Monday 4 January 2016

SEO Tips to help get your website 1st page on Google and other Search Engines

As SEO consultants for many local Yorkshire website clients, we meet a lot of website owners who want to be first page on Google. Not surprising, everyone wants to be on the first page of Google...

Unfortunately there is no magic switch or simple method to be first page - Simulant do daily SEO work for our clients and we know just how hard it is to get good results for a site and then even harder, keep the site ranked well! That said, we always find ways to improve a client's website to give them a better search presence. That's why we don't mind publishing some of the basic checks we do first on a website, as well as some of the changes we make to improve SEO initially. There is always more to do than what follows, but it's a great start. If you are interested in improving your website Search Engine Optimisation please contact Simulant Yorkshire SEO consultants now for more information.

Better SEO


Good SEO is a massive combination of factors and it all depends on what your competitors and other websites are also doing. If you do 8 out of 10 things right, who's to say a rival website won't be doing 9 out of 10 things right; and even if you're both doing everything right, there may also be other sites out there with bigger budgets, a lot more backlinks (and popularity such as lots of Social signals) or that are simply more reputable in Google's eyes...

Whatever your approach though, if you start off with the following SEO check-list and work through these SEO tips, you have a much better chance of getting those first page Google results you want to achieve:

Website SEO Check-list


Page URL
Your domain name(s) should be as short as possible.
Search engines and visitors can interact with your website more affectively when you use URLs that describe the pages content (for example: http://www.company.co.uk/companyinformation).
URLs are extremely vital to your SEO campaign. Be sure to use URLs that make it easy for Google to index your site. Try to make each page's URL match the Meta Title and H1 Title of that specific page.

Meta Titles
Each page should have its own exclusive Meta Title (the title shown at the top of your browser). Keep them individual to the page.
The most effective browser Meta Titles are about 10-70 characters long, including spaces.
Keep your titles concise and make sure they contain your best keywords.

Meta Descriptions
Useful because they often dictate how your pages are shown in search results.
For optimum effectiveness, Meta Descriptions should be 70-160 characters long.
Your Meta Descriptions should be concise and contain your best keywords.
Make sure each page of your website has its own unique Meta Description.

H1-H3 Page Titles
Pages should implement HTML headings (<H1> through <H3>) and only one <H1> heading should be used. You should include keywords in your headings.
The initial heading (<H1>) should include your best keywords.
Using only one <H1> heading per page will strengthen your SEO.

Images & ALT Text
ALT text should be added to your images so that it's easier for search engines to index them.
Don't use the same Alt Text or Keyphrases for different images. Google ranks repeated content lower on searches.
Search engines don't physically see images the way people do. ALT text is an option that allows you to specifically describe the image.
ALT text attaches a description to your pictures so that they show up in Google and other search engine's image results.
Make sure your website images have their own specific ALT text.
Keep in mind that your pages load time will vary based on the number and size of your images which also impacts on SEO. Try your best to keep image file-sizes low.

Landing Pages / Categories
Pages that only cover one subject, product or service are more effective than pages attempting to target visitors searching for lots of Keyphrases. Landing Pages or Category Pages should be created which focus on one main service or area of work. More pages will also allow more content and specific search Keyphrase targeting.

Text/HTML Ratio
Each page should have a Text/HTML Ratio close to 50% as possible. Text is always better for SEO than images – if a page has a lot of images then a lot of text should be added to even out the ratio.
SEO can be strengthened by increasing the recurrence of keywords on your page and adding more text that pertains to your website's content. This also strengthens your Keyword Density. Page text should always be originally written and worded - not copied or duplicated.

Include Robots.txt
This file restricts the activity of search engine crawlers and stops them from accessing certain pages and directories.
A robots.txt file also locates the XML sitemap.

XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap lists URLs that can be crawled and may offer other information such as how often you update, when your last update occurred and importance.
With an XML sitemap, search engines can index your website more accurately.

EN-GB Language
Regional/local target GB English should be declared in HTML head section or by CMS rather than USA English (usually the default) to help local search results.

Doctype
A Document Type should be included. Specifying a Doctype assists your web browser in correctly rendering your content.

Character Encoding
UTF-8 or correct character encoding should be declared. Declaring a character/language encoding will significantly strengthen your SEO.

Google Analytics
We recommend adding Google Analytics to your site. It won't help your SEO by just adding it but it is a very powerful monitoring tool to allow tracking of who is visiting the site, how they are finding the pages and which advertisers (or referrers) are working best.

Microformats
Microformats and Structured Data should be added to pages especially with contact information. This way Search Engines can read addresses, phone numbers and emails to place you locally to those searching for your services.
Microformat is a markup that is used to structure the data that is being sent to search engines more effectively. The presentation of Google's search results is always improving due to Microformats.

Google Plus & Maps
A Google Plus listing and Maps submission works independently of your website. In many ways it is a website in its own right and places you on Google whether you have your own website or not. With this in mind listings should be added to also included text with keyphrases throughout and images renamed to use keyphrases and give targeted descriptions.

Dublin Core
We also recommend adding Dublin Core to your website pages. Dublin Core is a set of metadata standards that describe your websites content and will further strengthen SEO.

Geo Meta Tags
The search engine Bing utilizes Geo-Meta Tags even though Google doesn't.

RSS / Feeds
Blogs and news websites depend on feeds.
Your websites visibility improves when subscribers to your feed are alerted of content updates.

Favicon
Although debated as to whether SEO is effected, adding a Favicon may help. Favicons also strengthen brand identity and provide a user-friendly experiencing when adding Bookmarks.

Serverside Compression & CDN
Gzip Server compression helps speed up page load time. Content Delivery Networks are also worth adding to improve performance and security.

Host Locally
Local hosting can improve SEO through local search IP address priority and improved page load speed. If you're based in Yorkshire like us, why not switch to Simulant Systems Ltd?!

Social Networking & Blog Posts
Facebook Likes, Twitter mentions, Google Plus/Pinterest interactions and Blog posts etc all add to search presence and count as Backlinks to your site. Links to specific pages, products and offers should be included in Social Posts.

Backlinks, PR & Domain Authority
Links to your site and specific products and pages should be built up. The more quality Backlinks generated the higher your Page Rank and Website Authority will be.
Links to your site should be from other companies and websites your business deals with, as well as Directories and sites relating to your types of services and geographic location. (For example adding a listing to www.insideyorkshire.uk – an online directory to support Yorkshire businesses.)
Links from sites that are illegitimate, illegal, spam-filled or that are in no way related to your website, service area or products provided can have a negative effect on SEO.

Mobile Responsive Design or Mobile Site
Google now favours sites that are Mobile and Tablet compatible, in some cases showing sites that are Mobile Friendly above sites that are not when searching on a Mobile or Smart device.

All of the above will help make sure your website has a great foundation and the basis of a great start to good SEO. Your link building, blogging, Social Network posts and website news updates should be ongoing. And remember using local hosting providers such as Simulant SEO hosting and building links with your partners and local suppliers from your area is always the best way to make sure you have a great local search ranking.

If you would like us to help with any of the above SEO tips, extra website SEO or would like to host your Yorkshire-based business with Simulant SEO hosting to help your local search rankings, then please visit www.yorkshire.hosting and we'll be glad to help.

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Yorkshire Businesses Online

Our Hosting Yorkshire online service is all about supporting Yorkshire local businesses and helping to promote them online.

We feel this is more important than ever with local businesses fighting large global corporations in our towns, cities and villages as well as on the internet. There are now more Retail Parks and Shopping Malls than ever; Tesco Express or Sainsbury's Local instead of the traditional corner shop; and High Streets which have the same shops whichever town you visit (usually many of which having the name 'Pound' in the title).

Of course we support a Global economy and big British and European businesses - but we would like to keep some cultural individuality in different areas of the world, some variety to keep things interesting. It's vital for our sanity as well as our heritage!

While big companies may be standardising much of the UK, many smaller operations such as restaurants and hotels now only try to use locally-sourced food produce. Boutique clothing shops are using local designers and other businesses are trying to support their neighbouring local businesses. One area that is often forgotten though in attempts to support local business is website hosting and website design. Often large global website hosting company are used such as GoDaddy or 1&1... We too are a local Yorkshire business and are in the same position as the other local Yorkshire businesses we do our best to advertise and promote online.

Choose Hosting Yorkshire for your email boxes, hosting, domains and website development. We are the local provider who understands the area and your business interests and target audiences. We only support Yorkshire businesses and are based in York - right in the very centre of the region. We are very proud of our area which can offer products and services to match any other part of the United Kingdom.

Wednesday 2 January 2013

Yorkshire Chat Topics and News - Discussion Forum "Inside Yorkshire"

If you're interested in Yorkshire - whether it's the history, attractions, local news or promoting your own business in the area - why not try posting on the Inside Yorkshire forum.

York Talk is a chat and discussion forum for the city of York. Unique to Yorkshire and part of Inside Yorkshire guide, the Yorkshire forum offers the collaborative platform to post Yorkshire news, events, local topics and discussions relating to just about anything you can think of!

We even have a Yorkshire classifieds and free ads section, a forum for York students and an area for York discounts, promotions and offers.

If you live or work in Yorkshire, Inside Yorkshire is a great place to have your say. If you are a tourist or planning a trip then you can find more information and ask questions about Yorkshire directly to locals and residents.

We're looking to build this service to be Yorkshire's best discussion forum, so please any suggestions or new users are very welcome!

For more information or to use York Talk please visit: www.insideyorkshire.uk/forum

Saturday 29 December 2012

Building your own website

Hosting Yorkshire have just launched our own SiteBuilder service to enable our users to build their own websites. In preparation for this, we had to really think about what most internet users want when creating their own site.

There's a lot of choice already out there, so we wanted to try to combine all the existing options when setting our service up, adding better customer service, not tying our customers in with contracts and giving the best value for money any company can offer.


Introducing, Hosting Yorkshire SiteBuilder...


Ok, I know what you're thinking, "SiteBuilder! That's what all the other services are called. Not a great start on originality..."

But it's not what it's called that's important, what's important is getting more users online and easily building their own websites the way they want them.

As far as we can see there were two camps before our service launched.

The first being companies offering a pre-built look and promising ease of use, served up via online wizards that let you drag something here and drop something there - they can be fiddly, often there's lots of templates that don't look so great, and in the end you have to compromise on what you initially wanted. The end product is a website that is not really your own. It looks ok but not how you planned it and you don't own the files created. You're locked into a monthly contract and you can never move the website you've spent your time building away from their service. If the company shuts down, sells up or just has problems; you lose your website and have to start again from scratch.

Then there's the second camp, the one that offers choice and freedom. They give you lots of hosting packages to choose from - 1gb, 5gb or 20gb of space  - without you even knowing how much space you need! Different monthly prices for Business Premium, Gold or Personal - and lots of software and configuration options leaving even experienced users trying to figure out how to get things working.

So this generally separates customers between those that are tied-up and locked-in because they need something easy; and those who have plenty of time and the will to learn spending a long time building up a website that might then break on them if they do something wrong.

For us this means we need to fill in the gaps by offering simplicity, freedom, support and choice.

At Hosting Yorkshire we are now offering a completely FREE SiteBuilder as well as an £8 per month package (with no yearly contract) that lets you choose the software with our advice and support - we set up the servers, configure the CMS or website software (such as WordPress or a range of other choices of software for any application) - and we let you take the reins, learning about website design as you create or using something easier to get a fast clean result without needing any technical knowledge.

Hosting Yorkshire SiteBuilder offers complete freedom of choice with lots of help from us. And if you live in the York area we can even pop in for a chat to help get things set up.

For more information or to start building your new website today visit www.hostingyork.co.uk/free-sitebuilder.html and we'll get you set up as soon as possible.

Friday 14 December 2012

York App Version 1.0

Hosting Yorkshire are proud to finally release the Inside York App version 1.0 which has gone live on Apple's iTunes and App Store.

Please show your support and download it here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/inside-york/id585665501?mt=8

We will be working hard to bring out updates to this release and working towards this being York's number one tourism and local information application by providing an insider's guide to York's best attractions, restaurants, accommodation and things to see and do.

:)

Friday 2 November 2012

Go Mobile on Google

Google's latest campaign is all about encouraging Mobile friendly websites, demonstrating just how many users now search on mobiles and Smartphones. Research shows that soon using a Mobile or Smartphone will be the most popular way to search online, whether buying, selling or finding information. Using your mobile is now the most convenient way to search the internet, so why wouldn't it become the most popular platform to use?

Is your website ready for mobile users? If not you could be really missing out.

Thankfully Google have now made it really easy to check how your website looks and feels on a mobile or smartphone with the Google Mobile Checker.

Some thoughts to consider before viewing your current website on the Mobile Checker:
  • Is it easy to navigate?
  • Does the site allow you to use mobile navigation to help locate your premises?
  • Is the text readable and the images clear?
  • Does the layout fit the screen properly?
  • Is everything visible? (Flash websites in particular may not show all content on a mobile.) 
  • How easy is it to make contact with you?

Visit Google's Mobile Friendly Checker and test your website at:

If you're not happy with how your website displays contact Hosting Yorkshire - we offer native mobile websites and apps at competitive prices. Our Mobile websites are built alongside your current website solely to service mobile users, giving your customers and clients an attractive, friendly and practical mobile experience.

Sunday 10 June 2012

Website Online Marketing

Hosting Yorkshire Web Design are proud to bring more online marketing services to current packages and services for our local Yorkshire clients.

Google and other search engines are always looking for current and developing relevant content. Always adding to and improving your website can help keep it fresh and well-ranked.

This month we have launched the below extra marketing services to help you achieve this:
  • SEO or Search Engine Optimisation
  • Google Adwords, Google Places and Google Analytics setup and training
  • Proofreading and website text SEO enhancement service courtesy of our associates
  • Booking Calendars to show availability for those working in hospitality or other sectors
  • Social Networking integrations such as help and setup with Twitter, Facebook, Google Circles and LinkedIn
To order or add these to your account please visit our Yorkshire Website Design client portal.

We are really pleased to be working with more partners across Yorkshire to extend what we can offer, and other online 3rd parties to bring you the best value service and the most up-to-date technologies and solutions.

These extra addons coupled with our website design packages make us the best Yorkshire website development service available.