Professional SEO Services

What is SEO? How does it work?

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation...

Successful SEO requires strategies to get more people onto your website

Successful SEO requires strategies to get more people onto your website

Professional SEO Services

Website search optimisation in a nutshell

Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) is the process of using strategies to get more people to visit your website.

When you use a search engine, you expect to see list of results which are the closest matches for the search term you entered, and with some order of relevance. That all sounds straightforward, but according to a study by AHrefs, 90.63% of web pages get NO traffic from Google!


90.63% of web pages get NO traffic from Google!


Successful SEO Search Engine Optimisation on websites and individual pages will allow them to stand a better chance of being listed amongst the top search results.

This can be achieved by using a variety of methods to determine how a website and each of its pages should be set out to be as effective as possible in search engine results.

As a business it is no longer enough to just be online. To succeed you need to be found, so even if you have the most incredible website, you could have a big problem if nobody sees it!

To succeed it's no longer enough to just be online

Getting seen requires a strategy

If you want your website to be seen, being as close to the top of the list of search results as possible should be your goal. Any new business offering services within a geographic area will need to earn the right to be amongst existing well established websites for those same search criteria.

Done correctly and consistently, SEO can make this happen, but this won't happen overnight. SEO requires a lot of attention, monitoring and analysis, so it WILL take some time.


Why an SEO strategy is important

Using professional SEO tools including as Semrush and Ahrefs along with some Google inspection and analysis tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics, we can assess where you're at currently, discuss where you need to be, and create an SEO strategy to help you get there.

Be assured that many of your competitors are doing exactly that, and those competitors who you currently see occupying the top positions in search results are not there by chance!


What does SEO involve?

Ideally your website should be designed with SEO as a key consideration right from the start, but many people make the mistake of treating it as an add-on at the end.

But what if your website has already been built? Is it too late? What can be done?

Our free website audit would be a good place to start the initial free SEO analysis of your current website.

Free website audit!

Things can certainly be done to improve your effectiveness with search engines, and this would need to be assessed on a case by case basis. There may be problems and room for improvement on your website, but remember that your website won't be out there producing great results purely because you have ticked all the boxes... You're in competition, so your competitors need to be looked at too!


So other websites actually affect how my own website performs on search engines?


Exactly. The search engines need some way of determining which websites are the best match for each search term entered, and in which order to place them in the list of results. So getting to the top and staying there can require a lot of sustainable effort.


Some examples of what should be reviewed would include:

Competitor analysis:

  • Which of your competitors are appearing in the top search engine results?
  • What are they doing to give them such a high position?
  • A gap analysis would be carried out to assess the content and structure of your website in comparison to your competitors.

Checking for website errors:

  • Broken links:

    Checking for any links to pages which may have been removed, or links which have been incorrectly set up and therefore fail to reach a target page.
  • Missing images:

    Checking for images which are not displaying. The results may be different for mobile and desktop displays.
  • Missing images:

    Generally looking out for any website errors.

Review for improvements to your website:

  • Website content:

    Conduct a website content review and suggest enhancements.
  • Keyword research:

    Analysis of what is working, what is not working, what your competitors are doing, and suggesting.
  • Tag analysis:

    Checking how the major tags such as <title>, <h1> and <h2> etc are being used.
  • Page load speed:

    Carrying out page load time analysis for desktop and mobile displays.
  • Website architecture:

    An analysis on the structure of your website.
  • Internal links:

    Analysis and review of existing internal links and identifying opportunities for improvement.
  • Inbound linking:

    Analysis and review of links from other websites to your website (also known as

    backlinking

    )
  • Outbound linking:

    Analysis and review of links from your website to other websites.
  • Landing pages:

    Determine strategy for the use of landing pages which could be used to great effect in organic searches and paid searches.

Google submissions:

  • Google validation and submitting.
  • Google Analytics tag installation, validation, analysis and monitoring.
  • Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) listing to help your business to stand out when people are searching in your area for the services you provide.

Bing submissions:

  • Submission to the Bing search engine
  • Submission to Bing Places which will help potential customers find your website when searching for businesses like yours on Bing.

Recalling my first SEO retainer plan in 1998!

I still recall my first SEO retainer contract: Sleeperz Hotel in Cambridge, back in 1998.

After I had built their first website, the owner told me I'm going to need you to spend a few hours a week getting my website high in the search engines, otherwise I'm going to struggle against the other hotels in the area.

Monthly SEO packages

Monthly SEO packages are now commonplace because the effort that SEO requires is ongoing. Just how much effort depends on your business and your competition.

Successful SEO can't be done by spending a couple of days of effort on SEO and sitting back while it all happens.

SEO takes time, and it's usually more effective to spend a couple of hours a week to analyse results, look at competitors, review page content and tags, tweak where necessary, and keep repeating that process methodically over a period of time.


How much does SEO cost?

Due to the nature of SEO, you will see SEO specialists offering monthly retainer plans, which can cost upwards of £100 and run into several £1000's depending on the size, effort and other factors such as whether paid advertising and pay-per-click strategies are required.


Setting expectations for SEO

You are unlikely to see results straight away.

I realise that is not a positive headline, but it's the truth...

Success in organic searches can take weeks or even several months, depending on the type of business you're in and level of competition.

That IS the reality, and so anyone who claims that they can get you to the top in organic search results is likely to be exaggerating!

Also remember that your competition will be working hard to get to the top too, and they'll continue to work hard to stay there.

"We can get you to the top in Google" they claim!

This is an ambitious claim that you will hear a lot from people offering SEO services.

A reality check is needed, and expectations need to be set.

An ambitious claim that you will hear a lot from people offering SEO services.

A reality check is needed, and expectations need to be set.


An SEO reality check

Claims by SEO agencies to get you to #1 in Google for organic search can be exaggerated, and should usually be taken with a pinch of salt.

SEO is an ongoing process. It is competitive and requires effort, analysis, frequent monitoring of progress, and tweaking of pages and content.

And if you're expecting to display right at the top of the search results when those who are already at the top have paid to be there, organic search won't get you to the top.

The best you could hope for without paying for Google Ads is to get as high as possible AFTER the paid search results.

We can certainly help!

Paid search results in Google

Your SEO questions answered

How long does it take for SEO updates to take effect ⇨

How long does it take for SEO updates to take effect


SEO efforts, when done correctly and methodically, should be able to show measurable results within a 4 to 12 month period.

Your website needs time to establish itself, and search engines will need to determine how your website and the individual pages it contains compares to the vast number of websites already out there and currently ranking for keywords that you intend to rank for.

So you'll need patience, but also an SEO strategy.

Can you get my website to the top in Google search results? ⇨

Can you get my website to the top in Google search results?


Let’s be clear what this means, using myself as an example. I’m Daron Harvey, a web designer based near Peterborough in the UK.

A search for Daron Harvey ranks me at the top in Google. No effort or SEO strategy was required, because there aren’t many Daron Harveys around the globe. So yes, I could probably get you to the top in Google for something, but it depends what you want to be at the top for.

A search for web designer or web designer uk is a much tougher one to get to the #1 spot in Google for. In fact getting on pages 1, 2 or 3 is really tough, but search for web designer peterborough and you’re like to see Targa listed on page 1. That didn’t happen without some effort, by the way, as there are some very well established web design companies out there who I needed to compete for position with.

As the top few positions for web designer peterborough are paid ads, I would need to pay to be amongst them, but in organic search results (the free non-paid results) Targa is doing well.

Getting to the top in Google is a competition. You need to earn the right (or pay in some cases), and your competitors are also putting in the effort to be #1 too. So let’s be honest here... Nobody can guarantee that they’ll get you to the top for all of the search terms you want to be found for, but without a focused SEO strategy you are unlikely to get even close. Maybe we should talk!

What does SERPs mean for search engine results? ⇨

What does SERPs mean for search engine results?


SERPs is a term which you may or may not have come across, but you use them a lot... probably every day.

SERPs simply means Search Engine Results Pages

Google it, then look at the list of search results displayed on the pages in front of you. Those are the SERPs!

Do you know who your target audience is? ⇨

Do you know who your target audience is?


A common mistake for many businesses is to think that every person out there is a potential customer.

In some cases that may be true, but in most cases it’s worth businesses targeting narrower groups or types of people.

This may be based on age, sex, location, interests, habits, people with children, people with elderly relatives, pet owners, cyclists, car owners, people going abroad, etc.

What do customers expect when they reach your website? ⇨

What do customers expect when they reach your website?


Do visitors to your website expect to find out enough information about you, your products and services so they can make a purchase?

Are they likely to carry out some research before making a decision?

To make an enquiry, are they more likely to call you, email you or complete an online form?

What are your customers needs and want? ⇨

What are your customers needs and want?


By knowing who your target audience is, you should then ask yourself what do they need or want from a visit to your website?

If you can satisfy their need with the products or services you provide, what is the best way you can you communicate that to your potential customers, and how can you make the decision and buying process as simple as possible for them?

Are your customers all from your local area? ⇨

Are your customers all from your local area?


Are your customers local, or do you reach out to customers right across the UK?

If they’re local, it might be worth considering targeting customers in specific towns and villages. That way you could get the edge on your competition by getting targeted landing pages to work well for you in search engine results.

If SEO needs patience how does Google display the latest news and sports? ⇨

If SEO needs patience how does Google display the latest news and sports?


You might be wondering why, when we ay that SEO takes time and patience, Google can display up to the minute sports scores or updates on major news stories which happened earlier that same day.

Google has a way of categorising certain search topics and search terms, and it can make use of different features based on industry and, in the above examples, news and sport.

This special ranking feature is called QDF, which stands for Query Deserves Freshness and aims to serve up to date information in its search results.

Most business websites are unlikely to get the QDF treatment, and therefore we have to compete in a much broader arena, where updates to our website content will take much longer to take effect.

Get in touch...

Either email, phone, complete the form or choose a 30 minute time slot to suit you:


info@targaweb.com

Phone: 01406 373511

Mob: 07564 372222

Calendar booking

Fields marked with * are mandatory












security code 1st charactersecurity code 2nd charactersecurity code 3rd charactersecurity code 4th character

Light 
Targa Web Solutions Targa Web Solutions logo
📞
01406 373511
info@targaweb.com