Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web pages to show up in search results when individuals look for products or services rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people trying to find things online will be able to find a business website without the prior familiarity with the business or its name. You can find all manner of tricks and methods which fall under SEO, although the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called "white hat SEO") are based around the notion of making your site easier for search engine to read and understand, meaning they rank you higher in searches for appropriately relevant terms.
It is not uncommon to decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but there are actually far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and smaller companies - for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding a great, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It's actually incredibly easy to find a quality SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "SEO agency." Ignoring the paid advertisements at the top, whichever firm has landed at the very best of the search results are what you want - they must be very good at SEO or their very own website wouldn't be so high within the natural listings!
To narrow things down a bit, you could try extending your search. Say you reside in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or maybe if your web page is specialised and you want particular help with it you can add your industry or site type - "SEO tourism" or "SEO eCommerce" for example. This could be a good way to locate niche SEO agencies who have specialist expertise in your field.
Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) try to solicit companies by sending them emails or submitting contact forms with various enticements and offers. However if you see something like this come in then it really is best to ignore it - if a business which supposedly specialises in search engine optimisation is reduced to spamming inboxes to get business rather than, say, doing SEO so their own website ranks highly and people can find them anyway, chances are they are not very good. The same is true of SEO services advertised on paid ads at the top of internet search engines or on banner advertisements on other sites. If their search digital marketing is any good, why are they having to pay for their placements?
Another thing to keep in mind is to steer well clear of the SEO agency that promises you "top position for x keywords" or something similar. Nearly all modern internet search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everybody sees websites in slightly different ranking positions according to their personal search history. Absolute rankings are a thing of the past, any anyone claiming to deliver this sort of service is lying through their teeth. Modern SEO will use sustainable "white hat" techniques as a way to bring useful traffic to your website, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, which could constantly get them slapped by search engine updates like Google's infamous Panda and Penguin algorithm changes.
Once you have found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you are going to need to ask them some questions prior to deciding to leap into their services. As well as the normal checks like existing client list and testimonials, it really is a wise idea to speak to someone directly on the phone or even in person.
It is not uncommon to decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but there are actually far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and smaller companies - for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding a great, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It's actually incredibly easy to find a quality SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "SEO agency." Ignoring the paid advertisements at the top, whichever firm has landed at the very best of the search results are what you want - they must be very good at SEO or their very own website wouldn't be so high within the natural listings!
To narrow things down a bit, you could try extending your search. Say you reside in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or maybe if your web page is specialised and you want particular help with it you can add your industry or site type - "SEO tourism" or "SEO eCommerce" for example. This could be a good way to locate niche SEO agencies who have specialist expertise in your field.
Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) try to solicit companies by sending them emails or submitting contact forms with various enticements and offers. However if you see something like this come in then it really is best to ignore it - if a business which supposedly specialises in search engine optimisation is reduced to spamming inboxes to get business rather than, say, doing SEO so their own website ranks highly and people can find them anyway, chances are they are not very good. The same is true of SEO services advertised on paid ads at the top of internet search engines or on banner advertisements on other sites. If their search digital marketing is any good, why are they having to pay for their placements?
Another thing to keep in mind is to steer well clear of the SEO agency that promises you "top position for x keywords" or something similar. Nearly all modern internet search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everybody sees websites in slightly different ranking positions according to their personal search history. Absolute rankings are a thing of the past, any anyone claiming to deliver this sort of service is lying through their teeth. Modern SEO will use sustainable "white hat" techniques as a way to bring useful traffic to your website, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, which could constantly get them slapped by search engine updates like Google's infamous Panda and Penguin algorithm changes.
Once you have found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you are going to need to ask them some questions prior to deciding to leap into their services. As well as the normal checks like existing client list and testimonials, it really is a wise idea to speak to someone directly on the phone or even in person.