Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web pages to show up in search results when folks look for goods and services rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people searching for things online are able to find a business website without any prior comprehension of the business or its name. You'll find all manner of tricks and methods which fall under SEO, but the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called "white hat SEO") are based around the notion of making your webpage easier for search engine to read and understand, meaning they rank you higher in searches for appropriately relevant terms.It's not uncommon to decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but you can find far too many dodgy types out there who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and small businesses - for a really expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding an excellent, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It's actually incredibly easy to locate a quality SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "SEO agency." Ignoring the paid ads at the top, whichever firm has landed at the top 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 in the natural listings!
To narrow things down a bit, you might try extending your search. Say you are living in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or if your website is specialised and also you want particular help with it you can add your industry or site type - "SEO tourism" or "SEO eCommerce" for example. This can be a great way to find niche SEO agencies who have specialist expertise in your field.
Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) try and 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 own website ranks highly and people can find them anyway, chances are they aren't great. The exact same is true of SEO services advertised on paid advertisements at the very best of internet search engines or on banner advertisements on other sites. If their search digital marketing specialists is any good, what makes them having to pay for their placements?
Another thing to bear in mind is to steer well clear of any SEO agency that promises you "top position for x keywords" or something similar. Virtually all modern internet search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everybody sees web sites in slightly different ranking positions determined by 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 site, 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've found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you'll need to ask them some questions before you leap into their services. And also the normal checks like existing client list and testimonials, it is a good idea to speak to someone directly on the phone or even in person.