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Selecting a suitable search marketing or SEO consultancy is not exactly an easy task, particularly if you’re starting from scratch.

Searching for ‘search marketing’ or ‘SEO’ throws up thousands of consultancies and agencies, with most of them claiming they’ll position you highly on the very search engine you’re searching.

So what to do?

As with any new provider, it’s always a good idea to do some background and draw up a short-list.

It’s also a good idea to meet with them in person and get a feel for them as an organisation and as people.

When you’re doing your investigating have the following check list in mind:

1)       Credibility  – are they a certified member of a professional body such as SEOcertification.org?

2)       Approach –  Do they outline their methodology for optimisation on and off the page or are they all about the end ranking? Consultancies ‘guaranteeing’ specific page rankings and positions should be approached with extreme caution. What’s their approach to pay-per-click vs. organic? Do they have a logical, integrated offering?

3)       History – can they show you relevant case studies of current, satisfied clients?

4)       Delivery – will they walk through their recommended strategy with you, using understandable terminology and provide a time guide of what will be done, when and the end result(s)?

5)       Reporting – How will they report back to you? How often will they update you on the improvements made to the site, the rationale and the outcome?

6)       Experience – are they experienced in your particular sector / industry?

7)       International capability – you may have a global office network – are they experienced with overseas campaigns?

And finally (and probably most importantly)…

8)       Your instinct – if their website is cluttered with numerous, aggressive sales messages promising this, that and the other? Is their sales representative similarly disposed? If so, are they really the type of people you want to engage with?

A credible SEO consultancy will talk to you about the main SEO techniques which are very briefly outlined below:

1) Technical Optimisation – ensuring search engines have clear and unobstructed access to your content.

2) On Page Optimisation – ensuring chosen keywords and phrases are proportionately represented as well as optimising all pages, titles, images and headings.

3) Off Page Optimisation – creating relevant links to other sites. Each quality link will represent an ‘endorsement’ for your site.

How soon you start to see results depends largely on how popular your keywords are. Commonly searched for keywords such as ‘SEO’ or ‘Accountants’ are hugely competitive. However, niche keywords such as ‘Accountants Oxfordshire’ or ‘Investment Managers Worcestershire’ will climb far more quickly.

In summary, a credible search consultancy will be able to offer you a clear and understandable approach to your search marketing needs with a full, monthly reporting facility on activity and results.

If you’d like more information on search engine marketing, please call us on 0121 224 7327 or email hello@thisistraffic.co.uk