SEO - the name might be clouded in mystery, but it stands quite simply for Search Engine Optimisation and is the practice of making your website as attractive as possible to the search engines (like Google) so that when a user does a search, your website is displayed on the first page, preferably at the top.




But with search engines changing their algorithms faster than you can say “what’s an algorithm”, how do you do it?

Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for SEO:

1. Start at the beginning. Have you searched for your own website as a user would? Or searched on key property terms to see what comes up? Can you find yourself? Are you on the first page of results? Assess which parts of your own website have already been indexed, if any, by a search engine. To see how many pages of your website have been indexed by Google for example, type the following into the Google search box: site:yoursite.com (so for this site we would type site:propertyadguru.com). This then tells you how many pages have been indexed. The aim is to get as many pages as possible indexed by the search engine.

2. Code your website with relevant meta tags. Meta tags are key words that are embedded in the HTML code that runs your website. You can’t see them, but they are picked up by search engines. These tags should reflect what your site is about. If you use Microsoft Explorer you can find your meta tags (and some on other websites) by choosing the “view source” option under the page menu.

3. Research your keywords. Keywords are at the heart of SEO. It can be as detailed as a property’s street address, or as simple as the rather obvious - but essential - “real estate”. It’s up to you. The more the merrier for searchers and search engines. Some websites use thousands.

4. Use headings and titles. In HTML there are different title level tags (H1, H2 etc) and the use of these tags and the words you place in them are rated higher than general content by the search engines. Title and content meta tags should be different on every page. Make sure your homepage has a title attribute too (a short description of the website which appears at the very top of the browser) – eg: UK market leading property portal, rightmove.co.uk, has a title attribute says “UK’s number one property website for properties for sale and to rent”.

5. Make your site readable to a search engine. Search engines don’t know how to do a search and therefore rely on directories to crawl through your listings. A directory is a series of linked pages that reflect all searches (at least the major ones) that can be done on your site. Make sure to link information this way, as well as having a separate search function for users. Including a sitemap is a very good idea. So are logical URLs, eg: abcrealestate.com/videos/soho-apartment-video rather than abcrealestate.com/videos/vid1234.

6. Seek relevant, non-repetitive content. The more content you have on your property site that is local in nature the more pages that will be indexed by the search engines. Search engines crawl through all your pages and look for relevant content. The more repetitive your content is, the more it is going to be discounted by the search engines. Therefore it is important that as much of your content as possible is unique.

7. Encourage valuable links. Simply having a page indexed by a search engine doesn’t mean it will be displayed near the top of a search. Search engines try to work out how authoritative your website is on the particular topic and determines this in part by how many links there are to your site from other related sites. The more relevant inbound links you have, the more authoritative you are (eg: portals, property news). To work out how many links you have, go to www.google.com again and type in link:yoursite.com (so for this site we’d type link:propertyadguru.com).

8. Don’t neglect videos and images. Surround videos, photos, and any other image based design elements (eg: logos) with relevant explanatory text. Search engines cannot see the photo, or watch the video, they only pick up text. So if there’s something vital, spell it out as well as letting the photos and videos do the talking. Use Alt attributes for vital images to make them readable. Read more about videos in our Top 10 Tips for Video Marketing/SEO.

9. Know what is working. Ongoing monitoring, reassessment, tweaks, and changes are the cornerstone of good SEO. Test out your website’s ranking by searching for it regularly. Add, change and modify your keywords. Search engines also change their behaviour, and are increasingly focussed on Universal Search, so your website and SEO plans needs to be one step ahead…

10. Don’t be afraid to call in the experts! There are more technical ways to enhance SEO. If robot.txt, sitemap.xml, and validating code are terms that frightening you, consult the experts. There are loads of companies who specialise in search engine marketing. There are also loads of other web resources out there like top10seotips.com, which even has a free downloadable ebook to help you on your SEO journey.

Remember: SEO works on enhacing organic search results, but there are also other ways to make sure your website is seen, like SEM (Search Engine Marketing).