FAQ - Effective search engine optimization

What are search engines and why are they important?
How can I get my site listed in search engines?
What are the most popular search engines?
Do I have to pay to get my website listed in search engines?
How can I make my website search engine friendly?
What are Meta tags and how important are they?
How can I improve my search rating and what is SEO?

What are search engines and why are they important?

"Search engines attempt to identify the most relevant content for a particular query"

The Internet and search engines go hand in hand, without the existence of search engines the internet wouldn't be nearly as powerful. Search engines allow users to quickly search millions of web pages to locate pages of interest based on relevant keywords.

How can I get my site listed in search engines?

Getting your site listed in search engines can be a cumbersome task. The process involved can vary from search engine to search engine. It generally involves submitting the address of your website at a designated page along with a brief description of its content.

What are the most popular search engines?

Currently the most popular search engine is Google with a market share of approximately 51%. To put this in context, it translates to more than 55 million Europeans using Google as their favoured search engine. Other popular search engines include Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

Do I have to pay to get my website listed in search engines?

The vast majority of search engines will list your site for free with the option of paying a premium fee for an enhanced listing.

How can I make my website search engine friendly?

By making your website search engine friendly you are actually making the web more user- friendly. Search engines algorithms even consider qualities such as accessibility and good design practice. You won't go far wrong if you follow these 5 basic guidelines:

Structure your content correctly
Include a Site Map
Use Meta tags
Don't rely on image maps for site navigation
Avoid unnecessary use of flash

What are Meta tags and how important are they?

Meta tags are a set of predefined instructions that can be inserted into the 'head' code of a web page. There are various types of meta tags, whose functions range from page descriptions and keywords, to page redirects and (search engine) robot guidelines. Meta tags are solely there for the purpose of search engines to help them more clearly understand the content of a given web page. As meta tags are not seen by the user, they can be used misleadingly. Due to this abuse, meta tags are not as important as they were when the 'Net was in its infancy.

How can I improve my search engine ranking and what is SEO?

There is no magic formula or secret keyword that can instantly improve your search rating. The only way to get a high ranking and stay there is too follow the guidelines specified by the search engines themselves.

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the process of structuring the design and content of your website in order to achieve the highest possible position in a search engine. To find out more about our SEO process, please click here!