Search engine optimisation or SEO for short, has been an extensive learning curve for me, but a very interesting one also. If you’re a webmaster or an advanced internet user, you’re most likely aware of SEO, whether it be basic or advanced however, to those who scratch their head at the name, it’s basically a process which involves various techniques to increase volume to one or more websites. To be more specific, these SEO techniques are used to provoke search engines like Google and Yahoo! into believing your website is more relative for a  particular term or a handful of terms or keywords.

SEO Techniques

As mentioned, search engine optimisation is based on various techniques, however many assumed these techniques take extensive knowledge over many years and that only experts can practice them, but this is just not the case, quite the opposite in fact.

SEO in it’s core level is that simple, you can begin optimising a website after a few hours of learning SEO. It’s all dependent on your learning style and how motivated you are. There is however a big difference between the general search engine optimiser and the advanced search engine optimiser. The general SEOs can only reach x amount of traffic via the  techniques they have learnt from others, which makes them only understand x amount of a particular search engine and their patterns which enables them to only reach x amount of traffic to their website(s). Advanced SEOs on the other hand are learning their own techniques, building on basic ones, analysing search engine algorithms daily, crunching through other advanced SEOs, filtering through only the needed information and practising SEO every day.

Advanced search engine optimisation requires a broad range of knowledge, being able to follow process when needed and to have an understanding in marketing. To put it simple – creativity, logic and marketing all combined into one. The reason I put marketing separate is I believe marketing is something that stands on its own, there is no right, no wrong – just what works. You either have it, you don’t have it or you learn it – it’s that simple.

If you’re interested in learning SEO, take a few searches on Google with a few different phrases, i.e. “Learning SEO” or “SEO Basics”, there is plenty of information out there. However, if you prefer to start off on top and with good knowledge, I would highly recommend Aaron Wall and his SEO Book. Aaron Wall is a well-known Search Engine Optimiser, building his knowledge over many years and producing great websites and an excellent book, SEO Book. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book comes with his subscription to his website, which of course includes lots and lots of goodies to help you learn and practice SEO.

There is no right way or wrong to practice SEO. Find ways that work for you and build from there. Try and not be restricted, it doesn’t matter if you fail, just keep learning and moving forward and you will find that you’ll come out on top.

You can find Aaron Wall’s website and SEO Book by entering the phrase “Aaron Wall” or “SEO Book” into Google.com or Google.com.au (Web search).

If you have any questions on SEO, please send them my way and I’ll be happy to help you where I can.

As we are always extending our knowledge in SEO, we are forever doing tests to understand Google’s constant changing algorithm. I will be providing a link to Chris from the anchor text Goodle, increasing his back links and thus giving him authority, allowing him to rank even higher for that specific term.

Chris Hamilton also insisted I write another post about the Woolworths Credit Card to see if I can rank even higher, though I have an even better idea. I will be linking this post to my previous post about the Woolies Credit Card to analyse how effective interlinking between posts is, rather than writing a whole new post.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about the search terms Chris and I are ranking for in Google, until then — Peace.

It will be an interesting test on how long Google will display the map. It must be determined by how many searches are made with the word “Chris” and “Hamilton” performed in Google Maps, Australia.

To all people who have a vague understanding of search engine ranking positions (SERPs), number 1 spot is vital. 70-80% people will click the first website they see, giving the number 1 website most traffic for the keyword.

Looks like people who have the word Chris in their name in Hamilton, UK are going to be jumping for joy..but then again, who the hell would search for Chris Hamilton, I don’t know the jumping jelly jiggly monkey.

To give you a simple idea, Page Rank ( PR ) has been important in the past due to it defines your websites worth. People were selling links on their website, anywhere from $10/month to $300/month, depending on their PR. Problem being, Google was aware of this, (for a long time I believe) and hit a lot of blogs hard, banning their website from Google and shooting their PR to 0.

There are certain ways of increasing PR and traffic to your website and this is generalised by two categories, White Hat SEO or Black Hat SEO. As you can probably already tell, White Hat is natural where Black Hat is done illegally. I don’t condone Black Hat SEO, I believe it’s pointless. You can gain higher returns over the long term using simple White Hat SEO techniques and various marketing strategies. Google is the biggest search engine in the world, why risk banning your website and losing 70-80% of your traffic?

To find more about White Hat SEO, Black Hat SEO and SEO, click here.