A website, even a good one, is worthless if nobody can find it, and the most popular way to find your website is still on search engines. However, as you may know, search engines try to show the most relevant results to their users, so in order to attract your target audience on your website, you have to convince search engines that your website is relevant when users search certain words (the keywords). How do you do that? Well, that is the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
If you work on the internet, you already know all the stuff I just wrote, however, while the theory sounds straightforward, the nuts and bolts of SEO can be a little bit more difficult, especially because it involves work to be done both on-page and off-page. In this post, we will focus on the on-page ranking factors, describing all of them and giving a few rules of thumb to follow in order to reach the top of the SERP.
Let’s see the SEO on-page ranking factors in detail.
Relevance
A page is relevant when its content responds to the search intent of a user in the best way possible. I’ll give you an example: if I search on Google “how to make bread”, the first two results I get are:
Why do I get BBC Food first rather than Delicious Magazine?
They are both very popular in the UK, but for some reason, Google decided BBC Food is more relevant than Delicious Magazine, so there must be some differences. Let’s find them out.
First of all, on BBC Food there is a video of the recipe:
This means you can watch the video and see how to execute the recipe step by step, which is something very valuable for users, cooking beginners in particular. The additional information about time and serving is also important.
Also, on BBC Food there is a list of all the ingredients:
Not just that, but if you look carefully, each ingredient is an anchor for a link, so users can get more information on them without leaving the website.
If you look at Delicious Magazine, there is nothing but the procedure to follow to make bread:
Both contents have a good readability level, both of them are very detailed, but BBC Food includes some additional useful information in the page, so no doubt it is more valuable than Delicious Magazine.
Authority
This is pretty linear: the more a website writes content about a certain topic, the more authority it gets about that topic. For example, if you are looking for vegan recipes, a website about vegan lifestyle with fifty recipes is likely to rank better than a website about cooking with only ten vegan recipes.
If you want to build authority about a certain topic, you have to write good content about that topic, better if you do it on a regular basis, so you can always publish up-to-date information.
Quality
Back in 2011, Google launched Panda, an algorithm designed to measure the quality of a page based on human criteria.
In order to make it work, Google asked people to evaluate the quality of various kinds of websites by completing a questionnaire with their answers. Those answers, became Panda. Now Panda is not a standalone algorithm anymore, but its criteria are still relevant, so it is good to see what were its questions:
Would you trust the information presented in this article?
Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
How much quality control is done on content?
Does the article describe both sides of a story?
Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
Would users complain when they see pages from this site?
Can you comply with all of them?
Authenticity
The content of your pages should be original and not seen anywhere else. If 40% or more of your content is present on other pages, it won’t be indexed by Google.
This situation is typical for e-commerce websites in particular, where the product pages are pretty much all the same, and obviously if you sell thousands of products you can’t write unique content for all of them. What you can do is choosing a few products you want to focus on and write unique content for them.
Title
If you write a blog post, you have to know there is a difference between the title of the post and the title of the page: the former is an H1 headline, the latter is the title you see in the tab and in the snippet in the SERP.
It is critical that the title contains the main keyword, better if it is on the left.
Headings
H1, H2, H3, and so on to H6 are not only HTML tags, but also important parts of the content: the titles and subtitles of the various sections. They make the content organised and clean, but be careful with keyword stuffing: if you do use headings, make sure you use the keyword only once.
Keywords
It is the query the user searches, it is the phrase you want to be found for, it is how search engines determine which contents they should display in the SERP.
Keywords is also an element of debate among SEO professionals: some of them think they are critical for the indexability of a content, while others think search engines value other things rather than the presence of specific keywords.
The thing is keywords are a double-edged sword, because if you put too many of them, you risk a penalisation for keyword stuffing, but don’t put enough keywords, your content will not be considered relevant for that query.
If you are careful enough to put the keyword only in the key-points of your content you can only benefit from them, though. In particular, make sure the keyword is:
In the first paragraph;
More or less in the middle;
At the end;
In the title;
In one of the headings, possibly H1.
Synonyms
Google and the other main search engines have sophisticate algorithms that allow them to identify synonyms and the meaning of certain idioms.
Actually, if you search something on Google, at the end of the page you will see some suggestions containing some synonyms for the query you just searched.
If you can do it naturally, you should try to include some synonyms in your content.
Bold text
Some people say it is important that you put the keyword in evidence by using bold formatting. However, this is just a false myth, and it could even become a disadvantage. Bold text is useful to highlight the main information in order to make them more visible for users who actually do not read the whole content, but only scan it searching the information they need. Search engines reward this practice, but only if it is genuinely done for the sake of readability.
Length
The million-dollar question: how many words should be a content long? Do you want the truth? 180 characters are enough.
Some say the shorter the better, others say the longer the more thorough, but the reality is that there is no precise number of words to write, because the goal of a page is responding well to the search intent of the user.
However, you can use your competitors as a comparison criterion: search the query on Google and check the websites in the first positions, just like we did for relevance: if your competitors wrote over 1000 words on a subject and you wrote barely 300 words, maybe you are doing something wrong.
Also, people who click on a website in the SERP are looking for an answer. Try to give that answer as early as possible in the text, in the highest position possible.
Images
Pictures will help you to get a better positioning. Avoid spaces in file names and prefer dashes, instead, and do not forget the alt text.
The alt text is an HTML attribute for images which consists in a text that appears when the image cannot be loaded, but it is also a way to insert the keyword one more time in the page.
Links
Pages which talk about similar topics should be related, both if they are internal and external. If you put links to pages with related keywords, you will get more authority on the content. At least two links for each content would be great.
URL
How to customise the URL of a page? I mean, what should it contain? In order to be SEO-friendly, it should also be readable by users, so avoid weird parameters and IDs, and use a rewrite rule to make it more human. A good URL consists in three characteristics:
It is short;
It is descriptive;
It contains the keyword.
Meta-description
A meta-description is not visually present on page, but only in the code. It is a short excerpt written for search engines, which display it in the snippet of the page in the SERP. The length of a meta-description is quite variable. It used to be a bit more than 150 characters, but last year it was over 320 characters, while now it is around 170 characters again. Just make sure it contains the keyword.
Time on page
How long do user stay on the page? Because the longer they stay, the better it is for your ranking. You can try to make your visitors spend more time on your pages with infographics, videos, pertinent modals, and so on.
Social signals
Search engines can intercept social signals. This does not mean the number of likes received is important, but the more a content is shared, the more valuable it is considered. Search engines aim to give priority to viral content. That’s why you should allow your users to easily share your content on social media.
Conclusion
These are the SEO on-page ranking factors you should always keep into account, but are not the only ones: there is much to do also off-page, with factors like backlinks, server speed, and domain authority to be constantly monitored and improved, so this is not the goal, but it is just the start.
Website audits, keywords research, keyword monitoring… when you want your website to really be visibile on Google, Search Engine Optimisation companies will start shooting all kinds of weird terms at you. But what do they really mean and what really should these companies do on a practical level?
Let’s try to clarify it and bring some peace into your mind.
If you already have a website, the first thing that needs to be done is to assess your position on search engines like Google or Bing compared to your competitors, understand which keywords you are already present with, how the website itself performs in terms of speed and much more.
This is done thanks to a website SEO audit, which is a bespoke report that you will receive and that will contain everything that is SEO-related to your website (if you don’t already own a website, a study will still be done as professionals will need to understand what keywords to focus on in your new SEO strategy)
More in detail, this is just an example of what generally is discussed inside a technical SEO audit:
Overall website situation
Website keywords
XML Sitemap
Search console and Google Analytics
Competitors
Website loading speed
Backlinks and disavow file
Meta tags
Duplicate content
Internal and external links
Broken links
Traffic sources
Keyword density in pages
Server errors
And that’s not all. These are just a few things that came on top of my head and what’s kept into account in such a document can greatly vary based on your current situation.
This is just to let you understand how important this phase is and why it constitutes a solid foundation for everything that will be done afterwards.
SEO Tools: what do Search Engine Optimisation companies generally use?
Nowadays there are hundreds of tools used by Search Engine Optimisation companies, but there is a few of them that are considered the unscathed leaders of the market in terms of added value they offer to their users.
One of them is surely SEMRush, a very comprehensive, £90/month-at-least suite that allows professionals to scan your website and look for SEO errors, both on site and off site.
Other tools include Google-offered stuff such as Google Analytics, Google Pagespeed Insight, Google Search Console. Also, there are ScreamingFrog, Moz, Ahrefs and many others. Every one of them serves a different purpose.
Just above here I’ve talked about on site and off site optimisations, but what is the difference between them? Its’s very simple.
On site optimisations are all the things happening, as you might’ve guessed, directly on the website on a technical level, such as reducing the loading speed or using the correct title tags.
Off site optimisations involves everything happening outside of the website. One example above all: the inbound links you get from other websites. They are essential as they transfer authority to your website.
You will need both of them for a perfect SEO job and there’s no way around it.
The SEO website intervention
After all the study part it’s time to get into action. This is where the Search Engine Optimisation companies will start getting their hands dirty and doing practical stuff.
First of all, if your website already exists and is present on Google, it’s very likely the SEO company won’t be working on it directly.
Instead, they will create a copy somewhere else, so they will be able to work without causing your actual website any SEO disruption.
After this process, the SEO company will start working on all the on site SEO elements, by speeding it up, optimising tags and keywords and so on.
The better the company, the better the final outcome will be. It’s all up to the professionalism of the company you have chosen at this point.
Experience and knowledge are absolutely important on this thorny step, where mistakes can actually lead your website to be penalised, instead of rewarded. So choose your Search Engine Optimisation company carefully.
When operations will be completed, you won’t get results on the next day: SEO takes time, but I guarantee you that it represents one of the most important and effective lead generation techniques and it’s really worth the efforts and the investment.
At this point, supposing the SEO company has done a good job and fixed your SEO-broken website, it’s time to keep that situation stable otherwise you will have wasted your money.
Why Search Engine Optimisation companies charge recurring costs for SEO?
First of all – competitors. They will keep working to get a better indexation in Search Engines, and so should you. If you stop, you are lost!
Second – algorithm changes. Google algorithms change very often, sometimes even multiple times during the same month and up to 600 times a year. It is indeed essential to have a Search Engine Optimisation company that is ready to act based on the nature of these algorithm changes, otherwise you will lose your positioning.
Third – the content strategy. Someone will need to publish content on the website on your behalf and help you manage it or, if you want to deal with it personally, at least review what you are adding under an SEO point of view.
For example, if there is a specific focus keyword you want to work on, one of the suggestions SEO specialists usually give is to focus on writing blog posts containing keywords related to that focus keyword. This means making sure that for every blog post, meta titles, opengraphs, keyword density, image’s alt tags, formatting, headings and so on are reviewed before going live.
So it’s not really something you do one-off.
Fourth – the monitoring. The SEO company should constantly monitor the whole situation for you. Usually they will send you a monthly SEO report to discuss achieved results. At Wiredmark we don’t always do this: we believe it’s useless to send boring documentation when there’s really nothing to discuss yet.
We only do it when we think there’s something worth talking about and try to reduce the loss of time by the client at minimum.
Can I can reduce Search Engine Optimisation companies’ costs by doing some stuff by myself?
In general, when you receive an SEO audit, at the end of the documentation you will find something like “how to proceed from here“. The SEO company will, in fact, give you the following options after their analysis:
Now that you know what to deal with, you decide to work on it by yourself without incurring in extra costs (not suggested, unless you’re an expert);
Deal with parts of the strategy you feel the most comfortable with, e.g. writing blog posts, while the SEO company deals with the reviewing, analytical and technical part;
Let the SEO company entirely deal with it.
At Wiredmark we usually follow these guidelines as well in our audits. We leave the choice to the final customer. Also, we have a specific all-inclusive offer for startups called Popup by Wiredmark: with the Premium plan we basically assist our clients with 2), in the Advanced plan we do 3).
How do I understand if an SEO company is the right one for me?
In my and my team’s opinion, there is no guaranteed SEO and a serious SEO company shouldn’t go around promising the first position on Google after the first couple of months of activity.
If they do, they’re either unprofessional or they have in mind to use black hat SEO techniques, meaning non genuine methods to help you climb faster than others until you are noticed by Search Engines and penalised.
Surely it is possible to climb to the first place with one or multiple good search volume keywords, but it takes time when done the right way, and still it would be impossible to guarantee it constantly. What if you are first and then a sudden Google update sends you back to page 10?
Google doesn’t certainly warn you before pushing algorithm changes. It just does it (trick: you can use the SEMRush Sensor to figure out if there was an algorithm update on a certain moment and eventually try to interpret it).
Another factor you should keep into account is the price they quote you.
Don’t expect to pay a few dozen pounds per month: SEO takes time and efforts and when the pricing is too low, it should raise a flag to you. You should consider spending at least a few hundreds per month if you want the job to be well done.
Ask yourself if the Search Engine Optimisation company can possibly spend 5, 10, 20 hours per month for your business at that price and if the answer is yes, then go on and accept the deal.
Conversely, it’s highly likely they won’t be doing a thing and just send an SEO report at the end of the month with no results achieved.
How long should I wait to see real SEO results?
As bad as it might sound to say it like this, the answer is: we don’t know.
For all intents and purposes, Search Engine Optimisation is an inaccurate science and is open to interpretations, because search engines cannot share their algorithms publicly for obvious reasons (everyone would know how to be the first).
What we know for sure is general guidelines: websites need to be fast, links (or the so-called “juice”) needs to flow inside and outside the website and there must be focus on the content.
In fact, the content is the key. We know for sure that Google, for example, rewards good, genuine content.
Of course there are hundreds of other different factors. Just to name one, domain age can play a very important role in the indexation strategy. The older the domain, the more authority it will have, if the right SEO strategy was implemented over time.
I saw cases of websites reaching the first position in as low as three months (specific niches with low or no competitors).
In other cases, it took over one year to achieve satisfying results.
The only way you’ll know it is by trusting one of the many professional Search Engine Optimisation companies out there. At some point, you will do it.
Thanks for being with me during all this long blog post. If you have doubts or maybe questions, feel free to get in touch with me by commenting under this post.
When it comes to search engine optimisation, a bulb named “Google” turns on in our mind, as it is the major search engine on the market. Nevertheless, Google only holds 70% of the search engine industry, so there is another 30% to cover! And that is when Bing, Baidu, Yahoo!, and other search engines come into play. Bing, in fact, is the second on the list, so it is legit to try doing SEO on Bing and getting a good position there, too, and not only on Google, Google and always Google.
If you think it makes things more complicated, you will be surprised when you find out it is so simple that the hardest thing to think about is why you didn’t do it before.
Here are some tips and tricks that will help you doing SEO on Bing.
Linkbuilding on Bing is more permissive
While Google only encourages to build links organically, which means it only gives significance to backlinks when you receive them because of the good value of your content, Bing also appreciates links exchange. In fact, in Bing’s guidelines there is a small paragraph about reciprocal linking, which says:
In cases like this, you agree with another website to exchange links. They point one at your site, and you point one at their site. Keeping in mind that humans normally don’t follow this pattern, Bing can easily see there is limited value to such link exchanges. Don’t skip this as a valid link building tactic, however. New websites need links, and exchanging a link is a solid way to not only gain a trusted inbound link, but potentially to gain direct traffic form the other website. That traffic could easily bring with it more links as those new visitors spread the word about your own website.
Furthermore, we know Google sometimes had been cryptic about guest posts, wigwagging between fierce warnings about any linkbuilding strategy and softer statements. Bing is on a different page:
A further option is to do some guest blogging. Many websites and blogs, in exchange for writing unique content and article for them, will allow a link back to your website. You’ll need to establish some trust, so be sure you build your credibility as a trusted topic expert before approaching other sites and offering to guest blog. Just remember that if they like your work, they’ll sing your praises. If you fall short or try anything sneaky, however, they will blog about that, too.
A warning, but also a blessing.
The TLD is important, too
Bing knows official websites are more valuable than any other, as they have more authority and they are supposed to give the most accurate information possible. For this reason, to Bing, .edu and .gov websites have got more authority and they are privileged in the SERP. If you have the chance of getting a backlink from these websites, you’d better grab it!
Exact match like crazy!
Bing loves exact match: while Google recommends writing naturally, Bing favours those who try to match the exact query of their target.
This means the keyword must be in the meta-title tag, to say the least, but it would be great if you also take care of all meta-tags, because they are another important raking factor on Bing. SEO on Bing is highly conditioned about the on-page.
Anchor text should contain an exact match keyword as well, because Bing loves it. Just make sure you do not exceed, otherwise you will get a penalisation by Google.
Local ranking is different
If you try to search a place in your area on Google, the first result you get is the biggest kid on the block, e.g. a mall when searching for clothes shops or a big supermarket when you need to buy groceries, because the most important ranking factor for Google is the authority of the business.
On Bing, the situation is different: if you try to make the same research in the same area, you will find out Bing will show you the closest shops first, because the algorithm finds proximity more valuable than prestige.
Just like Google’s Google My Business, it is very useful registering your business on Bing Places, however, even if you don’t, Bing may find your premises thanks to local listings like Yelp. Keep that in mind, if you are trying to improve your SEO locally.
The importance of social signals
Bing reads social signals very well, so you are more likely to get viral content on top of the SERP when searching on Bing, rather than other factors. For example, you could find contents in other languages if they have a lot of shares on social media, even though you are an English speaker based in an English-speaking country using an English browser.
Make sure your visitors can easily share your posts on social media, in order to get more likes, retweets, and other social signals.
Content is king
SEO on Bing seems way easier than Google, however, this does not mean you can afford publishing low-quality posts, because Bing also keeps an eye on that, so keep writing good content!
Being visible online is critical: it makes no sense building a good website if nobody finds you, because you are obviously investing money and building a reputation for your brand for one reason: get a return on your investment. What is the best way to get visibility online? Well, many people argue on this: social networks? Google? According to our experience as an SEO agency in Birmingham, we think there is nothing to argue: you need both, but SEO seems to have more benefits than social media, even though the latter tends to steal the limelight to the former. In our city, we work a lot with small local businesses, whose owners often struggle with SEO, and it is not difficult to understand why: local SERPs can be highly competitive, because everyone wants to get to the top, and this is true for everyone, including us: we know we are not the only SEO agency in Birmingham, so we don’t make a drama if sometimes we are up and sometimes we go down, but of course we do take action, and this is also the reason why you should hire an SEO company like Wiredmark. 😉
However, if you just launched your local business online, and you have a tight budget at your disposal, there is still something you can do: we want to suggest you three necessary (but not sufficient) things you should do to improve your SEO.
1. Register on Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a bundle of webmaster tools that put you and your website in communication with Google. You need to have a Google account for this, but it is worth (and free), as you need to qualify as the website owner. Once you do that, Google crawlers will start scanning your website, and if they find anything wrong or that does not comply with Google’s terms and conditions, a report will appear in the appropriate section, so you have the chance to correct those errors and improve the way Google sees your website.
Moreover, you can connect your Google Search Console property with Google Analytics and get accurate statistics about organic and paid traffic from Google.
You can do the same thing on Bing with Bing Webmaster Tools, which is basically a clone of Google Search Console, but works for Microsoft’s search engine.
2. Register on Google My Business
If I should list all the Google apps, a working day wouldn’t be enough, so it is not surprising that many of them are still unknown to the mass. However, some of them are very useful.
Google My Business is one of them. Have you ever wondered why some local businesses appear in a box at the top of the sidebar of the SERP, with pictures, a map, and even opening hours? Simple: they are on Google My Business.
You can open a Google My Business page for your own business or claim it if it already exists. Make sure you input the correct information, especially your address and phone number, because you will receive a letter or a phone call to verify your business exists and you are authorised to claim it. Once you have full power on your Google My Business page, you can change the information and upload your company logo and some pictures of your workplace, and even write some posts, just like you would do on Facebook or Twitter, and users will be able to leave a review.
Correct information and good reviews will give you an immeasurable advantage on your local competitors, and even though you have a very low position in the SERP, you may appear on top if your company is relevant to someone who is geolocalised near you.
3. Think like your ideal customer
Imagine you are your own customer: what would you type on Google if you needed something your business can provide?
Basically, you have to examine the most common problems your typical customer may have and how you could solve them. Now, if your analysis is correct, you will input on Google the same queries your target would, thus you can see how your competitors work when they receive that kind of request. Now, just see what works for them and make it better on your own website, optimising your pages for those very keywords.
Of course, this is very basic and an SEO expert would do it with more professional and accurate tools, perhaps with better results, but you can still do it with no cost at all.
What results can I get?
There is no guarantee you will get consistent results (guaranteed SEO doesn’t exist), but we recommend to follow these suggestions, as they represent the basics of every good SEO campaign and are vital for a local business. Besides, these are the first operations a good SEO agency would do.
Every business needs to communicate on digital media: traditional advertising is slowly dying, and people spend most of their time on the internet and social networks. Everybody knows a good brand reputation online is essential, so they hire professionals who take care of this aspect of their business for them. This is valid for both large and small local businesses.
We are a digital agency in Birmingham, so we do know how important it is for small businesses to have a trusted person to whom they can refer when it comes to digital marketing and communication. We also know that there is a fundamental difference between national and local businesses: while the former can usually count on a consistent budget, the latter must be more careful in investing their money, so they need to maximise the results, and cannot afford to hire the wrong person.
For this reason, if your business is based in this city, we want to give you a brief list of questions you should ask to a representative of a digital agency in Birmingham when they come to your door.
1. Can you improve the SEO of my website?
Altough guaranteed SEO is not possible, there is always something to improve. The first thing a good Search Engine Optimisation company would do is proposing you an SEO audit to do a deep analysis and give you a complete report of all the issues encountered. Without a clear assessment of the situation, their actions will be haphazard and there will be no improvement.
Considering your target is people who live in the area, you will probably have a lot of competitors who also try to optimise their website to appear on the top of the SERP, so it is critical that, if you choose a digital agency in Birmingham, they also offer SEO services.
2. To whom should I refer for any issues?
I will give you our example, as we actually are a digital agency in Birmingham: at Wiredmark, we believe in a customer-oriented approach. We are not like many other IT professionals who treat their clients like strangers who speak a different language, but we put a lot of emphasis on transparent communication and getting things done exactly how they want.
A key-factor in a customer-oriented strategy is building a solid relationship between the client and the agency. If I approach a client for the first time, we will make sure this person always speaks to me first, because I am the one who knows their needs and their business best among my team, while my client will feel more comfortable if they always speak with the same person and not with a new guy every time.
3. What if I do not like something?
Sometimes you imagine something in a certain way and rely on the professionals you hired to make it happen exactly how you want it. However, each one of us can give a different interpretation to the instructions received, so sometimes happens that we create something very nice, but that does not meet client’s expectations.
This is the reason why we always offer a post-delivery support period on any project, so if you do not like something, it will be changed as you wish (unless it would damage your business) until you get exactly what you want.
Feedbacks, in fact, are another key-point of a customer-oriented approach. We are proud to implement it in Wiredmark.
4. How will you deal with content?
Unless you require a simple web development job, there will be some textual or visual content to deal with. As I said on our copywriting services page, content is king, and copywriters make kings. In case you want to improve your SEO optimisation or you just want to make your website or landing pages more persuasive, make sure this job is done by a professional copywriter, and if you are dealing with a digital agency in Birmingham, or wherever your business resides, try to meet this person physically, in order to give them a complete brief and an overview of your activity, so they have more information to craft good content.
5. Can I see your portfolio?
Did your digital agency work with other local businesses (it is not a minus or plus, it is just to check if they had successful cases in the same area as yours)? How did they do? Their portfolio will speak for them and tell you a lot about their attitude and the results they can achieve. No matter if they never worked on a project in the same business sector as yours, you only need to assess their skills.
What questions do you ask?
We only gave you a few advices, but we know you would like to ask tons of questions when you hire a team of professionals of a digital agency! What are your key-questions? Tell us in a comment!
Although stats say we all spend most of our screen time on social media, when we need something specific we usually rely on search engines, such as Google and Bing.
The “science” that allows websites to be present on Google is called SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and while focusing on it is very important, you should keep in mind that guaranteed SEO results are not possible most of the times.
I really do understand when people visit a Search Engine Optimisation company and ask to be at the top position on Google for a wide spectrum keyword, but this is not always possible. For example, we did rank some websites at the top of the SERPs we targeted, but it only happened after a lot of work, time, and money invested and it’s a non stop work because rankings are subject to changes every single second. In other words, websites can go up and down on Google anytime.
This is the reason why we would never dare to tell our customers we can deliver “guaranteed SEO results” — nobody can because of the same nature of search engines and world wide web.
That being said, your next question would likely be: why is guaranteed SEO impossible, more in detail? Let me explain: here are a few reasons.
You have competitors
While you improve your on-page SEO, make your website faster, and build links, others are doing the same. Everything can happen when so many things around you change online.
Especially on generic keywords, there is a high competition, which makes ranking on top very hard for everyone.
Of course, there’s no need to worry if you can’t get there immediately: no matter how hard you try, just keep working, and if your content is valid and genuine and you keep improving your SEO techniques, you will be rewarded.
One suggestion in this case might be: see what works for your competitors, analyse it, learn it, and then do it better!
There might be technical issues
Technical issues could involve anything: from a malconfiguration that gives you an error 500 to a slow response due to limited bandwidth, or your host’s hardware is just a bit obsolete. All these scenarios affect your placement on search engines, and while sometimes you can work to improve it, other times there is nothing you can do apart from accepting that Google gives priority in the SERP to fast websites. Imagine a crawler attempts to scan your website while it’s down: that could be a problem for your SEO.
Downtimes, slow servers, bad configurations, and so on, do not let professionals always guarantee SEO results, in spite of the efforts. This is because stuff like this can happen anytime and, even though your website is first in some search results pages, there’s risk you could have a temporary or permanent penalisation. At that point, it will be up to your SEO specialist to try and solve the problem.
If your hosting is having frequent problems and causing your website downtimes, you might want to look for a better hosting (and guess what, we do offer hosting packages).
Negative SEO
You don’t know how toxic is a backlink until you get suddently penalised. You may do a lot of work on-site, but what happens off-site influences your results exactly in the same way. The only difference is you can’t control everything that is off-site, which makes you temporarily vulnerable to negative SEO.
In order to limit the damages, check your backlinks frequently, and ask the webmasters to remove their links, if they are toxic (e.g. via a disavow file).
The algorithm changes continuously
Last but not least, we must mention Google’s algorithm, the automatic system with which Google decides what you see in the SERP. It used to be called Panda, Penguin, an after other cute animals, but it always will be the “nightmare” of any SEO consultant.
Now it doesn’t even have a name anymore. It’s just the algorithm. And it changes monthly, weekly, daily, and maybe hourly without any notice or official communication. Algorithm makes guaranteed SEO impossible.
What can you do?
SEO must be an ongoing activity, you have to keep up. Nevertheless, there is something you can do in order to roll with the punches and limiting the damage: keep in mind that the algorithm changes are always meant to reward websites that offer well written content with accurate information. Open a blog section, write fresh and accurate content, offer solutions to common problems among your audience, and you could even benefit from algorithm changes!
Your hosting infrastructure is also something you should consider: are you happy with your current plan? The loading page speed is an important factor, especially if your users come mainly from mobile devices. Also, a good hosting will avoid frequent disruptions and those technical issues that may affect your positioning on search engines.
Don’t forget to keep up with your competitors: see what they do, and do it different and better!
If you are looking for a company dealing with genuine SEO that can help your business be more visible, do not hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
