Search Engine Optimisation Resources and Tips

Helpful SEO Tools

Check your website's PageRank (PR) on Google by installing the Google Browser Toolbar or estimate your PageRank using this helpful online PageRank Tool.

Research keyword combinations using Overture's Keyword Suggestion tool, or sign up to Wordtracker. Wordtracker is the industry standard keyword research tool and provides a free trial although serious users should consider paying for the full service.

Type your domain name into All the Web (eg: www.4-walls.com) to check a wealth of information about your website domain - doing the same with Google will return results that Google includes in its calculations (generally less).
TIP: Use this to find out information about your competitior's website.

Directory Submission

You should perform searches to find niche directories that apply to your sector (eg: "travel agents add url", or "travel agents directory").

An in depth list of directories and search engines can be found here:

Submit your site
Directories List

Please be aware that if you are planning to use 4 Walls at any point to optimise your website please wait for us to submit for you.

Validate your code

Look at the source code of many web pages and you will see a <DOC TYPE> declaration. This instructs the browser on how to interpret the code and display it correctly. You should attempt to validate all your pages and there are online tools to help you do this.

Code Validator

Google Filter

In Nov 03 Google radically changed its results and one of the changes they implemented was to hit websites that targeted particular phrases - there is a website that will help you gauge whether the phrases you want to target are on this list:

www.scroogle.org

View "The Hit List" for the list of phrases that have been hit hardest. There is also some great information on the latest Google update and you can also use the "Demo" to see how the terms you want are affected by the new filter.

If the terms you want to target are not on this list then we will have a pretty good chance of getting a high ranking for your website on Google and subsequently other search engines.

Marketing Resources

Most of the information on effective SEO/SEM is available online - we have collated some of the best resources on the internet, added some useful tips of our own and will be publishing these on this website in the near future. Until then try reading these forums:

Webmasterworld
SEO Chat

What is worth pointing out is that if you rank high in Google you will almost certainly rank high in all the other search engines. Therefore it pays to follow carefully their Guidelines for Webmasters. You may also be interested in what they have to say about Search Engine Optimisers.

What they state quite clearly is that no-one can guarantee a first place listing.

Google also puts new sites on probation so no matter how good they are they will initially suffer in ranking positions.