Hard web provides SEO  and web design services to Gold Coast and other Qld businesses.

Search Engine Optimisation, abbreviated as SEO is the practice of improving the organic (unpaid) ranking of websites in the search engine’s results pages.
In Australia the focus of SEO is on the biggest search provider which is Google and getting to the top of the Google results listings is the name of the game of SEO.

The biggest shake-up to the dominance of Google for search may come from ChatGPT which is part owned by Microsoft and if we all start using an AI for search instead of a search engine then Google may face an uncertain future.

ChatGPT uses Bing as it’s search engine and Bing has an AI called Co-pilot which is a ChatGPT AI. Will Microsoft climb back up the slippery pole to dominate internet searching?
Only time will tell but Google’s AI called Gemini (formerly Bard) is definitely lagging behind at the midpoint of 2024.

I used another AI today called Claude 3.5 made by Anthropic which is another player in the AI field. 

Hard Web knows that SEO’s clear objective is to improve the organic rankings for your website for the targeted keywords that I will research and decide to be of high volume (lots of people use the keywords) and that are closely aligned with the actual services or products you are selling.

As my SEO customer you must be willing to provide me with quality content to fill specific webpages on your website. This will be done under my guidance but I cannot write your quality content for you.
See below for adapted questionnaire you must answer regarding what is quality content?

I provide SEO for not only new websites but existing websites where I didn’t design the initial website.

I have now decided to limit my offer of SEO services to HTML based websites and those made with WordPress.

The experiences I have had with trying to do SEO on the myriad of other CMS’s,  is that success depends too much on the CMS not on my skills, I have also wasted a lot of time familiarising myself with a CMS which ends up not having the capability to do effective SEO with it.

Search engine optimisation (or optimization) is a special area of interest and one where I have had some spectacular results for my clients (even if I do say so myself!).

I specialise in integrating your website into the Google ecosystem which includes installing Google Analytics, registering your website with Google Search Console (formerly webmaster tools) and making sure the Google Business Profile business page has accurate information and is being listed favourably.
Note that the Google Busines Profile page is where your Google maps listing’s information is drawn from.

The Google maps free listings information was formerly taken from Google Places, then it changed to both Google Places and Google+, then Google+ became Google My Business and lately it is called Google Business Profile but at the current rate it will surely change again shortly.

Why keep up with it? The map listing is extremely important for Local SEO.
What is local SEO? SEO for locally based service and retail businesses.

I believe that the only long term SEO strategy that works is by legitimate means or what is called in the trade; white-hat SEO which involves regularly producing fresh, original and what Google calls quality content for your website and it’s pages.

In Australia the search engine user base is overwhelmingly dominated by one search engine Google, so I place great importance on following and implementing the clear guidelines set down by Google for correct web design & SEO practices, please see Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

If you wish to further your SEO knowledge you must also read the legendary Google SEO primer called the Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
It is a 32 page .PDF first published by Google in Nov 2008 and updated in Sep 2010.
After you have read and absorbed those two sources you will know more about SEO than 99.9% of the world’s website owners and about half of the world’s SEO experts!

Here is new Google series specifically for beginner web-masters regarding how to get found in the Google search engine and even how to improve your website’s position/ranking/listing in Google – gee why didn’t they just say how to do SEO? because that’s what it is!

Further down on those pages linked above you can see some of Google’s tips for experienced webmasters, mainly about Google Search Console (formerly webmaster tools).

FINALLY a great video on that same page about why businesses should get online, it is also in the same series and narrated by Texan Google Ads and Analytics expert Anastasia Holdren whom I have met at a few Google Engage (now called Google Partner) conferences in Australia and was a nice person as well as being extremely knowledgeable. 
I am not sure she is still in the SEO game though.

Neither of these people are me.

Featured Project

Targeting the right keywords is the Key to SEO

Which means the first step is always Keyword Research