What is SEO?

This page briefly describes how search engines work and why a website should be optimised for them.

WHAT IS SEO AND is it essential for my website?

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo! MSN and Bing are key players in driving traffic to websites. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of designing and improving a website so it ranks high in search engine results when someone who doesn’t know your business searches for the services or products you offer.

If your website is not optimised for search engines there is little chance that it will appear high in the search engine results list. Since more than 95% of people start their search on search engines your website needs to meet key search engine requirements.

How search engines operate
Search engines aim to rank the most informative, usable, trusted, and functional sites highest in their listings. They want to provide the user with the most relevant information according to their keyword search.
It is therefore not surprising that SEO has become a key part of the web development process and should ideally be considered in the early stages of planning your online strategy or website development project.

Search Engines have 'robots' that 'crawl' through websites on the internet, these robots help to:
- index all pages on your website in their database
- list your website’s pages on the first pages of results when a potential visitor enters keywords that match your products/services/information held on your website
- understand what your website and organisation is about
 - increase targeted visitation to your website, and therefore help increase sales/awareness/bookings etc

If your business is a dive centre on an Indian Ocean Island, you will need to optimise your website so it appears in search engine results for words such as “dive centre”, “Indian Ocean” instead of just appearing for its business name.

What are the benefits of an optimised website?
Having an optimised website means that you are growing its online visibility. Accompanied with quality and regularly updated content, the online visitor will be enticed to contact you and book your service or product, or refer others to the information on your website..
With an optimised website, updated and informative content, relevant inbound links and an effective web strategy you can expect to:

• Rank high (on the first pages) of search engines for the keywords your target market uses to search for you.
  If you are an air charter company providing flights to a coastal destination such as Tanga, you want to also list on search engines when people search: “how do I get to Tanga from Dar-es-Salaam” and not only when people search for “flights to Tanga”. 
• Begin to appear on other sites that are regularly used by your target market whilst researching on the internet..

If you have a YouTube or Vimeo account (video sharing site) where you have personalised videos about your product and area, you will increase the chances of browsers stumbling upon your video whilst searching travel related videos on these video hosting sites.
If you are a member of your local or regional association or organisation you may be able to get a listing on their website, and benefit from increased traffic from a relevant source.

things to know when starting out with seo

• Ensure your website’s content management system (CMS) is Search Engine Friendly.
• Search engine optimisation takes time. It can easily take up to three months for search engines to find your new content and list it in their directories.
• Search engine optimisation and web design are two different skills but they need to work hand in hand for your website to be easily accessible on the Internet.
• It is essential to work together with your search engine consultant, as you will need to provide them with as much input as required. You know more about the nature of your organisation, products/services, and your market than they do.

Websites must be traffic-worthy
Before you start optimising your site, you need to ensure that optimising it in its current state is not going to be a waste of money. Your content might be dated, the format of your website might not be search engine friendly and you may be using a content management system that may limit your future search engine efforts.

Should I think about a website conversion or reconstruction?
If you do not have access to your files, if your site is dated, if integrating a content management to your existing website is not worth it or if search engines cannot see the content of your website, you should definitely seek assistance from web professionals.

Bear in mind that a site reconstruction or conversion could take three months or more.

It is a good project to do during the low season, as you will need to be fully involved and (re)write (or work with a web copywriter) your new content. A website is not something you have on the side but it is one of the most important components of any modern marketing strategy.

Useful links
• Google basics: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=70897
• Search engine optimisation: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291