I have been granted permission by the moderators to post this thread
Hi Salon Geeks.
I know there is a website help thread, but I noticed that it mainly focused on the technical side of things. Therefore, I thought it would great to create a thread dedicated to SEO.
I have worked in the SEO industry for a while now, currently working as an SEO consultant at a large internet marketing company. I also do freelance SEO work for small/single person businesses. I stumbled across this forum while helping a friend of mine, who recently became a mobile hairdresser and wanted to get 'noticed' in Google. I've seen a couple of SEO threads here, which contains a lot of inaccurate information or people trying to make a quick buck from you, hence why I am making this.
Sounds great, but what the hell is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and is the process of getting free organic traffic(as opposed to paid adverts etc.) from the big search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Generally speaking, you will want to focus the bulk of your efforts optimising for Google, as it's the most widely used search engine by a mile. In order to rank well in these you need to optimise your website to improve it's visibility in the search engines.
To achieve this, it's important to carry out both On site SEO, and Off site SEO. On site SEO involves carrying out tweaks and improvements to the website itself, such as changing Page titles, linking structure, writing great unique content, correctly writing meta description and keywords, to name but a few aspects.
Off site SEO is the process of building high quality links that point towards your website. Essentially the more of these links (known as backlinks) you have, the better you rank in Google. However, it is VITAL that the links you acquire are of high quality, coming from websites with good Google Pagerank and who have good backlinks themselves. For example, a link coming from a dodgy porn site is not going to do you any favours what so ever. But a link coming from the BBC News website would be absolutely dynamite, and pass huge value to your website.
You might of encountered companies in the past offering you "backlinks" or "wikilinks" and promising you the top spot in Google, but you should avoid these kind of agencies as they generally build spammy, low quality links.
I'm only going to touch on the basics for now, but if you really want to get your head around SEO, SEOMoz.org's beginner guide is an absolute must read. Bare in mind that if you want a firm grasp of it, you must be computer savvy and tech minded.
I don't need to rank well in Google
If you think this, you are very, very wrong. 90% of people using Google don't go past the 3rd page of results. The top spot receives 35% of all traffic, almost as much as the numbers 2 through 5 slots combined. You are missing out on massive amounts of sales if your website doesn't rank on the first page of Google for the location you cover. For example if you are an eyelash extension technician in Bracknell, and don't rank on the first page for the phrase "eyelash extensions bracknell", you seriously need to work on your SEO.
I really hope we can get some great discussions going here, and collate some information that people will find useful.
I am happy to answer any SEO questions you might have, or if you want me to have a quick glance at your website to see if you have any ATROCIOUS SEO problems then post your link if you can handle the criticism
.
Cheers
Hi Salon Geeks.
I know there is a website help thread, but I noticed that it mainly focused on the technical side of things. Therefore, I thought it would great to create a thread dedicated to SEO.
I have worked in the SEO industry for a while now, currently working as an SEO consultant at a large internet marketing company. I also do freelance SEO work for small/single person businesses. I stumbled across this forum while helping a friend of mine, who recently became a mobile hairdresser and wanted to get 'noticed' in Google. I've seen a couple of SEO threads here, which contains a lot of inaccurate information or people trying to make a quick buck from you, hence why I am making this.
Sounds great, but what the hell is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and is the process of getting free organic traffic(as opposed to paid adverts etc.) from the big search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Generally speaking, you will want to focus the bulk of your efforts optimising for Google, as it's the most widely used search engine by a mile. In order to rank well in these you need to optimise your website to improve it's visibility in the search engines.
To achieve this, it's important to carry out both On site SEO, and Off site SEO. On site SEO involves carrying out tweaks and improvements to the website itself, such as changing Page titles, linking structure, writing great unique content, correctly writing meta description and keywords, to name but a few aspects.
Off site SEO is the process of building high quality links that point towards your website. Essentially the more of these links (known as backlinks) you have, the better you rank in Google. However, it is VITAL that the links you acquire are of high quality, coming from websites with good Google Pagerank and who have good backlinks themselves. For example, a link coming from a dodgy porn site is not going to do you any favours what so ever. But a link coming from the BBC News website would be absolutely dynamite, and pass huge value to your website.
You might of encountered companies in the past offering you "backlinks" or "wikilinks" and promising you the top spot in Google, but you should avoid these kind of agencies as they generally build spammy, low quality links.
I'm only going to touch on the basics for now, but if you really want to get your head around SEO, SEOMoz.org's beginner guide is an absolute must read. Bare in mind that if you want a firm grasp of it, you must be computer savvy and tech minded.
I don't need to rank well in Google
If you think this, you are very, very wrong. 90% of people using Google don't go past the 3rd page of results. The top spot receives 35% of all traffic, almost as much as the numbers 2 through 5 slots combined. You are missing out on massive amounts of sales if your website doesn't rank on the first page of Google for the location you cover. For example if you are an eyelash extension technician in Bracknell, and don't rank on the first page for the phrase "eyelash extensions bracknell", you seriously need to work on your SEO.
I really hope we can get some great discussions going here, and collate some information that people will find useful.
I am happy to answer any SEO questions you might have, or if you want me to have a quick glance at your website to see if you have any ATROCIOUS SEO problems then post your link if you can handle the criticism
.Cheers
