Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web pages to show up in search results when individuals search for services and products rather than simply company names. The idea is that people trying to find things online are able to find a business website with virtually no prior familiarity with the business or its name. There are actually all manner of tricks and also techniques which fall under SEO, however 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’s 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 really expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding the best, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It’s actually incredibly easy to locate a good SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in “SEO agency.” Ignoring the paid ads at the very best, whichever firm has landed at the top of the search results are what you want – they must be pretty good at SEO specialist or their 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 perhaps your webpage is specialised and also you want particular help with it you may add your industry or site type – “SEO tourism” or “SEO eCommerce” for example. This can be a good way to find 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’s 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 very own website ranks highly and people can find them anyway, chances are they are not excellent. The same is true of SEO services advertised on paid advertisements at the top of internet search engines or on banner advertisements on other web pages. If their search marketing 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 search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everyone sees web pages 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 so that you can 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’ve found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you will need to ask them some questions prior to deciding to leap into their services. And also the common checks like existing client list and testimonials, it is a good idea to speak to someone directly on the phone or even in person.