SEO Blog

When selecting a UK-based SEO Agency, many companies struggle to get a grip on what they should look for and how much they should pay.  The need for SEO assistance has never been greater, but a reliable, expert and cost effective SEO Agency can be hard to find.

SEO is not a matter for amateurs; a great SEO Agency is part design team, part IT whiz, part business analyst, part marketing guru and part copywriter.  In order to test the mettle of any potential SEO Agency, here are ten questions you should ask:

Q1:  What guarantees can you give us about Search Engine Ranking Positions?
Whilst all SEO Agencies will aim to improve and increase your SERPs, the truthful answer is none.  Search Engine Rankings cannot be guaranteed by anyone other than the Search Engines themselves.  If the SEO Agency claims they can guarantee ANYTHING, they shouldn’t be trusted.

Q2:  How much will increased website traffic cost me?
The cost won’t always indicate the quality of SEO service you’ll receive.  But clearly, with a bona fide SEO Agency, the more money you spend, the more dedicated time and effort they can place on your SEO work.

Q3:  Can we meet in your office to discuss this in person?
If you’re based in the UK, you’ll want to deal with a UK-based company.  Face to face contact builds trust and rapport and gives you a point of contact with your SEO Agency.  Outsourcing your SEO to someone in Pakistan, India or Mars doesn’t give you the same customer experience.

Q4: Will you need to change my website?
To optimise a website often requires changes to it. All changes should be mutually agreed, expertly actioned and made in-line with the design of your website.

Q5: What linking process do you use?
A good SEO Agency will be open with you about the entire linking process and give you weekly linking reports.  They will use acceptable linking techniques that won’t get you banned.

Q6: What’s your company’s history?
Clearly, the fly-by-night cowboy will have a sketchy past; the trustworthy company will have years of experience and a researchable online presence.

Q7:  What does your pricing include?
Ask for a full list of services included and compare this with their competitors.

Q8: What length of contract do you require?
Flexibility is the keyword.  All companies need to tie you into a contract, that’s business, but look for flexibility and no lengthy tie-ins.

Q9: Are you certified in Google AdWords?
Let’s face it, Google still accounts for the lion’s share of all search engine traffic, and AdWords remains the obvious choice for your Ad campaign. But anyone with a credit card can set one up, so Google offer certified status to professionals completing AdWords qualifications. Consider this as the benchmark for AdWords expertise.

Q10: Can you provide examples of the results that you’ve previously achieved?
If the SEO Agency can really do what they say, they should be teeming with testimonials and evidence of their success rate.  It’s a competitive marketplace where SERPS can shift on a daily basis, but happy clients show you that this SEO Agency really know their job.  If you get the opportunity to talk directly to one of their clients – do it, it will speak volumes.

Asking these questions is essential to choosing the best SEO Agency.  Don’t be dazzled or distracted; the answers to these questions and your common sense will indicate to you which SEO partner you should select.

Obviously we’re biased but we believe that if you’re looking for a professional SEO Agency, you should consider discussing how Impact Media could help you.

Bela Forma supply gym wear, Yoga Wear and most active pursuits clothing designed for the modern, active women who appreciates quality.

The company wanted to raise their profile on the internet and increase online sales over the busy Christmas period and New Year when fitness is in many minds following the Christmas festivities..

We are delighted to have been selected as Bela Forma’s Pay Per Click (PPC) partner and very much look forward to working with them on this project.

To find out more about our professional PPC services please visit our Pay Per Click Management page.

In a press release published yesterday, Nielsen Online report that both Yahoo (-12.0%)and Microsoft (-19.0%) have seen their share of the US search traffic decrease during October 2008.

No surprise in who gained with Google seeing an 8.1% increase in search traffic and AOL seeing a huge 14.5% rise.

Full details:

Nielsen Online US Search Traffic - October 2008

The use of optimisation techniques that are deemed to be ethical and not misleading.

Attempts to value pages based on who is linking to them and the authority they have.

Keywords that search engines deem irrelevant and ignore when reviewing websites.

These words consist of terms such as “the” “if” “a” etc.

A page that is positioned between a websites homepage and the actual homepage that are typically used to provide an graphical introduction.

Most people find these pages annoying and are damaging to the optimisation of a website and so should be avoided if possible.

A page that gives and overview of an entire website similar to a table of contents in a book.

Search engine marketing is the process of marketing a website via the search engines by use of SEO and PPC.

Search engine optimisation refers to the act of optimising a website to improve its rankings in the search engines.

Real Simple Syndication is an XML based web feed format.

Otherwise known as Return on Investment is a measurement of the effectiveness of a paid campaign. ROI is calculated as follows:

ROI = (Sales – Cost of Advertsing) / Cost

A situation where one site links to another and the other site links back.

A matching option in Google AdWords which allows you to bid on phrases.

This means that your add will only be shown if that exact phrase is searched for or as part of a larger query containing that term.

An advertising model where by advertisers pay search engines for traffic normally on a pay per click basis.

PageRank is a trademarked term of Google. This is a patented process with the patent assigned to Stanford University where the founders of Google developed their process.

It is a link analysis concept that assigns weight to web pages so that their relevance and importance can be scored.

Web pages are scored from 0 – 10 (though the true data goes much deeper than this) with 10 being the most popular and relevant.

The search engines free natural listings on the left hand side of the page.

A link that links one site to another that is not then linked back to.

Refers to the process of optimising your website through the use of link building.

A tag used to stop search engines parsing on PageRank to sites linked to the host site.

Negative Keywords are used in Google AdWords as way of ensuring that adverts are not shown in conjunction with any of the keywords in your negative keyword list.

For example if you were a company selling Ipods the keywords “Free” would probably be a negative.

Refers to a websites natural listings (the ones that appear on the left of the screen).

Is used to inform the search engines of extra information regarding to a website.

Although Meta is placed in Meta tags does not provide formatting information only information such as a sites keywords, description and authors.

Refers to the process of optimising marketing campaigns to target a specific geographical location.

Link bait (or linkbait) is a strategy that encourages links from other websites. It can include gadgets, games, downloads, content or other resources that another Webmaster may be useful enough to link to.