Do any of these questions sound like ones you've asked or wondered about?

What is search engine optimisation?

How do I do my own search engine optimisation?

How do I get my website on Google?

In response to questions from a few of my website design clients in recent weeks, I felt it was worthwhile to explain what Google is, and how you can get your website showing up when people search for you or relevant search terms and phrases.

What is Google?

Google is nothing more than a directory of websites.  This directory can be searched and the search results will show the websites that Google 'thinks' are most relevant to what you are searching for.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search engine optimisation (often called SEO) is a frequently mentioned phrase when talking about website design.  In simple terms, SEO is making sure that your website is structured and written in a way that helps the search engines categorise your web pages to then return them to people searching for related content online.

Google's own Webmaster Guidelines offer a straight forward message - design your website for visitors, not for search engines.  If your website pages are full of relevant and engaging content, and are well structured with use of good navigation, then this is the best way to improve how well your website performs in search results.