Search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the most talked about — and most misunderstood — topics in digital marketing. Here are answers to the questions we hear most often from small business owners.
How Come I Can’t Find My Site in Google?
Google is a commercial business whose success stems from their ability to provide relevant results to their customers. If your website isn’t appearing in search results, it usually means Google doesn’t yet consider it a relevant result for the keywords your potential customers are using. This can be due to a new site with little content, lack of inbound links, poor keyword use, or technical issues — all things that a good SEO strategy can address.
What Is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
SEO is the process of improving your website so that it ranks higher in search engine results for terms relevant to your business. It includes both on-page elements (like the words on your pages, your headings, and your page titles) and off-page factors (like the number and quality of other websites that link to yours).
Good SEO is about helping search engines understand what your website is about, so they can present it to people searching for exactly what you offer.
What Is Black Hat SEO?
Black hat SEO is any search engine optimisation technique that tries to deceive or trick Google. It is generally considered to include:
- Keyword stuffing — repeatedly using the same word to the point that the text becomes meaningless to human readers. This includes hiding keywords by making them the same colour as the background.
- Link farming — creating sites that have no purpose other than to link to each other in order to artificially inflate rankings.
Blue Platypus does not engage in black hat SEO techniques.
But I’ve Heard Black Hat SEO Works?
Yes, black hat SEO can work in the short term. But if a site is found to be using these techniques, Google may “sandbox” it — either removing it from search results altogether or pushing it to the very end of the results. Blue Platypus does not recommend black hat SEO as a long-term strategy.
The risk simply isn’t worth it. A site built on legitimate, quality content and ethical SEO practices will outperform a black hat site over the long term — and won’t risk being penalised or delisted.
We are here to help. Contact us with any questions you may have or for a free SEO quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
How come I can't find my site in Google?
If your website isn't appearing in search results, it usually means Google doesn't yet consider it a relevant result for the terms you're searching. Google's success depends on returning relevant results to its users, so the fix is making your site demonstrably relevant for the terms your customers actually use.
What is search engine optimisation (SEO)?
SEO is the process of improving your website so it ranks higher in search engine results for terms relevant to your business. It covers on-page elements such as the words on your pages, your headings and your page titles, as well as off-page factors like links from other websites.
What is black hat SEO?
Black hat SEO is any search engine optimisation technique that tries to deceive or trick Google, such as keyword stuffing, hidden text and link schemes. These techniques breach Google's guidelines.
But I've heard black hat SEO works?
Black hat SEO can work in the short term, but if a site is found using these techniques Google may sandbox it — either removing it from search results altogether or pushing it to the very end. Blue Platypus does not use black hat techniques.
