Search Engine Optimisation is as much about helping the search engines to understand what your web site is about. Ranking of your web site in the search engines is done automatically by robots called spiders. You get to number one in the search engines by having a web site that is clearly pre - eminent in the subject that is being search for.

The most common mistake made by web sites that are of merit and do not rank in the search engines is that the robot spiders simply do not understand what your web site is about. A good technical web designer will always make sure that the search engine spiders can understand the subject matter of each page of your web site.

There are other factors that effect your search engine listing, but when you think about what the search engine is trying to do they are pretty much common sense.

The search engine is looking for the highest relevance for a subject that is searched for. Apart from readable content there are several other key factors.

• Your Domain Name and Path.
• Other web sites that link to you.
• Your page copy.
• Headings, Links, Titles and Bullets on your pages.
• New page copy and site content.

Your Domain Name and Path.

Your domain name is taken into account. Older domains are considered to be more important than younger domains. So, if you have several domains then use the oldest one as your main web site domain. For example technicks.com was created on 2nd August 1999 and in internet terms is quite an old domain name.

Path is a web site address e.g. http://www.technicks.com/webdesign . If the path contains the term being search for then that adds to relevance. For example a search for 'Web Design' should return the above web site address rather than http://www.internet.dgm/a234wd4.aspx?5453534 . In other words if your page is about a particular subject make sure your web designer has included that in the path to the page.

Other web sites that link to you

This is probably the biggest single relevance factor. If other web sites link to you that also talk about the subject matter on your page then your relevance goes up. This is a form of recommendation. There are several ways to get incoming links to your web site but they all really come down to good sales technique. It is all about PR and online 'door knocking'. If you have an outstanding web design that is clear about its subject matter then people will link to it. All you have to do is to get it well known amongst its peers. Often only 40-50 quality incoming links are required, but then it does depend a bit on competition.

Your page copy

The copy of your page needs to mention the subject of the page quite a few times. This will probably be once in each paragraph, have at least four paragraphs with the subject being in the first words at the beginning of at least one of these.

Each page in the design needs to stay on subject. In other words do not dilute one subject with another. Have an overview page if necessary but then have detail pages for each subject as well.

Really in an ideal world the copy needs to be ready at the technical web design stage as the technical web designer can often make suggestions on the copy and how to change it to best suit the search engines.

And finally you have to do the original copy. We are web designers and that is what we know very well. We are not experts in your business. Once you have done your original copy we can send it to a professional copywriter to make it sell you better. We would recommend this most times. In fact, if you are struggling to write the copy for your business then get a professional copywriter. They will make the job easy.

Headings, Links, Titles and Bullets on your pages

Headings, Links, Titles and Bullets are all what I would call emphasis text. They stand out on a page and they are a part of the web design process. They also need to mention the subject of your web page because the search engines think they are very important when it comes to relevance. We know about this and it is one of the reasons why it is important to start with the copy before you do the design. Web designs often have to be rehashed so that Headings, Links, Titles and Bullets can be included on your pages meaningfully at the search engine optimisation stage, when no copy was available at the outset.

New page copy and site content

Search engines like web sites that grow. Original site content should be archived rather than dropped. New content shows an active and maintained site and this adds to the relevance of the site for all subjects. Also old content can only get so many incoming links. The more new content you add the more new links you will generate. A regular newsletter posted on the site and emailed to subscribers is a good way to do this.