With Bruce Gornaik and Brian Henshaw from Northwich based Miltec Internet Limited.

I find Search Engine Optimization one of the hardest marketing topics to get my head round.  The guys from Miltec helped though.

Brian and Bruce explained how the concept is simple but the execution is very difficult.  High ranking on the first page of Google must be the Holy Grail for many businesses.  Throwing lots of money at it isn’t always an option.  Most SMEs simply do not have that kind of marketing budget.

Search Engine Optimization can be a successful mixture of pay per click and organic ranking.

Pay per click isn’t necessarily the only answer.  I bet others avoid those areas at the top, bottom and the right hand side of a Google search page too.  I’m not too sure what makes me skirt round those areas.  Often, though, the results are a poor match to my search criteria.  Sometimes the businesses have obviously only paid for one or two words so the “Ads” are not quite what I am looking for.

Organic ranking is tricky to achieve particularly because Google keeps changing the goal posts.  This may be deliberate of course because Google wants to generate revenue from pay per click.  Getting on the first page is a puzzle that takes time and hard work to solve. It is, however, an investment in the site which pay per click isn’t.  Without giving too much away, it’s a clever combination of back links and text manipulation.

Bruce showed me the website of a new client.  The products listed on the website were described in words understood by the business and the industry.  However, these words were unlikely to be used as search criteria in Google.  Matching the product descriptions to likely search criteria seemed so obvious when it was pointed out!

Search Engine Optimization is not for everyone.  If you rely on the internet to get business, it is a must.