Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web pages to show up in search results when individuals search for services and products rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people looking for things online are able to seek out a business website without the prior understanding of the business or its name. You'll find all manner of tricks and also techniques which fall under SEO, although the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called "white hat SEO") are based around the perception 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 smaller companies - for a very expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding a good, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?
It is actually incredibly easy to search out a good SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in "
professional SEO agency." Ignoring the paid ads at the top, 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 very own website wouldn't be so high within 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 if your website 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 will likely be a good way to search out niche SEO agencies who have specialist expertise 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 business 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 very 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 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 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 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 to be able to bring useful traffic to your website, 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 are going to need to ask them some questions prior to deciding to leap into their services. And additionally the usual checks like existing client list and testimonials, it is a great idea to speak to someone directly on the telephone or in person.