Search engine optimisation is a strange creature, whichever way you approach the beast it will cost you time, money or possibly both.

Most people will agree that Google is the only search engine worth investing in. Microsoft is having a good go with Bing but even with their billions, they will have their work cut out. If Yahoo was going to make an impact then it would have happened by now and if I were Google then I wouldn't even consider them as competition.

There are now four ways to optimise your website through Google, natural listings, Adwords, local listings and Google base. This article discusses where you should focus your efforts.

Natural listings.

Many people refer to natural listings as the area on Google that is "free" to advertise, but nothing in life is free. Sure, you don't have to pay Google anything to appear there but there are only two ways to get to the top; 1. Pay an SEO company to optimise your website or 2; do it yourself which isn't free because your time is money and trust me, it will take time.

Statistics show that users look to the natural listings first and tend to select one of the top 3 entries, this makes the hard work and effort to get there a worthwhile exercise but be warned, if you are optimising for a competitive keyword then expect it to take at least 6 months before you can even think about getting into the top 5, let alone the top 3 positions on Google.

Which brings me to another point, choose your keywords wisely. Do your keyword research and make sure you are optimising for a term that people are actually using, otherwise the whole thing becomes a pointless exercise...... If you are using an SEO company then get references you can speak to, SEO gurus are notorious for choosing a search term that is easy for them to optimise, but this term isn't always the one that will get you a return on your investment.

AdWords.

Adwords are a great way of getting instant advertising. They offer the chance to appear on the first page for a product or service you are offering with little effort, as long as you are prepared to pay for it. The cost of your adwords are dependent on many things. Your page rank plays its part so if you have a new website/domain then expect to pay more than competitors that have been around the block. I could write an entirely different hub on how to decrease your adwords costs, for the moment my advice would be to make sure that your ad text is relevant to your keywords and also make sure that your landing page is relevant. This will increase your ad quality score which will help decrease your cost per click (CPC).

Local listings.

VERY underrated. you would be amazed how many people use local listings. let's say for example you offer computer support and you are based in London, if someone searches for this type of service then they are going to require a local company which means their search term is going to be something along the lines of "it support in London". type in this search phrase and the first thing you will see is a list of companies local to your area, these companies even appear above the natural listings.

Google Base.

Google base has recently changed. It is primarily for products available from online stores such as clothes, accessories etc etc. You used to submit items manually one at a time, now you have to submit them via an XML feed or spreadsheet. It can take time putting a range of items together but the effort is worthwhile. Let's take "dog beds" as an example, type dog beds into Google, below the first 3 natural listings are 3 shopping results for dog beds, all of these shopping results were generated from Google base XML feeds. Click on the shopping results to see a long list of products which again have all been generated from Google base.

Conclusions;

If I were to pick from the above I would still prioritise natural listings with local listings as a very close second. People have wised up to the fact that businesses pay to feature at the top of the page with AdWords and they tend to trust the natural listings more. A lot of hard work and effort will need to go in if you want to appear at the top, but if you pick the right keywords, you will more then get your money back.

Resources

Seo Consultant London based company that taught me how to optimise my website. Website has some useful advice.