Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web sites 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 searching for things online will be able to seek out a business website without any prior understanding of the business or its name. There are actually 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 idea of making your web site easier for search engine to read and understand, meaning they rank you higher in searches for appropriately relevant terms.

It is not uncommon to determine to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies as well as other companies, but you will find far too many dodgy types available who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and new businesses - for a really 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 find a quality 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 very best of the search results are what you want - they must be pretty good at SEO or their very own website wouldn't be so high in the natural listings!

To narrow things down a bit, you can try extending your search. Say you are living in Essex and want a local agency - just type in "SEO agency Essex." Or if your web page 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 can be a great way to search out niche SEO agencies that 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 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 advertisements at the top of major search engines or on banner advertisements on other web sites. If their search marketing is any good, why are they 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 everyone sees sites 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 sort of service is lying through their teeth. Modern SEO shall use sustainable "white hat" techniques so that you can bring useful traffic to your web page, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, which 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 will need to ask them some questions before you decide to leap into their services. And also the normal checks like existing client list and testimonials, it really is a wise idea to speak to someone directly on the phone or even in person.