What Is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. This broad terms covers all the activities that are done to try and bring your website higher on the search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing) results. Why do you need to be at the top of the search results? Because studies in 2018 show that 60% of all searchers click on the first 4 organic results – that means that if you want a decent slice of the pie, you need to be on the top of the page.

Google has over 200 different factors that it looks at when it comes to ranking your website. The process of SEO is aimed at addressing as many of those factors as possible to ensure that Google finds your website to be the most relevant result for high value searches. Why do we focus on Google? Most searches are done on Google, and it has the most sophisticated way of ranking websites. That means that if we win on Google, we will (in all likelihood) be winning on all other search engines too!

SEO is a bit of science, and a bit of magic. Google constantly updates its algorithm, which means we need to stay on our toes to ensure we are giving the Big G what it wants. To make things as simple as possible for our clients, these are the main issues we look at for our SEO clients:

Fixing any technical issues on the site
Making sure the content on the site is relevant and easy to read
Creating more incoming links from other websites (link building).

Ready to start your SEO? Here’s what to expect:

SEO Process

Step 1 - Invoicing & Payment

Isn't this the first step in any project? Once we have received your payment, our team jumps into action!

Step 2 - The Onboarding Document

Our onboarding document is the foundation of everything that we will need to do for you - it gives us all the information we need to make sure we deliver SEO results that have a great impact on your business. There are some sections in the document that may result in some confusion, so here are some explanatory terms to make your life easier, as well as ours:

Website access details - we need to have full administrator access to the back-end of your website. We will need to change content on your website and address any issues. If we can do this ourselves, it saves time and headaches.
Google Analytics access - we have to be added to your Google Analytics account at the Property Level with full permissions. Why? Because we need to configure the settings on the account so that we can properly track contact forms or sales being completed.
Why do we need so much information on your business? So we can write better content and metatags! If we know that which makes you unique is that you deliver 84 different flavours of ice cream to anyone, anywhere, anytime - we can write content that speaks to that. If you told us that you just sell ice cream, that wouldn't really have the same impact, would it? Nobody knows your business the way you do, so it's important that we try to get that information conveyed to our copy writers.
Services you would like to focus on - remember, this is marketing. We want to focus on the things that make you money and that you want to sell. Be as specific as possible!

Step 3 - Keyword Research

We take a look at how many people in your geographic target market are actually looking for your products and services online, and what search words they are using. We also then look at how many other website pages are actively optimising for those search terms by including them in the title.

Step 4 - Content Optimisation Suggestions

Based on the data we get from this research, we can then make suggestions as to what content we need to add to your website, or how we need to change what is already there. The content we will look at changing or adding includes:

Page Meta Titles
Page Meta Descriptions
H1, H2 headings
The written words on pages (body copy)
Alt tags of images

These changes will be sent to you on a spreadsheet for approval before being implemented - we will never change content on your website without approval from you first!

Step 5 - On Page Optimisation

Once the spreadsheet of changes is confirmed, we will take care of the following tasks:

Install Yoast SEO plugin (if it's a Wordpress website)
Submit a sitemap to Google via your website's Search Console
Ensure there are no broken links (internal or external)
Optimise internal linking structure
Optimise the number of pages as per the package you have selected. We do a number of things to optimise pages, which you can read about on our blog.

There may be issues that require the help of your web developer or hosting company to fix e.g. site speed and mobile-friendliness. In this case, we will provide the information of what the issue is and it will be the responsibility of the hosting company or web developer to address it. If they cannot or will not, we can (in most cases) fix the issue but this may attract a further cost from our side. We will always quote you in instances like this before any work is undertaken!

Step 6 - Linkbuilding & Monthly Work

Linkbuilding is the secret sauce that really ramps up your SEO. We cannot tell you our exact process, as it is our intellectual property, but we will tell you that we analyse your website's backlink profile to ensure that we are building the right types of links to the right pages. You can read more about link building and why links are important here. In addition to linkbuilding, we will monitor your site for any issues such as new broken links, crawl issues, etc.

Step 7 - Reporting

Between the 10th and 15th of every month, you will receive your SEO Dashboard and Report. This report displays your website traffic from the last month and details our gains in organic traffic and Google rankings.

Got SEO Questions?

We have answers to all of the most common questions we get! Just click on the question to reveal the answers…

1

Can I pay your invoice after the work is done?

Unfortunately not. We have a strict policy of payment in advance - no exceptions.
2

I don't want you to make any changes on my website. Can I still do SEO?

We can still do link building, but the results will not be as good. Making necessary changes on the website is important to make sure the pages are relevant and tick all the boxes for Google. Links on their own won't do the job effectively.
3

I can't edit my own website (it is in HTML). Can you still do SEO?

Yes we can, but there may be an extra charge. Content Management Systems (CMS) like Wordpress, Shopify or WIX makes our job a lot easier, so we can charge less.
4

I have a WIX website. Can you do SEO?

As long as the site is on your own domain, then yes we can!
5

Can I review the links before they are created?

Unfortunately not - this is where you have to have trust in us. We don't work well being micro-managed and in this case, you will need to let us do our jobs.
6

Will it work immediately?

SEO takes time - ask anyone. There is no magic bullet, and we generally will need to work for 3-6 months before we see really great results.
7

Do I need to be adding new content as pages or blog posts?

Google loves fresh content and we always encourage our clients to add fresh, relevant content as often as possible. No time to write? We can write blog posts and pages for you!
8

I don't want reporting - can I pay less?

Our price is the same with or without reporting.
9

How do I know it's working?

We look at four things to assess SEO success: Increase in rankings, increase in organic traffic, increase in organic conversions and an increase in the organic conversion rate. Some months there may only be an increase in one or two of these factors but SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Over the long term we want to make sure that all four of these metrics are improving.