Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow websites to show up in search results when people look for products and services rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people looking for things online will be able to discover a business website with virtually no prior comprehension of the business or its name. You will discover all manner of tricks and techniques which fall under SEO, but the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called “white hat SEO”) are based around the idea of making your site easier for search engine to Read the Full Post 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 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 smaller companies – for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding the best, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It really is actually incredibly easy to discover a quality 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 very best of the search results are what you want – they has to be pretty good at SEO or their own website would not be so high in the natural listings!
To narrow things down a bit, you can try extending your search. Say you reside in Essex and want a local agency – just type in “SEO agency Essex.” Or if your site 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 may be a great way to search out niche SEO agencies who 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 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 same is true of SEO services advertised on paid advertisements at the top of major search engines or on banner advertisements on other websites. If their search marketing is any good, why are they having to pay for their placements?
Something else to keep in mind is to steer well clear of the SEO agency that promises you “top position for x keywords” or something similar. Nearly 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 will use sustainable “white hat” techniques as a way to bring useful traffic to your web page, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, that will 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 usual checks like existing client list and testimonials, it really is a wise idea to talk to someone directly on the telephone or in person.