Search Engine Optimisation

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It’s about building a website that makes search engines happy. When search engines are happy, they rank your website higher, and show you to more people. It’s my job to make a website that gets you the most clicks possible.

Not everyone knows how to build a website in this way (with a solid foundation of organic SEO). In fact, most of my clients already have a website floating around in the ether that is doing nothing. They need their websites to be “made over” not just to look better, but to function properly. Why? Because they’re not getting enough clicks to make sales.

There are two main types of SEO

There are basically two schools of SEO.

• Organic SEO
• Monthly paid SEO

Organic SEO is about good website structure in the front and backend. It’s all about building a website that can hold its own in search engines because it is built in a very specific way. Search engines want to see websites that provide value, speed, prioritise user experience, and are relevant.

It’s “organic”, because it’s not being propelled forwards by paying additional fees for things like sponsored keywords. Organic SEO is simply building a good website and then letting it roam freely to rank over time.

Monthly SEO contracts

You’ll find most of my competitors are keen to sign businesses up for 12 month contracts with monthly payments. This kind of SEO is for paid keywords. Your marketer will aim to evenly place money on a number of search terms related to your business that will (hopefully) show you at the top of Google and/or Bing.

The problem with paid keywords is, it’s usually too heavy-handed for most businesses. Organic SEO tends to do the job perfectly well to boost business and improve visibility. You could argue that this format isn’t as profitable to marketers.

Secondly, I’ve sound that most customers want to see a local company show up in search engines based on merit (and not because they’re sponsored to be there). You may have found yourself thinking like this when you need to look up a restaurant, dog walker, mechanic or other local service.

Paid keywords and all that stuff

Paid SEO means paying for particular key words and queries in search engines so that (hopefully) your business will show up first. Of course, all SEO is a gamble – noone can guarantee you first place forever, it just doesn’t work like that.

Paid keywords are like any paid digital marketing – after a while you will have to increase the ad spend. A bit like Las Vegas slot machines – the algorithm will bend your arm into putting in more and more coins for a payout.

I have always favoured organic SEO because it’s commonly under-utilised. I also like helping clients save money. My work requires a one off payment at the start of work and a normal 10-15 page site takes about 2-3 weeks to prepare. After that sites take around 1-3 months to get going, give or take.

After that, I have usually worked myself out of a second job – my websites rarely need maintenance until the 2 year mark (but they often go on much longer than that because I try very hard to stay ahead of the curve).

Why does SEO matter?

Not all web designers are well-versed in organic SEO. Many web designers (especially the bargain basement priced sites) will cut corners by employing artificial intelligence to build a website for them. It’s quick, which is why the site will be cheap.

This usually makes for a pretty website, but one that spouts a load of AI robot waffle – or as I like to call it, corporate buzzwords that don’t really mean anything. Trust me when I say that search engines do not like robot waffle, and as a consequence, they stop those sites from being seen by anyone.

The majority of my clients already have a website, and want to improve it rather than start all over again. I specialise in mostly Wix and WordPress websites. If you have something else, please feel welcome to ask as my skills are largely transferable.

Does SEO need maintaining?

Yes and no. Let’s say every couples of years to be safe.

My sites are powerful and tend to stand the test of time. What changes is the algorithm, and that is something I occasionally have to keep up with. Google in particular likes to move the goal posts every March with a “core update” which changes the algorithm significantly. This can either make a website’s performance nose-dive, or in many cases improve significantly. My websites tend to do the latter.

The last core update saw all AI generated content drop to the bottom of the list – this was a massive blow to a lot of companies who had gone wild with ChatGPT to save time writing copy for their site, or generating images.

My sites grew during this time, because I saw it coming (hehehe). Cheeky, right?

Organic SEO is very much a quality over quantity situation, and one that’s well worth doing if you plan to have a website for more than 5 years.

Give me a call or send an email, I would love to talk websites with you.