I’ve done a fair amount of research into this new toy today, and I can only lead to pure speculation as to what this new trend will mean for Search Engine Optimisation and companies alike.

Read Google’s explanation here, if you are not sure what this article is about. But basically Google Instant produces real-time results as you type. Google highlight 3 benefits from this:

• Faster Search – Google anticipates what you are searching for, saving 2-5 seconds per search
• Smarter Predictions – Predictions are made based on popular subjects
• Instant Results – Results appear before you without having to hit ‘search’

Fair enough, Google have streamlined Internet searching. But what does that mean for SEO?

Lost in the system

This first thing that concerns me, is that Google predicts what you want to find. And I look at that in a negative light for the following reason; If Google predicts what you want to find based on popularity of the search (at a guess), then what if it pushes users to search for a phrase with millions of results per month? Your website is going to get lost in the system if customers are lead towards a result. Good practice in the past is to use keywords that kick back less results to stop you from getting lost in the system. Making the user search without provocation would usually force them to use their imagination a little more and type in things like “puppy collars”. Now if I type in something similar, Google nudges me more towards “puppy collars and leads”. But what if your business doesn’t sell leads? Your listing will have been reduced because you don’t fully fulfil the requirements.

Pages 2, 3, 4… Are they obsolete now?

Because Google now provides live results as you type, I can only imagine they will make pages 2, 3, 4 and so on obsolete. Who will bother scrolling down to search for more results, when they can just retype the phrase. As a result, companies are going to be investing even more money, trying to get on that pivotal first page. So does this mean business/organisations lagging on page 2 will never get a look in from now on?

Search Impressions

I’m wondering whether each result as you are typing, as classed as a search impression. I have read that this will not be the case. If not, then how will they monitor search impression from this point forward?

New ways to research keywords?

So if I want to promote a clients website using specific keywords, does my research start with Google Instant? If my client sells digital watches, shall I type “digital”, then “watches”, then watch where Google wants to lead me, in this case “digital watches for men”. Because if users are quite happy for Google to suggest search criteria, it would make sense to use the phrase that Google is leading everyone to search for.

Controversy

Anyway, Google.com leads to all of this controversy, but at the end of the day, like me, I still used the Firefox search box. And this doesn’t have Google Instant. Point being, this will effect a lot of users, but perhaps not as many as we anticipate.

What’s the catch?

What does Google get out of this? It’s a new toy, but where will they make their money? Am I going to have to cough up cash to Google, so that they can manipulate the suggestions to lead users more towards my business or clients? Wouldn’t it be nice to type in “Web Design”, and have Google suggest users towards “Web Design at competitive prices in Wolverhampton”, where you will find me hovering in the top 3. Time will tell on that matter.

Are SEO companies guarantees redundant?

Personally, I cannot see any SEO company ever being able to guarantee a number 1 listing result on Google. If Google’s leading suggestions change regularly then I am high sceptical of anyone who claims this. However if the suggestions don’t change, then I would give them the benefit of the doubt, but I simply doubt Google will keep the suggestions static.

Conclusion

As I made clear in the second paragraph of this article, this is all speculation. At the end of the day, SEO companies and web-masters in general are going to have to see how this effects them over a long period of time. I can’t imagine anyone will be confident in their tactics for at least 6 months. We will simply have to play the trial and error game all over again. This is all open to interpretation at the moment and I would like to hear your thoughts.

- Craig (Web Designer/Consultant) MMNetwork.co.uk

This guide covers everything you can do yourself for free. There are obviously other SEO tools out there like Pay Per Click, but I won’t go into that just yet.

Step1: Research

• Put research into your potential clients. Learn about their business and anticipate their needs. Try to be on the same waive-length as them
• Analyse your client’s competitors websites. Learn what works for them. Distinguish what makes the Top 10 Search Engine results from the Mid-Range results. Look closely at content.
• Using the information gathered above, write a list of keywords. Use free websites like Google Adwords to find alternative and effective keywords that suite your needs. Do not saturate your results with irrelevant phrases. If you want to see what sort of keywords are being used by your competitors, you can find websites on Google under “keyword density checker” that will do this for free. Note that if you type in “bakery”, you’ll get 165,000 results back, where as “affordable bakery goods” brings back only 880. There less searches, the better chance you have of being noticed.
• Once you have some keywords that have a competive number of monthly searches go to the Google Search Engine and enter into the search box: “allintitle: your Keyword” (obviously, replace your Keyword with the keyword you are researching ). This search query will tell you how many other web pages have your chosen keyword in the title of the website.

Step 2: Website Optimisation

• Use a smart Domain name. Only use branding names if you have the money for marketing, otherwise use something relevant to your business, such as www.jennysbakery.co.uk as opposed to www.jennys.co.uk
• Ensure each of your website pages have the following meta tags in the head: Title, Description, Keywords. Try not to be too generic when filling these in. Ensure they are specific for the pages that you have created. Also make sure that your description is inviting as this shows up on the Search Engine results, and should be no longer than 200 words. It is good practice to have a keyword within the title and should be no longer than 90 characters.
• Image tags should be taken advantage of. Don’t just leave them blank. The descriptions play a part for Search Engines. But don’t use this as a way to saturate them with keywords, as Search Engines penalise you for “keyword stuffing”.
• When you write your content for each page, ensure you are optimising your use of keywords. You do not want to crowd your content with the same phrase or word. Research suggests that you should have around 6-8% of your content dedicated to keywords. If you are unsure of the density of keywords, search Google for “keyword density checker”.
• Headers such as <H1> should include keywords when possible. Not only does it help the reader navigate the website, but also plays a role for the Search Engines to be understand your flow of content.
• Use robot.txt to help Search Engines know what pages to scan and what not to. Learn more about robot.txt here.
• Links within your website should include the keyword for that item. For example, if you want to link to a page that tells you about Ancient Egypt, then use the text “Ancient Egypt” and not “History”.
• If you are able to get the opportunity, create reciprocal links. Try to gain a reciprocal link from another website with relevant content, not competitor.  Ask the web designer via email if they would be willing to place a link to your website from theirs in return for their website link on your site.
• Create a good file structure. Use sub folders to categorise your content. For example, images should be in the folder “images” and not in the root directory.
• Leave back links to your website whenever you get the opportunity, like if you write a blog on a 3rd party website. It is good practice to share your expertise with the world to prove you are good at what you do. Leave articles on websites too that will entice readers to look at your article then click a link back to your website. Back links on reputable websites shows Search Engines your legitimacy. Make sure the Blogs/Articles that you leave behind contain relevant keywords and good content. Don’t just submit an article to one website, the more the better.
• Include a sitemap.xml in your root folder. This will help Search Engines determine the layout of your website. Read more about sitemap.xml here.
• Once all of the above has been adhered to, submit them on all major Search Engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Simply type “submit url” in the search box and follow the instructions. You can pay a lot of money to do this for you, when you can simply do this yourself. There are loads of Search Engines out there for you to submit your website. We highly recommend setting up an Email address specifically for the submissions, as you will get a lot of spam off certain search engines that you submit to.
• Always update your content on your website. Keep it fresh. A stale website does not rank well.

You probably won’t see any results overnight. These things tend to take weeks/months to filter through the system. Just make sure you keep tabs on changes that you can make so you can monitor what works. SEO is a hard drawn out game. Just be patient. I highly recommend Google Analytics to keep a track of your website traffic.

- Craig (Web Designer/Consultant) MMNetwork.co.uk

The business offers comprehensive web design to small businesses, which are designed to be cost effective for everyone.

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