Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web pages to show up in search results when people search for services rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people looking for things online are able to discover a business website without any prior understanding of the business or its name. There are 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 perception 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 determine to outsource SEO to external digital marketing agencies and other companies, but you will find far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO – especially local and smaller businesses – for a really expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding the best, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It is actually incredibly easy to locate a decent 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 has to be very good at SEO or their very 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 perhaps your webpage 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 great way to search out niche SEO agencies that 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 really 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 good. The same is true of SEO services advertised on paid ads at the very best of internet search engines or on banner advertisements on other sites. If their search marketing is any good, why are they 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. Nearly all modern internet search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everyone sees web sites in slightly different ranking positions based 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 so that you can bring useful traffic to your web site, 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’ll need to ask them some questions prior to deciding to leap into their services. And also the usual checks like existing client list and testimonials, it’s a good idea to speak to someone directly on the phone or in person.