Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) involves the improvement of your website in order to make it more search engine friendly, and therefore appear higher in the search engine listings.

The search engines "spider" the content on your website and save the results in a database. Depending on the relevancy of your site to the search being performed by a user, they display your listing among many others for the user to choose from.

The good news is that once you have gained high placement, the number of leads you generate should far outweigh the cost (assuming you are able to maintain your placement).

 

Advantages of Search Engine Optimisation

• Leverage your site’s natural advantages – content, popularity, linking relationships
• Can deliver substantial benefits at a very low cost, especially for a "content rich" site
• Requires minimal ongoing activity for most sites
• Initial investment in search engine optimisation can pay off for years to come

 

Disadvantages of Search Engine Optimisation

• SEO influences, but does not control, the search engine results - there are no guarantees.
• Delayed results - after the initial SEO effort, expect to wait at least 2-3 months for significant traffic.
• Risk of becoming overly dependent on “free” traffic, because results are variable over time.
• Some modifications to site are required; extent of changes dependent on many factors.
• Poorly executed search engine optimisation campaigns can lead to search engine penalties and long term harm to the organisation’s online presence.