Last week one of our website clients referred to Search Engine Optimisation or SEO as 'the dark arts'.

Indeed, SEO is a topic which often has our clients tearing their hair out or burying their head in the sand and ignoring it.

But ignoring SEO won't make it any less important! A good SEO ranking means your business will appear higher up in Google listings (and other search engines), making it easier for customers to find your business.

So here at Six Ticks we are on a mission to help you to face your fear and embrace SEO so that you can reap the benefits!

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of getting free, organic traffic to your website by featuring in online search engines such as Google and Bing (which make up about 98% of the market).

So when an internet user types in - "Birthday cakes Newcastle" or "Halloween costume shops", SEO determines which websites search engines display and in what order. The websites which are deemed most relevant to the user's search terms, location, previous search history, and have the best SEO ranking will appear higher in the listings.

Time to embrace SEO!

An incredible 40,000 queries are entered into Googles' search engine every second. Yes, 40,000!

Aside from mobile apps, search engines are usually the first place customers will look to find a particular service or business. So if people can't find your website then you will miss out on customers. If you learn to love SEO then you can increase the number of customers visiting your website. Plus, if you embrace SEO and your competitors don't, you'll feature higher up in the listings than them!

It's a no brainer!

How does Google decide who appears first?

Now this is where those so-called 'dark arts' come into play.

Google performs regular scans of websites and analyse a number of factors (over 200) which then determine search engine rankings.

There are a wide number of both creative and behind the scenes technical factors which affect your website's SEO ranking. Here's just a glimpse at some of the most important things which make a difference:

• Keywords and Website Content
• Website Security Certification
• Website Coding and Performance
• Social Media and Blogs

As Google themselves will tell you, nobody can ever guarantee a number one ranking, but by making sure your website embraces as many SEO factors as possible, you'll have the best chance to feature higher up search engine rankings than your competitors and reach more customers.

How do I make my website SEO friendly?

Don't worry, Six Ticks are here to help make all of this easy!

We offer a comprehensive, jargon-free SEO review of your website for just £50. We will analyse your site and make recommendations which will help to boost your SEO rankings. We can also help to improve your site's code (the bit that search engines see) to make your site more search engine friendly. There are a whole host of ways to improve you SEO, so get in touch today for a no-obligation chat.

If you have any questions about SEO or would like a review then get in touch now and we'd love to help!