The SEO Help Thread

[SEO]

I have been granted permission by the moderators to post this thread

Hi Salon Geeks.

I know there is a website help thread, but I noticed that it mainly focused on the technical side of things. Therefore, I thought it would great to create a thread dedicated to SEO.

I have worked in the SEO industry for a while now, currently working as an SEO consultant at a large internet marketing company. I also do freelance SEO work for small/single person businesses. I stumbled across this forum while helping a friend of mine, who recently became a mobile hairdresser and wanted to get 'noticed' in Google. I've seen a couple of SEO threads here, which contains a lot of inaccurate information or people trying to make a quick buck from you, hence why I am making this.

Sounds great, but what the hell is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and is the process of getting free organic traffic(as opposed to paid adverts etc.) from the big search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Generally speaking, you will want to focus the bulk of your efforts optimising for Google, as it's the most widely used search engine by a mile. In order to rank well in these you need to optimise your website to improve it's visibility in the search engines.

To achieve this, it's important to carry out both On site SEO, and Off site SEO. On site SEO involves carrying out tweaks and improvements to the website itself, such as changing Page titles, linking structure, writing great unique content, correctly writing meta description and keywords, to name but a few aspects.

Off site SEO is the process of building high quality links that point towards your website. Essentially the more of these links (known as backlinks) you have, the better you rank in Google. However, it is VITAL that the links you acquire are of high quality, coming from websites with good Google Pagerank and who have good backlinks themselves. For example, a link coming from a dodgy porn site is not going to do you any favours what so ever. But a link coming from the BBC News website would be absolutely dynamite, and pass huge value to your website.

You might of encountered companies in the past offering you "backlinks" or "wikilinks" and promising you the top spot in Google, but you should avoid these kind of agencies as they generally build spammy, low quality links.

I'm only going to touch on the basics for now, but if you really want to get your head around SEO, SEOMoz.org's beginner guide is an absolute must read. Bare in mind that if you want a firm grasp of it, you must be computer savvy and tech minded.

I don't need to rank well in Google

If you think this, you are very, very wrong. 90% of people using Google don't go past the 3rd page of results. The top spot receives 35% of all traffic, almost as much as the numbers 2 through 5 slots combined. You are missing out on massive amounts of sales if your website doesn't rank on the first page of Google for the location you cover. For example if you are an eyelash extension technician in Bracknell, and don't rank on the first page for the phrase "eyelash extensions bracknell", you seriously need to work on your SEO.


I really hope we can get some great discussions going here, and collate some information that people will find useful.

I am happy to answer any SEO questions you might have, or if you want me to have a quick glance at your website to see if you have any ATROCIOUS SEO problems then post your link if you can handle the criticism .

Cheers

 

[pinkeedee]

I have been granted permission by the moderators to post this thread

Hi Salon Geeks.

I know there is a website help thread, but I noticed that it mainly focused on the technical side of things. Therefore, I thought it would great to create a thread dedicated to SEO.

I have worked in the SEO industry for a while now, currently working as an SEO consultant at a large internet marketing company. I also do freelance SEO work for small/single person businesses. I stumbled across this forum while helping a friend of mine, who recently became a mobile hairdresser and wanted to get 'noticed' in Google. I've seen a couple of SEO threads here, which contains a lot of inaccurate information or people trying to make a quick buck from you, hence why I am making this.

Sounds great, but what the hell is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and is the process of getting free organic traffic(as opposed to paid adverts etc.) from the big search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Generally speaking, you will want to focus the bulk of your efforts optimising for Google, as it's the most widely used search engine by a mile. In order to rank well in these you need to optimise your website to improve it's visibility in the search engines.

To achieve this, it's important to carry out both On site SEO, and Off site SEO. On site SEO involves carrying out tweaks and improvements to the website itself, such as changing Page titles, linking structure, writing great unique content, correctly writing meta description and keywords, to name but a few aspects.

Off site SEO is the process of building high quality links that point towards your website. Essentially the more of these links (known as backlinks) you have, the better you rank in Google. However, it is VITAL that the links you acquire are of high quality, coming from websites with good Google Pagerank and who have good backlinks themselves. For example, a link coming from a dodgy porn site is not going to do you any favours what so ever. But a link coming from the BBC News website would be absolutely dynamite, and pass huge value to your website.

You might of encountered companies in the past offering you "backlinks" or "wikilinks" and promising you the top spot in Google, but you should avoid these kind of agencies as they generally build spammy, low quality links.

I'm only going to touch on the basics for now, but if you really want to get your head around SEO, SEOMoz.org's beginner guide is an absolute must read. Bare in mind that if you want a firm grasp of it, you must be computer savvy and tech minded.

I don't need to rank well in Google

If you think this, you are very, very wrong. 90% of people using Google don't go past the 3rd page of results. The top spot receives 35% of all traffic, almost as much as the numbers 2 through 5 slots combined. You are missing out on massive amounts of sales if your website doesn't rank on the first page of Google for the location you cover. For example if you are an eyelash extension technician in Bracknell, and don't rank on the first page for the phrase "eyelash extensions bracknell", you seriously need to work on your SEO.


I really hope we can get some great discussions going here, and collate some information that people will find useful.

I am happy to answer any SEO questions you might have, or if you want me to have a quick glance at your website to see if you have any ATROCIOUS SEO problems then post your link if you can handle the criticism .

Cheers

Oooh thank you that sounds like a wonderful offer.

 

[pinkeedee]

Thank you

 

[SEO]

This forum automatically makes hyperlinks, I wish more forums had this feature!!

First thing's first, Page Titles are one of if not THE most important on site SEO attribute. I can see your's is entitled "PINKEEZ - HOME". This is a very common mistake, people naming their home page title "Home, Homepage, Index" etc. and can put you at a serious disadvantage.

Your title page should be less than 70 Characters. Any more than that, and the page title will appear cut off in the Google search results page. It's fine for it to contain your business name, but it NEEDS to contain your primary keyword. In this case, yours would be the services you offer and the area. I'm not 100% sure what you do, but here is a good example for a home page title:

"Professional Nail and Lash Treatments in Wakefield | PINKEEZ"

It's under 70 characters, contains your primary keywords, and reads well. It's important not to "keyword stuff", by spamming keywords into the title such as "Nail treatments, eyelash treatments, fake tanning, hair extensions" as you can actually get penalised by Google for this. Of course, what I have put may not be the kind of google phrases you want to rank for, but you should follow the format.

Get those Titles changed asap, it's very important stuff. If you don't know how to do this then say.

 

[pinkeedee]

Thank you so much. I'm not sure why but when i typed in my web address it changed to a PINKEEZ HOME link. I'm really not a computer whizz and have no idea how to change this any help would be very much appreciated

 

[SEO]

Did you make the website, or are you still in contact with the webmaster?

EDIT: Dropped you a PM.

 

[debi1009]

Hi i have actually just set up my website yesterday very new to it all so if you could have a look at mine and advise that would be amazing...its www.nailbeautybydebbie.co.uk

Sent from my GT-I9100 using SalonGeek

 

[SEO]

Hi Debbie,

Again, I recommend adding your location to your page tiles, for example:

"Nail Beauty South Glasgow by Debbie" - Homepage
"Nail Treatments South Glasgow by Debbie" - Nail Treatments

You have to think about what people search for in google. If someone wants nail treatments, they aren't going to type into Google "Nail treatments by debbie", they are going to search for "nail treatments LOCATION".

Hope that makes sense!

 

[pinkeedee]

Thank you so very much for taking the time to help me, i've made the changes you suggested (it's not something i would ever have thought of myself) and hopefully i will be more visible now :biggrin: :biggrin: x

 

[SEO]

Thank you so very much for taking the time to help me, i've made the changes you suggested (it's not something i would ever have thought of myself) and hopefully i will be more visible now :biggrin: :biggrin: x

You should definitely notice a difference in your rankings. Bear in mind it wont be instant, you have to wait for google to crawl your website again, which can take anywhere from a day to 2 weeks.

 

[debi1009]

Thanks very much will change once i get laptop fixed think i stressed it out too much setting up my site and now the thing wont work hehe x

Sent from my GT-I9100 using SalonGeek

 

[Rhona_]

Great thread!

 

[SEO]

Thanks Rhona !

 

[TigerNails]

Do you have a website Mr SEO? Google+, Facebook, Twitter or a Blog I could follow?

 

[SEO]

I have all of the above, however I am slightly reluctant about giving out that kind of thing at this stage. If you're desperate I can PM you

 

[TigerNails]

I have all of the above, however I am slightly reluctant about giving out that kind of thing at this stage. If you're desperate I can PM you

Thats fine, totally understand, would just have liked to add you to my circles! Always looking to discuss more technical SEO issues.

 

[SEO]

You in the industry or just interested in SEO?

 

[Scissorz]

Thanks for this tread, very interesting!!

 

[Scissorz]

Thread even!!

 

[lisa.sharrock]

My website is Nails and Beyond, Mobile Beauty, Liverpool offering Acrylic Nails, Shellac, Minx, Spray Tans, Pamper Parties, Eye Treatments, Waxing - Welcome

Been trying to get my head around SEO and whilst I seem to come up highly in some areas, some key words aren't showing up on Google whatsover which I really need to address.

Any help or advice appreciated. :biggrin::biggrin:

Ooops, just noticed your advice about not spamming keywords... I take it I will fall into that category? I'm confused because there is so much differing advice on SEO and I was told to put keywords into my title...