Search Engine Optimisation for Small Businesses - Barriers to Entry When Setting Up a Business
The Problem At first glance the arrival of the Internet should level the business playing-field, as it is (almost) as easy for a minnow to set up a website as for a huge company like BP or Shell.
The problem, however, is that getting a new website recognised on any search engine is hard: this article explains why.
Bias Towards Established Websites Search engines like Google take many factors into account when deciding whether a website is important, but one of the most important seems to be how well-established a site is.
There is no hard-and-fast rule, but if you're going to optimise a site for search engines, registering a brand new domain name is a bad place to start.
While on the subject of domain names, Google definitely has a bias towards domains containing keywords in the title.
In our own industry, searches for terms like EXCEL TRAINING and MICROSOFT TRAINING return URLs (website addresses) containing these keywords at the top.
So if you're starting a company selling, say, garden gnomes, then gardengnomes would be the ideal domain name.
Sadly, the.
com version of this - the most desirable - will always have been long since taken (in this case, in February 2001).
Search Engine Optimisation Used to be Easier In the early days of search, there was less competition, particularly to get registered on important sites like dmoz, giving early movers an advantage.
Not only that, but incoming links accumulate over time, as more websites find yours.
It stands to reason that if there are two sites of identical quality, the one which has been established for 10 years will outperform the one which has been going for 2 years for search phrases, simply because it will have built up more incoming links.
Tactics for the Small Business Surprisingly, this isn't a puff for you to use our services - Wise Owl don't actually do search engine consultancy or training - so you can treat this as fairly independent advice from a company which does pretty well for search.
So: what should you do when setting up a small business website? Here are some thoughts: - it may be worth buying a domain which has been set up for a few years, rather than registering a brand new one - if there are only one or two important keywords you're optimising for ("garden" and "gnomes", say), it may be worthwhile getting a URL - domain name - containing the keywords Ultimately, however, there is only one surefire way to do well on a search engine over time, and that's to provide good content.
This almost always involves spending a lot of time publishing information which you are giving away free of charge - and there's one final way in which starting a small business used to be more straightforward!
The problem, however, is that getting a new website recognised on any search engine is hard: this article explains why.
Bias Towards Established Websites Search engines like Google take many factors into account when deciding whether a website is important, but one of the most important seems to be how well-established a site is.
There is no hard-and-fast rule, but if you're going to optimise a site for search engines, registering a brand new domain name is a bad place to start.
While on the subject of domain names, Google definitely has a bias towards domains containing keywords in the title.
In our own industry, searches for terms like EXCEL TRAINING and MICROSOFT TRAINING return URLs (website addresses) containing these keywords at the top.
So if you're starting a company selling, say, garden gnomes, then gardengnomes would be the ideal domain name.
Sadly, the.
com version of this - the most desirable - will always have been long since taken (in this case, in February 2001).
Search Engine Optimisation Used to be Easier In the early days of search, there was less competition, particularly to get registered on important sites like dmoz, giving early movers an advantage.
Not only that, but incoming links accumulate over time, as more websites find yours.
It stands to reason that if there are two sites of identical quality, the one which has been established for 10 years will outperform the one which has been going for 2 years for search phrases, simply because it will have built up more incoming links.
Tactics for the Small Business Surprisingly, this isn't a puff for you to use our services - Wise Owl don't actually do search engine consultancy or training - so you can treat this as fairly independent advice from a company which does pretty well for search.
So: what should you do when setting up a small business website? Here are some thoughts: - it may be worth buying a domain which has been set up for a few years, rather than registering a brand new one - if there are only one or two important keywords you're optimising for ("garden" and "gnomes", say), it may be worthwhile getting a URL - domain name - containing the keywords Ultimately, however, there is only one surefire way to do well on a search engine over time, and that's to provide good content.
This almost always involves spending a lot of time publishing information which you are giving away free of charge - and there's one final way in which starting a small business used to be more straightforward!