A top position doesn't come easily; it requires expert knowledge and skills to achieve top results in today's world of constantly changing search engine algorithms. Here is how we approach a typical SEO project.

The first contact

A small software company approaches us because they want to drive more traffic to their website. In particular, they want to attract visitors looking for .net developers, a service that they want to expand. They have a website, but it was created over five years ago, and as far as they know, it has not been optimised for any of the software services they offer. They do not have a visitor tracking system.

Free SEO review

Our first job is to do a free high level SEO review of the existing website. We also establish the company's business drivers and objectives and their SEO budget.

As a result of our discussions, we agree that the website’s objective is to attract visitors looking for bespoke accountancy packages and .net developers. Our initial review of the website shows that it was well constructed from an SEO perspective, with no information being hidden by Flash animations or use of images. However, there are no meta tags in the head code, H1 and H2 headers are not used in the text, and other simple SEO techniques that would drive traffic to their website have not been implemented. Perhaps most importantly, keywords and phrases that might be used as search terms had not been optimised on the website. Also, there is no visitor tracking system.

The outcome of our free SEO review is that the website needs a vistor tracking system and would benefit from our SEO rescue package which will fully optimise the website's home page. This 'quick fix' package would improve the website's performance in the short term, but we emphasise that SEO is a long term project and that when the budget allows, a full website SEO audit should be carried out to identify areas for improvement throughout the whole website.

Full website SEO audit

Our client discusses the results of the initial review internally. They decide that SEO will benefit them in the long run as it will result in free qualified leads and more sales. They decide to opt for the a full website SEO audit.

Our full website SEO audit includes the following:

A full structural analysis of the website
An analysis of the website’s navigation system
Content audit and SEO text review (including keyword placement and density)
Site accessibility and usability
Source code analysis from an SEO perspective
Analysis of head tags, titles, descriptions, bold text, h1 and h2 headings
A review of internal page linking
Keyword research and analysis and identification of targeted keywords and phrases
Review of current incoming links
Link building recommendations
Current search engine ranking position

The deliverable is a 30-page written report. For each of the areas covered above, the report includes detailed recommendations for improvement and costings.

Implementing recommendations

Our client reviews the SEO audit report recommendations and the costings and draws up their own SEO implementation plan that fits with their budget and timescales. They decide that the initial focus should be on the following areas:

Keyword research
We provide a detailed list of the keywords and phrases most likely to be used by potential visitors searching on the internet. We refine this list and come up with about 50 keywords or phrases that look promising for generating traffic. We also implement a detailed analysis the company's competitors and their performance on each of the major search engines. This helps establish where we can realistically achieve high search engine rankings.

Basic website SEO update
We update the website to make sure that the code and text is fully optimised for the keywords and phrases identified in the keyword research stage. We also make sure that the structure of the website content and the underlying code is optimised for visitors and search engines alike.

Link building campaign
Search engine rankings will improve by creating links back to a website. We create links by writing and distributing press releases on the internet about our client and the services they offer.

Implementation of a visitor tracking system
Visitor tracking systems are essential for keeping track of SEO performance. Our tracking solution includes weekly email reports on the website's performance.

SEO maintenance package

In addition to requesting the changes above, our client also takes out a monthly maintenance contract. Each month, we review the website, check for broken links, add fresh content, build incoming links and submit the site to the major search engines and directories.

The overall outcome of the SEO strategy agreed with our client was that over a period of six months, they overtake their competitors with an advantagous position on page one of most of the major search engines for certain keywords and phrases. Because of the maintenance contract, they retain this position, thus benefiting from free focused leads from internet searches. These result in more sales that more than pay for the company's search engine optimisation costs.