How do algorithm changes by the search engines impact your search engine optimisation tasks?

If you’re a web site owner or marketing or sales professional, you’ll probably know that you need to use search engine optimisation to drive your web site higher up the search engine rankings. But, do you know how the search engines work and how they decide where your site should rank and for what keywords?

It’s all done with what the search engines call ‘Algorithms’. These are sets of rules that the search engines use to determine what each page is about, how important it is and what keywords it should be included in the search engine results for.

1.       Keyword Placement and Density

One of the key things a search engine algorithm will assess is the placement and frequency of keywords on a given web page. Reading from left to right, top to bottom, this method means that the search engines will place more emphasis on pages that use keywords early on in the HTML code. It’s for this reason that on page optimisation will often include a revision of title and meta tags.

2.      Inbound Links Can Be Classed as Black Hat or White Hat Search Engine Optimisation

Search engines are very aware of both white and black hat SEO techniques and will go to great lengths to ensure that sites employing these methods do not achieve good long term rankings to the detriment of other more suitable sites. In order to make sure they are ranking sites on merit, algorithms also include analysis of off page optimisation factors such as inbound link quantity, quality and relevance.

A common mistake made by newcomers to SEO is to focus on these requirements and target the site at the search engine spider rather than the human reader. Although these algorithms will determine web site rankings, they have been developed to ensure that a good user experience is provided by accurately ranking pages for the most appropriate terms. The best thing you can do therefore is forget about the search engines to some extent and focus instead on making a web site that is both useful and informative.