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 services and products rather than simply company names. The idea is that people looking for things online will be able to find a business website with virtually no prior understanding of the business or its name. You can find all manner of tricks and techniques which fall under SEO, though the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called “white hat SEO”) are based around the concept of making your site 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 decide to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but there are actually far too many dodgy types around 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’s actually incredibly easy to locate a decent 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 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 may try extending your search. Say you reside in Essex and want a local agency – just type in “SEO agency Essex.” Or maybe if your site 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 can be a good way to locate niche SEO agencies who have specialist knowledge 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 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 ads at the very best of search engines or on banner ads on other web pages. If their search marketing is any good, what makes them having to pay for their placements?
Another thing to keep 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 major search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everybody sees websites 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 shall utilize sustainable “white hat” techniques in order 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 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 the common checks like existing client list and testimonials, it’s an excellent idea to talk to someone directly on the telephone or in person.