Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web sites to show up in search results when people search for services rather than simply company names. The idea is that people trying to find things online are able to search out a business website without any prior understanding of the business or its name. You can find all manner of tricks and methods which fall under SEO, however the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called "white hat SEO") are based around the notion of making your web page easier for search engine to read and understand, meaning they rank you higher in searches for appropriately relevant terms.
It's not uncommon to determine to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies and other companies, but you will discover far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and smaller businesses - for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding the best, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It's actually incredibly easy to find a reliable SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "SEO agency." Ignoring the paid ads at the top, 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 wouldn't be so high within 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 web page 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 will likely be a good way to find niche SEO agencies who have specialist knowledge in your field.
Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) attempt 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 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 are not excellent. The exact same is true of SEO services advertised on paid ads at the top of major search engines or on banner ads on other websites. If their search marketing is any good, why are they having to pay for their placements?
Something else to bear in mind is to steer well clear associated with any SEO agency that promises you "top position for x keywords" or something similar. Nearly all modern search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everyone sees websites in slightly different ranking positions according to 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 webpage, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, that may constantly get them slapped by search engine updates like Google's infamous Panda and Penguin algorithm changes.
Once you've found an
SEO specialist company that looks mostly all right you definitely will need to ask them some questions before you decide to leap into their services. And the common checks like existing client list and testimonials, it's a wise idea to talk to someone directly on the phone or in person.