Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow websites to show up in search results when individuals look for goods and services rather than simply company names. The idea is that people trying to find things online will be able to find a business website without any prior familiarity with the business or its name. You can find 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 web page 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 and other companies, but you will find far too many dodgy types out there who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and new businesses - for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding an excellent, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It is actually incredibly easy to locate a decent SEO agency online marketing. 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 top of the search results are what you want - they must be great 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 live in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or maybe if your webpage 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 will likely be a great way to seek out niche SEO agencies that have specialist knowledge 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 is 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 very 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 top of search engines or on banner ads on other web sites. If their search marketing is any good, why are they having to pay for their placements?
Something else to bear 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 major search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everybody sees websites 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 kind of service is lying through their teeth. Modern SEO shall use sustainable "white hat" techniques in order to bring useful traffic to your web page, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, which can 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'll need to ask them some questions before you leap into their services. And additionally the normal checks like existing client list and testimonials, it really is a good idea to speak to someone directly on the telephone or even in person.
It is not uncommon to decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies and other companies, but you will find far too many dodgy types out there who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and new businesses - for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding an excellent, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It is actually incredibly easy to locate a decent SEO agency online marketing. 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 top of the search results are what you want - they must be great 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 live in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or maybe if your webpage 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 will likely be a great way to seek out niche SEO agencies that have specialist knowledge 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 is 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 very 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 top of search engines or on banner ads on other web sites. If their search marketing is any good, why are they having to pay for their placements?
Something else to bear 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 major search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everybody sees websites 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 kind of service is lying through their teeth. Modern SEO shall use sustainable "white hat" techniques in order to bring useful traffic to your web page, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, which can 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'll need to ask them some questions before you leap into their services. And additionally the normal checks like existing client list and testimonials, it really is a good idea to speak to someone directly on the telephone or even in person.
