SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If there was a proposal to change SEO to Google Optimization (GO), there is definately a case to answer. Certainly in the New Zealand and the Australian markets Google is particularly dominant, with New Zealand at 96.85% of all searches, and Australia at 93.69% according to GlobaStats (http://gs.statcounter.com).

There are several other names this discipline is known by:

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Search Engine Relevancy (SER)
• Link generation / Reciprocal linking
• Online marketing (Adwords / keywords / key phase / meta tags etc)
• Social media marketing. 

For most websites, SEO objectives are usually narrow in scope and well defined - mostly it is about generating more traffic and more business through being found on the internet, mostly by search engines.

End results are mixed as results are not just gained by the generation of more traffic, in order to gain traction they need support from a highly functional, attractive website that delivers the right messages. This in turn sets the scene for conversion with a sales proposition that (hopefully) works. These are best developed in conjunction and when the mix is right,  significant success often follows.

We believe that SEO is such an intrical part of website development it is almost always best handled by the developer of your site. If the site is built from the ground up using sound search optimisation priniciples, then it is far far better positioned to take advantage of any later work. This includes:

• Keywords and phrases as part of the content development
• In-site SEO which includes: Clean URLs, good page title practices, Meta Descriptions, Images (Alt text), a good code to text ratio, the absence of frames and more recently the absence of Flash.
• Website compliance and best practice followed including the www resolve, robots.txt, XML sitemaps, language declaration, registration with Google Analytics, W3C validity, Microformats, Dublin Core and Geo Meta Tags.
• Off site SEO that include number of backlinks, listing with key directories and good use of blogging and Social Media. These can be successfully handled by internal resources or a 3rd party.
• Ongoing planning and reporting which includes measurement of traffic, feedback loops that ensure that any online programme is paying for itself.

The above is just a sample of what is involved with SEO. Here at Gantt, we constantly update our internal documentation and SEO procedures. Our ongoing commitment to development reflects how important we consider SEO to be. Our SEO optimization skills are currently undergoing growth, mostly because SEO itself is a relatively young discipline and thus growing itself.

When chosing Gantt as your supplier, do so with the confidence that your site will be developed with the SEO basics are immediately covered, and with the knowledge that any future SEO undertakings are on a platform designed to attract visitors to your site.

There's more information planned for here - but why wait? Email Managing Director Bruce Hudson on bhudson@gantt.co.nz or call us on (09) 482 2180 with your question, information request or to let us know your needs.