise your web site (also known as Search Engine Optimization or SEO);
• start a link network;
• submit your web site to other relevant databases;
• get listed on certain directories;
• ensure that your content is relevant and useful.

These are actually just general web marketing activities, and will benefit you regardless of what happens on Google. But sure as cream rises they will all help to improve your Google position too. Some will work better than others in this regard, it depends on what area of business you are in and what the competition is like for your target search terms (this changes so the research is worth repeating occasionally).

In the end, if you want to achieve a sustainable high Google position, then you will almost certainly have to be patient; and there are never any guarantees – it may never happen. If you are really lucky you might be guaranteed a place¹, if you’re not then your chances could be 1 in 100 million², which is about ten times less likely than winning the National Lottery.

My advice is to be realistic and read on, because the important point I’ve been trying to get to is that, for 99% of businesses, getting to page one on Google is not actually what’s most important.

Life outside the Google top ten »