Akira Studio blog - Web Design London Ontario

In a US election week when fact and fiction appear to be interchangeable (and what seemed a far-fetched fantasy only a year ago becomes reality), we’ve decided to debunk a few SEO myths that have been flying about recently.

Clients often ask us to "SEO" their website, as if it were a process that's easy to apply, like a coat of paint.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

Search engines keep changing what they want to see in a website.

So, SEO has to adapt to those new requirements accordingly.

This state of constant flux leads to myths building up over what SEO is, what it isn't and 'quick fixes' to get to the top slot in Google (which, btw, don't exist).

So, we're about to bust a few myths. Stand back...

At Akira, we’re acutely aware of the need for local businesses to be found in local searches.

We also know from personal experience how hard it can be to move your business from one location to another.

Our recent office move from Ingersoll to our new web design studio in London ON highlighted one very important process; consistent NAPs.

In their never-ending quest to keep the world of SEO on their toes, (or so it seems) Google have made some major changes to Google + pages.

Google + (Google Plus) has always been a bit of a minefield, but the main reason businesses used it was to ensure their place in local search results.

Your Google Local profile gave you the ability to add crucial information about any bricks and mortar business, such as the correct address, telephone number and company information. The fact that you also got a dedicated Google+ page, a sort of “Facebook light” profile page was a bonus.

But now it's all change again at Google+...

At Akira, we invest considerable time in learning about new trends, techniques and technologies to make our websites the best possible.

While we spend many hours following leading lights in website design and development online, nothing beats hearing these people speak live at a conference - and being able to quiz them in person!

Our SEO and copywriter Kirsty recently attended BrightonSEO, a cutting edge conference bringing together top SEO and social media practitioners from the UK, US and Europe to discuss what they do, why they do it, and most usefully, exactly how they do it.

Our recent review of various Google ranking factors left us in no doubt that backlinks are absolutely key.

Backlinks are simply links back to your website from other websites. Each backlink acts like a 'vote of confidence' for your website. The more 'votes' you have, the more respect Google will give to your website.

And the more respect Google has, the higher your website will appear in its search results.

We all know the benefits of having a website top of page one on Google, and we also know that position is the business equivalent of an Oscar, a lottery win and striking oil in your back yard - all at once.

However, what nobody outside Google actually knows is exactly how Google (or any other search engine) chooses the websites that occupy that top slot in the search engine results page, or SERPs.

But we've got a pretty good idea...