What is SEO?
SEO is the practice of optimising a site to increase its search visibility. Increased search visibility means your website will be seen by more search engine users. A good keyword strategy means that the pages that rank for your target keywords indicate the reader could potentially buy your product or service.
Are there different types of SEO?
Yes, there are different types of SEO. There are different search engines, different search verticals (like maps, shopping, video, or image) and completely different strategies (local SEO, national SEO, or international SEO) and then there are other considerations like regions and languages.
How to tell what type of SEO you need
The type of SEO you need will depend on your business, its service area and how it acquires customers through search engines. A local service provider like a restaurant in Birmingham, would need local SEO to appear on the map results but an online retailer wouldn’t. A florist may decide to rank in images for terms like ‘wedding flower inspiration’ in the same way a training company can acquire loads of prospects ranking in the videos rankings.
You may already have a good idea of how you acquire customers with search engines, if not I’ll perform research and determine the best way for your brand to increase the number of qualified people visiting your site and making an enquiry.
Do you even need SEO?
This is one of the first questions I’ll ask you if you call me. Most SEO specialists and SEO agencies are eager to sell you SEO and take whatever money you are willing to pay but SEO isn’t necessarily suitable for every business.
Look at hotels as an example, they can improve their map ranks to be found by people searching by location, they can even generate brand awareness through content and long tail keywords, but they will never beat booking websites like Trip Advisor for search terms that are “hotel in location” and it’s those search terms and websites that generate most of a hotel’s reservations. There are many industries whose search market is dominated by vertical search engines (search engines that specialises in a certain niche like booking.com do for travel) and you may find the best use of your SEO budget is joining them instead of beating them.
How much does SEO cost?
Many SEO Agencies and specialists work on retainers which gives the impression SEO is a fixed cost, but it isn’t. The cost to provide SEO to rank globally for the search term “anti-virus software” is going to be significantly higher than the cost to rank locally for “Plumbers near me”.
SEO is a labour-intensive activity and competitive. The cost of SEO depends on the labour required to compete effectively for the search terms a website is competing for. There is also maintenance of keyword ranks, once a rank is achieved the effort to maintain it will depend on competition for it.
It means budget required to compete in SEO for established companies is typically set by an industry and market behaviour and competitors tend to spend a similar amount on it. It makes it accessible for almost any business provided you are getting an honest and transparent service and price.
The exception is launch brands in established spaces who usually have to spend more upfront to catch up with their established competitors.
How much does Mr SEO Consultant charge for SEO services?
I charge £60 per hour. Before we start on your SEO campaign, I’ll research your market and the keywords you need to rank for to achieve your growth target. We’ll also agree the pace you want to achieve traffic growth. With that information I can recommend how many hours you will require per week and month to achieve your traffic growth goals at the pace you want to achieve them.