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Search Engine Marketing FAQ


The most commonly asked questions about SEM and SEO. Do let us know if your questions aren’t answered below.


SEO FAQ - SEM FAQ


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Search engine marketing FAQ



What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and its aim is to make your website visible to the right people, and generate more business.  SEO ensures that your website appears as high as possible (even first) in search engine results for your relevant search terms.  It is the most cost effective way to get relevant traffic to your site. 


How much does it cost?
This depends on the competitiveness of what you want to achieve. For instance, being on page 1 of a Google search for “accountant in Chelsea” will be much less competitive than if you want to compete for “car insurance”. In addition, the SEO strategies and budgets required will be completely different. This is why the question can only be answered once we have an idea of what we are trying to achieve, so it is best to speak to us first. Please call us or email to discuss.


What track record do you have?
See here


Do you provide ethical SEO in accordance with Google T&C?
Yes, absolutely. We follow the best SEO practice, keep up to date with Google’s requirements, and we never do anything unethical.


Why link building & is it ethical?
Please read more about link building here (link). It is ethical if done according to Google’s terms and conditions: entirely human-run with no software involved, “link farming” or dirty tactics – and we abide to all of these.


Do you work with Video and video optimisation, such as Youtube and other channels of video promotion?
Yes. Since Google bought YouTube, this is becoming more and more important and a great way of boosting search engine presence.


I've heard that Google changed their algorithm and now people are losing their rankings overnight.  Can you overcome this?
This is a good question. The nature of rankings mean that they fluctuate - they are not set in stone - and once in a while, Google will modify their algorithm (the criteria by which they judge a website to be relevant to a given search) and the rankings will change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

We do not normally expect huge fluctuations, but nevertheless we have to keep up with what Google is doing. It is much better to have a good SEO consultant that is able to assess and address any changes when they occur. If rankings change, we can re-assess and fight back. Usually, however, we find fluctuations to be minimal.


What about guaranteeing results?
Quite often, people who claim to guarantee these things (watch out for cold callers guaranteeing first place spots on Google) are lying.  They will promise “relevant first page rankings”, but in reality all they do is optimise your site for searches that nobody makes – these are non-competitive searches.

For instance, they may get a London catering company to be ranked number one for "great catering company specialising in weddings in London".   – but what is the likelihood of anybody searching for that phrase?  It is only easy to get a number 1 spot for this because no one else is fighting for it.

Anyone can guarantee first page rankings in Google if the ranking is for a search phrase obscure enough.  However, if they are asked to optimise the site for "caterers in London", or "wedding caterers in London”, they will not get you top rankings as, in essence, they don’t provide the quality SEO service needed to fight for competitive searches.

In some cases, what they do is so against Google's terms and conditions that your website will enjoy great rankings for a few weeks before being banned permanently from Google. Watch out!


Twitter and Facebook are not things I want to deal with. Can you help? Why do I need to get involved with social media at all?
We don’t blame you. With a business to run, there is little time to spend on Facebook and Twitter. It is, however, an increasingly important part of web marketing, and that's why our team can provide a full social media service as well. Today, it is necessary for businesses to engage with the Internet in the same way as their customers, press, and staff. Social media activity is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for most of us.


Do you analyse traffic and issue reports?
Of course.  You can either be provided with full traffic statistics with your hosting package, or we can install Google analytics software, which is also capable of effectively tracking all your traffic.  In addition, if your use our reporting services, we will analyse your statistics each month, interpret them, and let you know where there is room for improvement.

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