Links are important to the search engines because it shows the engines that other sites think your information is worthy of sharing. Each link is like a vote for your website.

Links are not only good for the engines but good links open up new sources of traffic from relevant, complementary but non­competing websites.

Linking has gone through so many transformations over the years. First all reciprocal links are good, and then only relevant links are good. Then reciprocal links are not helpful, you need one way links.

If you are following the search engine optimisation lesions, they will continue in the new year.

With the January Sales soon approaching it’s a good idea your online store (if you have one) is set up in the best possible way to attract customers. Identity has 8 essential tips to help you get the most out of selling online.

Google has given us the gift of Google Webmaster Tools. In one convenient location you have access to great tools. In Google’s own words, Google Webmaster Tools is:

“Statistics, diagnostics and management of Google's indexing of your website, including Sitemap submission and reporting.”

Next we are going to focus on the tweaks we can make within your website and website code to “prepare” your site for the search engines.

These techniques change over time, so staying current with the engines is vitally important to the on­going success of your webpage.

Please note: you should never abuse any of these techniques. Everything with moderation!

Let’s start with your Meta tags.

What does everybody with top rankings know that you don't know? That's the question that drives most people in their quest for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) information.

The foundation of a top ranked site should be SEO Friendly or SEO Ready – both are terms used for making sure the foundation of your site is clean, concise and “friendly” to the search engine bots that crawl your site. Have you ever tried to build a house of cards? Your strategy as the house grew more complex was very important - but none of it mattered without a solid foundation.

To get top rankings and have long term SEO success you simply cannot ignore the foundation of your campaign. 

A solid foundation consists of the following: