Search Engine Optimisation:
Achieve High and Sustainable Website Rankings!

Search engine optimisation (SEO) encompasses a range of methods and techniques that aim to position the pages of your website in the top organic search results of search engines, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others. The objective is to enhance the pages’ visibility by following a set of “rules” known as “guidelines” provided by the search engines. By employing various strategies, it is possible to influence the behaviour of the web-crawling robots that index the pages and ensure they appear more prominently in response to user queries.

Google’s algorithms are continuously evolving to provide users with the most relevant results. These updates can vary in impact, with some being minor changes like mobile compatibility and HTTPS protocol, while others are considered major updates that significantly affect Google’s SEO and positioning criteria. The purpose of these algorithms is not only to assess the relevance of SEO but also to penalise websites that employ abusive SEO techniques (we will discuss penalties in more detail later). Here are a few examples of the most important updates:

Local SEO is a branch of Google’s search engine optimisation that aims to position businesses in response to location-specific queries, usually accompanied by a city name. For example: “SEO agency in Paris.” The goal is to reach local customers when they are actively seeking information about a particular service or product. It’s worth noting that 25% of all searches on Google have a local intent, and a staggering 88% of location-based searches conducted on smartphones lead to some form of action, such as a phone call or a physical visit, within 24 hours. An essential aspect of local SEO is the Google business listing (previously known as Google My Business), which provides a straightforward and effective way to showcase a company’s contact details, operating hours, and geographical location through Google Maps.

Visibility is the key to success on the web. Consider that there are nearly 2 billion websites on the internet, and Google has indexed around 130 trillion pages. Moreover, Google’s robots (known as Googlebots) visit approximately 20 billion websites each day. In such a competitive landscape, the only way to make your page visible to users conducting searches is to optimise it according to the search engine’s guidelines.

Webmasters who disregard Google’s guidelines run the risk of incurring penalties from the search engine. These Google SEO penalties arise from algorithm updates. For instance, the Penguin penalty acts as a filter to penalise websites with low-quality backlinks. On the other hand, the Panda penalty targets sites with content that falls short of the expected quality standards, such as keyword-stuffed pages. These penalties can be algorithmic or manual, with decisions made by Google engineers. In their fundamental guidelines for webmasters, Google provides a list of techniques to avoid in order to steer clear of penalties.

Selecting the right keywords is among the most critical aspects of SEO. It depends on your industry and specific requirements. Keywords are chosen based on their popularity (the number of times users have searched for them) and competitiveness. However, it’s important not to solely target overly popular queries. While it may be challenging to rank for generic keywords in certain industries (e.g., “SEO agency”), focusing on long-tail keywords generally proves to be more manageable and generates highly targeted traffic that is more likely to convert. Various tools, including Google’s Keyword Planner, can assist you in selecting your keywords.

With over 200 optimisation criteria, Google’s search engine optimisation demands expertise, experience, and most importantly, time. In reality, achieving tangible results from a website’s SEO strategy requires a long-term perspective. It typically takes around 6 months to witness positive impacts, considering various tasks such as conducting an SEO audit, formulating an action plan, implementing changes, optimising on-page elements, publishing high-quality content, and building authoritative backlinks. The advantage lies in the long-lasting effects generated by the implemented strategy, even after it has been discontinued. In essence, SEO can be likened to a diesel engine: it takes a while to get going, but its effectiveness endures over time!

The cost of your website’s SEO depends on various factors, including your industry, specific needs and constraints, the level and nature of competition, your business objectives, and the size of the website in question. You may also require a website overhaul or migration. Therefore, the budget can only be determined through a thorough SEO analysis that takes all these parameters into account. However, as a rough estimate, expect to allocate around £15,000 per year for a small to medium-sized enterprise, which represents an average budget, and several thousand pounds per month for larger businesses. Of course, it’s important to not only consider the cost itself but also evaluate the return on investment of this strategy, which happens to be one of the highest in web marketing!