Creative Connections

 -  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can seem very daunting, but in truth the information is all readily available for free on the internet.- you just have to dig and find a good source. 

 

There is no quick fix that you can do to get that number one ranking in Google and of course unless your product or site is really obscure there are thousands competing for that number one spot.  But do not be put off - an effective SEO strategy can pay dividends as you will learn.

 

I treat SEO tasks as grains of sand that when correctly drawn together will help you drive towards your ultimate goal of increasing traffic to your site.

 

The first very important links we shall provide are of course links to Google resources including the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. As you would expect, this is the most authoritative source available and is an absolute must read for anyone starting on the SEO journey.

 

You should consider subscribing to the Matt Cutts blog - Gadgets, Google and SEO  - this is without doubt the best way to stay current with any changes that Google make.

 

Matt Cutts is head of Googles Webspam team and is the voice of Google in all things SEO (well, the loudest voice it would seem). You can also follow Matt Cutts on Twitter

 

Two other crucial links to Google resources that you should look at are Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. These are both completely free tools provided by Google to help you manage your site's performance on the Web.  I will blog in more detail about these items in the future, but in the meantime get yourself accounts straight away and start using them now, They really are powerful tools.

 

At this point you may justifiably be thinking - why is it all about Google?  Well, the truth is that as of the date of writing this blog various sources suggest that Google currently has 85% of the search engine market share.  So in my view, get it right with Google and you are heading in the right direction.  Once you have implemented what it best practice for Google you will find that most of the other search engines are either exactly the same or very similar.

 

Plenty there I hope to get you started.  Look out for my next post that will look at On Page SEO techniques.