One of the problems that continuous changes in technology bring is a constant need to update your knowledge. Markets can seem fickle, and as there are usually many ways to achieve your goal, learning what works and doesn't work is at best something of a gamble.

Change becomes even worse when not just the technology, but a completely different method of applying this new technology is required. This situation can seem even worse when you have achieved success with older methods, and suddenly a group of young upstarts appear telling you how things should be done. Most people, let alone industry experts would be forgiven for eyeing them with both suspicion, and in some cases contempt.

This situation is exactly what is happening within the Internet Industry.
The massive growth in high profile and successful search engine optimisation firms has brought about different methods and techniques of applying search engine optimisation to a website.

This new method involves expert search engine optimisers getting involved with a web project right from the very beginning. However, current trend would not usually involve the optimiser until completion of the project.

The reason it is imperative that the optimiser is part of the planning process is that the search engines have become incredibly sophisticated and subsequently the structure and technology behind a website can have a dramatic effect on its ability to be correctly optimised. The main reason that this is now the case is that over the past 2 years CRM, Content Management, E-Commerce and other dynamic web solutions have become commonplace.

Many of the leading internet and software development companies responsible for building these systems have responded to this trend by quoting that their technology is indeed search engine optimisable. Unfortunately SEO has become more sophisticated and competitive which means no singular method or system will work anymore. The structure of your site is dependent upon the keywords you decide to target and the competitiveness of the markets you will be operating in.

The following points outline just a few of the conditions or prerequisites now required to remain competitive, and have any chance on gaining significant search engine positions.

? The amount you change your websites editorial content is now monitored very closely by the search engines, this ensures only the most up to date websites are displayed in the top rankings, this condition we call % change.
? Logic dictates that if you are changing your site frequently then it is likely that it will also be growing in physical size. The search engines are an information resource and subsequently large websites are often favoured over small ones.
? Although the previous conditions are important, spending time making these changes remains academic if the search engines cannot read your websites page, this they will need to do to monitor and measure the results of your work. Therefore it is imperative that the physical structure and onsite optimisation is done correctly allowing the search engines to classify your content.

There is another benefit to getting-in the search engine optimiser at the start of a campaign; they will be able to advise you on the technology required, if gaining top search engine positions is a part of your strategy. The optimiser will remain independent of your hardware / software suppliers giving you valuable feedback ensuring the technology you have been sold is indeed up to the task

For an optimiser there is nothing more frustrating than being passed a completed website and being asked to achieve search engine positions, I often sigh when I view a new project only to find that the dynamic pages are un-optimisable and the site is so clever where its technology is concerned that the search engine robots (the technology that reads, measures and reports back to the search engines) cannot read or classify the site!

Building a website is no different from building a house, the client comes up with an idea, he then visits the architect and a design is created, the architect then passes this design to a structural engineer to make sure it is unlikely to fall down, finally the structural and design specifications are passed to the builders. Unfortunately in our industry the design is only passed to the structural engineers (optimisers) at the end of the project. This means that to make your website structurally sound we have to bolt on unsightly text, and dramatically change the structure to make it structurally sound. As most of our changes effect navigation and branding they are usually denied by the client. This means the optimiser has to run the optimisation race using only one leg! I am sure your optimiser will do his best for you but its not surprising the results in many cases fall short of the mark!

Understandably many readers of this article have no intention in scrapping their expensive new site to start again, so what can you do to ensure you don't allocate your optimisation budget to optimisers that know they have to hop the race but are prepared to take your budget anyway! You must be prepared to re-engineer your site if necessary, working with your optimiser and introducing them to the web designers and developers that created your system, at this point it is unfortunately damage limitation but in many cases small development changes can minimise the negative effect and at least allow your optimiser to limp, if not run the optimisation race!

The last problem you will encounter is how to find an optimiser that is capable of achieving these required changes, because there are not a lot of them about!
It is important to remember one point, there is no such thing as a good search engine optimisation company, only good search engine optimisers. Remember that just because you found your optimisation company at number one in Google, this only qualifies that they have not only the skill but also the time required, sometimes amounting to thousands to achieve top positions. You must ask your self would your budget support such activity. And with your budget could they achieve the results they are telling you they are capable off? Give any marginal optimiser infinite time and money and they could achieve good positions. A great optimiser will understand strategy and be able to achieve results for you quickly, they will also inform you of how to take control yourselves, this doesn't mean they have to give away their precious secrets. The search engine conditions change frequently enough to ensure you will retain your chosen optimisers skills even if they have told your staff how to do some of the donkey work needed to achieve good positions!

Ensuring you get the best optimiser will mean you have to initially meet with the optimiser, and even the optimisation team that will be managing your contract, don't just listen to the salesman. All too often you will meet the expert then be palmed of with a ?15K per year junior. Make sure you ask for case studies, and check them out thoroughly, experience in a particular marketplace doesn't matter, SEO is SEO, only the keywords change.

Search Engine Optimisation is fast becoming a professional industry with it often taking up to 12 months for a junior to learn the basics. We are becoming the structural engineers of the internet and as Google has grown from a service into what is now regarded as an economy, it is important that you don't get left behind!