SEO can seem like the perfect solution to your online marketing problems – but nothing is as simple as it seems. Kate Jordan explains.

If you have a website, I can guarantee someone has tried to sell you SEO. The approach is generally the same: the salesperson says they’ve been looking at your website and think it can be improved. They promise the world; with their expert help, your website will be the best, you’ll have requests for work pouring in. All that’s needed is a small investment of money…

So, what is this magical SEO? It’s Search Engine Optimisation, the process of improving your website’s ranking on search engines like Google (and sometimes smaller sites like Yahoo and Bing). Google has an incredibly large algorithm (a mathematical formula) that decides which website best matches the word or phrase the user searched for. A crawler bot assesses your website against this algorithm to see if it is relevant. To rank on Google, therefore, your website needs to impress the algorithm – but that’s not as simple as it sounds.

Google closely guards the algorithm. Anyone who tells you they know the algorithm is lying. Nobody knows the entire algorithm or even which aspects of a website the algorithm assesses or how much importance is placed on each aspect.

If the algorithm is so mysterious, how do SEO companies know what tactics to use? The good ones – of which there are very few – monitor changes in their clients’ rankings and feedback from the SEO community to see what works and what doesn’t. They then make an educated guess about what might cause a website to rank.

In short – SEO is a little like predicting the weather. Through research and past experience, you can predict what the most likely outcome is – but at the end of the day, there are too many variables to be certain.

To make SEO even more complicated, the Google algorithm is constantly changing. Small updates are released every day, as well as occasional large updates.

SEO tactics that worked a week ago may not be as effective next week.

The factors that affect a website’s ranking can be broken down into two parts: onsite and offsite. Onsite factors are relatively simple and include the content of the website, how the content is structured and how the pages of the website are connected. There are also non-visible onsite factors, like how easy it is for the crawler bot to access the site and the speed of the website.

Offsite factors are a bit more complicated and harder to fix. They include backlinks (when another website has a link back to the original website) and social media cues (the impact of which is heavily debated). In the ‘good old days’ it was only the number of backlinks that mattered and SEO companies could simply build thousands of links. Now, it’s the quality of the link that matters (where the link is from, what the link says, etc.) that is important and this is a lot harder to manufacture.

Sounds complicated right? That’s because it is. There are no guaranteed results – in fact, Google advises never to trust any SEO company that offers guarantees.

There’s more bad news.

There are at least 3000 plumbers in Melbourne alone. When someone searches for the term ‘plumber Melbourne’ there are more than 3000 companies trying to be in the top five results (two thirds of people only click on the first five results1). In addition to all those plumbers, there is a myriad of directory websites, all pushing plumbing websites down the rankings. And while you (or an SEO company) might be optimising your website, so is everybody else.

Don’t despair though – there are small (free!) things you can do to improve your online presence – namely optimise it for Local SEO. You can’t compete in the Melbourne-wide market (or the particular state you live in) – but you do stand a chance in your local suburb and the surrounding area. Ensure you’ve claimed your business on Google Maps and optimised the listing (see pull box).

And remember – online marketing is a small part of your overall marketing strategy.

How to get your business on Google maps (and therefore on G+)

This is surprisingly easy to do – Google knows most business owners aren’t computer specialists and they give you plenty of helpful pointers along the way.

1. Search for your business address.
2. If your business is already there, click on ‘Claim this business’. If your business isn’t there, click ‘Add missing place’ and add in your business details.
3. You’ll be asked to verify this listing – follow the instructions to have it verified by mail (a postcard will be sent out) or phone (a Google representative will call you).
4. Creating or claiming this listing will automatically create a G+ page. The information from here will show up on your map listing in search results. Fill out your G+ page with as much detail as you can.
Essential items include:
a. Company name – sounds simple, but ensure this is the exact name you use on all your other advertising, online and off.
b. Address – even though this will be correct, you still need to edit it to ensure that you’ve clicked the box that says ‘I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location’. This will help you rank in local searches for plumber.
c. Phone number
d. Web address
e. Opening hours
These are the bare essentials – add as much good information as you can.