Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow websites to show up in search results when individuals search for products rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people searching for things online will be able to find a business website without the prior understanding of the business or its name. There are all manner of tricks and methods which fall under SEO, though the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called "white hat SEO") are based around the idea of making your website easier for search engine to read and understand, meaning they rank you higher in searches for appropriately relevant terms.
It really is not uncommon to decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but you'll find far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and smaller businesses - for an extremely expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding a good, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It is actually incredibly easy to seek out a good SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "SEO agency." Ignoring the paid advertisements at the very best, whichever firm has landed at the top of the search results are what you want - they has to be very good at SEO or their own website would not be so high in the natural listings!
To narrow things down a bit, you could try extending your search. Say you are living in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or if your web site is specialised and you want particular help with it you may add your industry or site type - "SEO tourism" or "SEO eCommerce" for example. This may be a good way to search out niche SEO agencies who have specialist knowledge in visit your url field.
Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) attempt 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's best to ignore it - if a company 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 aren't good. The exact same is true of SEO services advertised on paid ads at the very best of search engines or on banner ads on other sites. If their search marketing is any good, what makes them 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. Virtually all modern search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everyone sees sites in slightly different ranking positions depending on 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 to be able 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've found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you are going to need to ask them some questions before you decide to leap into their services. And additionally the usual checks like existing client list and testimonials, it is a great idea to talk to someone directly on the phone or even in person.
It really is not uncommon to decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but you'll find far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and smaller businesses - for an extremely expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding a good, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It is actually incredibly easy to seek out a good SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "SEO agency." Ignoring the paid advertisements at the very best, whichever firm has landed at the top of the search results are what you want - they has to be very good at SEO or their own website would not be so high in the natural listings!
To narrow things down a bit, you could try extending your search. Say you are living in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or if your web site is specialised and you want particular help with it you may add your industry or site type - "SEO tourism" or "SEO eCommerce" for example. This may be a good way to search out niche SEO agencies who have specialist knowledge in visit your url field.
Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) attempt 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's best to ignore it - if a company 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 aren't good. The exact same is true of SEO services advertised on paid ads at the very best of search engines or on banner ads on other sites. If their search marketing is any good, what makes them 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. Virtually all modern search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everyone sees sites in slightly different ranking positions depending on 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 to be able 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've found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you are going to need to ask them some questions before you decide to leap into their services. And additionally the usual checks like existing client list and testimonials, it is a great idea to talk to someone directly on the phone or even in person.