What are a search engine's 'natural results'?
Search engines natural results are one of the types of results the search engine returns when a user types in a search term (often called a keyword) which can be either a single word such as 'cars' or a phrase such as 'second hand ford cars'. The natural results (as opposed to the paid results) are the results which take up the main space on the page. On Google they are the results on the left hand side next to and sometimes underneath the paid for or sponsored results. The natural results are the ones internet users look at and click on most often so a good position in the natural results will result in most traffic.
How do the search engines decide which websites to put at the top of their results?
The search engines want there users to find what they are looking for easily and quickly. There are many different factors that search engines use to sort the results into a list and decide who comes top. The exact factors they use and how much weight they give to each is a closely guarded secret and the search engines don't publish the information (after all this is the search engines main task and providing useful and relevant results to users is how they get more customers and beat their competitors). This is why no-one should promise you a No.1 position. There are however certain factors that the search engines do tell us about and there are other things that through experience and using different techniques we know will improve a websites position in the results.
Keyword specific results
All searches on the internet involve a someone typing in a search term. The main factor you need to consider is the text you have on your website. It is important that a website is designed so that it targets specific search terms or keywords. Ideally this is something which should be thought about right at the beginning of a website design or internet marketing project. Then the site can be written and designed around the keywords that a business is trying to target. If certain words or phrases don't appear anywhere on a website then the website won't come up in the search engines natural results for a search for those terms. For example if you run a business supplying products for plumbers you might use the words "plumbers' suppliers" and "plumbers' trade suppliers" on your website and come up in the search engines for these terms. However some plumbers might search for "plumbers' merchants" and even though this is what you do and can probably help these customers you won't come up in the search engines natural results unless you've used the words "plumbers' merchant" on your website.
You need to consider the terms you are targeting and use them on your webpages. It is important though that the text on your website makes sense and isn't just a garble of different keywords. We think that most website pages should be targeted at maximum of three different search terms. If you want to cover lots of different keywords you'll need a website with lots of pages or alternatively you should look at pay-per-click advertising, where you can target as many keywords or phrases as you like easily.
Accessibility and on-page factors
Apart from the text, there are also many other on-page factors which the search engines look at and use in there rankings. It is important that the website has been designed with accessibility in mind so that, for example, deaf and blind people can use it. There are also meta-tags, linking structures, sitemaps and other on page factors to consider.
W3C is main international standards organisation for the world-wide-web and making a website which is compliant with their standards will mean you can be confident that users with different browsers and software will be able to use your website properly.
Another thing to consider is that the search engines like to know the websites they return in there results are kept up-to-date and relevant. It will be good for your search engine rankings if you make regular changes and updates to your website.
Links from other websites to your website
One of the main factors considered by the search engines in deciding how important a web-page is, is the number of links pointing from other web-pages to that page. Google have the PageRank(PR) system which measures the importance of a page based on the incoming links on a scale of 0-10. Links from pages with a higher PR will be more beneficial in raising the PR of your webpage.
Google use a combination of PR and sophisticated text matching text matching techniques to decide which web-pages come highest in the results. In order to come high up in the natural results for keywords where there is competition you will need some incoming links, the amount you need will depend on which pages they are from and the PR of any competing websites.
Is your website optimised correctly
We are temporarily offering a free service to businesses who already have a website. Fill in the form below and we'll look at your website and send you a report on how it is performing in the search engines and whether it has been designed well for the search engines. We'll let you know of any issues which should be looked at. This is a free service and could be very useful in helping you to understand why your website isn't getting you the customers you want.
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