Search Engine Overview

Should I bother with Search Engines?

One of the most frequent questions we are asked at Essex Website Design and Hitchman IT Solutions Ltd. is:

"How can I get my site listed with search engines?"

It sounds like a pretty simple question, but in reality, search engine submission can be a complicated subject and probably doesn't address the real question which is more likely to be "How can I get more traffic to my website?" and is subtly different!

First of all you need to decide whether search engines are actually the best method of marketing your website and whether the time and/or money you will need to invest in the exercise will yield the desired results. You may also need to consider the impact on your business should, as a result of over-exposure, online enquiries/orders exceed your capabilities to deliver.

Here are some questions you might like to ask yourself:

"Will people actually be searching for my services online?"

The vast majority of websites should be treated as online catalogues. If used correctly they can be extremely effective as part of an overall marketing strategy but should never be relied upon as a standalone tool to bring in business. In other words, your website should be used to support your marketing campaign, not spearhead it!

Most people have to be led to websites and will not go looking for them. For example, listing your web address in directories such as Yellow Pages or The Thompson Directory will encourage people to check out your website but they are less likely to think of the Internet as the first place to look. If you want people to look at your website then you need to make people aware of it. There is no point in having a box of catalogues printed up and then leaving them in the box in the corner of your office for people to search out for themselves! To a very large extent the same goes for websites.

Search engines are just one form of advertising, and usually not the most efficient!

"Will people actually be searching for my services online?"

The vast majority of websites should be treated as online catalogues. If used correctly they can be extremely effective as part of an overall marketing strategy but should never be relied upon as a standalone tool to bring in business. In other words, your website should be used to support your marketing campaign, not spearhead it!

Most people have to be led to websites and will not go looking for them. For example, listing your web address in directories such as Yellow Pages or The Thompson Directory will encourage people to check out your website but they are less likely to think of the Internet as the first place to look. If you want people to look at your website then you need to make people aware of it. There is no point in having a box of catalogues printed up and then leaving them in the box in the corner of your office for people to search out for themselves! To a very large extent the same goes for websites.

Search engines are just one form of advertising, and usually not the most efficient!

"What will potential customers actually be searching for?"

If you own a company called "Malcolm the Mechanic's Funky Spanner Shop" and somebody types exactly that phrase into the search engines it is likely to have a good placing in the search engines. But if your business is called "The Computer Shop", expect to be disappointed. Go ahead... try it! Go to Google and type the above phrases into the search box. In theory you should find us with the first phrase purely because no one else on the planet has used it!

Obviously, if your customer is looking for you specifically they are probably going to find you in the search engines without too much difficulty, provided you have a reasonably unique name.

But unless you advertise how likely is it that people will be looking for your services by name? Type the word "spanners" into the search box and up come all your competitors. Now you need to ask yourself "how desperate am I to get listed above all of them?" They all want to be there too, and the likelihood is that many of them have a very large budget set aside to ensure they stay there!

"If I get to the top of the search engines will that bring me in more trade?"

It's unlikely, unless you're selling mainstream products such as CD's, books, electronic goods or business services. And if this is the case you'll be lucky to make it into the top 5,000 pages let alone the top 5! If you have made it to the number one slot you need to ask yourself why. Large companies spend a fortune in time and effort analysing search and browsing habits. They know what people are looking for in search engines and have all the popular searches covered. If a search for "funky green spanners" returns your site on the first page there is a very good reason for it. No one is looking for funky green spanners! If you feel you have a unique product or a unique angle on an existing product the reason it is unique is that nobody has thought of it before... so why will anyone be searching for it?

"Am I willing to compromise the look of my site in order to fully optimise it for search engines?"

Good marketing techniques dictate that your front page should be short, snappy and graphically pleasing in order to act as a hook to pull your customers in. Search engine optimisation dictates that the front page should be "wordy" (containing at least 100 words) with sentences, headings and links specifically designed to attract search engine spiders.

Taking this literally, either your site attracts search engines or it attracts customers in! But this isn'y entirely true. In order to get the best possible placement on its own merits (i.e. without paying for the priviledge) you need to pay careful attention to the content of your website, both in terms of getting in all your keywords and in making the content legible and easy to read.

A good web design is far more effective in gaining new business than one that attracts search engines. Many companies will invest heavily in getting up the search engines but are reluctant to pay out for a good commercial design which is essential if the website is going to work for you. Ideally you need a good balance between design, build, content and optimisation.

So, should I concern myself with search engines?

By now you're probably thinking "Why am I bothering with all this? Is it worth having a website at all? I'll never get anywhere without a search engine listing!". Well, yes it is, but there are other things that can be done that would be more likely to drive traffic to your site. Search engine strategies should form a small part of a much larger Web marketing plan.

In our guide to Marketing Your Website, below, we explore other strategies for getting quality traffic to your website as well as some techniques for making sure your website achieves the best possible rankings in the search engine listings. Within the guide there is also an article on Search Engine Spamming for more information on what you and your e-marketing company should not be doing in an attempt to get into the search engines.

How to Market Your Website Effectively