We like to think of ourselves as one of London’s premier SEO companies so as you’d imagine we’ve got a fair few SEO clients – that’s kind of the point really.
They range from executive headhunters to a shoot locations agency, from a van hire company to clothing shops. Oh and better not forget the accountants – we pick up a lot of accountants.
We’ve got these clients to the top of Google for various phrases of their choice – phrases like “headhunting firm London”, “accountants London” and hundreds of others.
Phrases as popular as these can drive thousands of new people to their sites every month so it’s safe to say there are a lot of companies fighting to get to No.1.
But there’s one company we carry out search engine optimisation for whose phrases are more competitive than any other. And that company is us.
Because we are competing for phrases with “SEO” in them, we are up against other SEO companies – in other words the very companies who make a living by knocking you off your perch.
Chuck in the fact that London is the place to be for SEO companies and that makes “SEO company London” pretty much the Everest of phrases to optimise for.
There are many factors involved – right down to which browser you are using – and this is bound to fluctuate so don’t hold me to it but at the time of writing we are at No. 1 for this phrase. See below:-
That phrase is just the tip of the iceberg for us – a similar thing is happening with other associated phrases like “guaranteed SEO”, “affordable SEO London” and countless others.
But – and this might sound a smidgeon controversial considering the 250 words I’ve just written – being at the top of Google isn’t the be all and end all for our business. Or yours. Not quite anyway.
Now comes the twist – why being on top of Google isn’t everything
We know what a powerful weapon SEO can be – we’ve seen it transform many a business. See this blog if you want an example.
And we are proud to say we’ve never failed a client: every time we’ve agreed to get a client to the top of Google for a particular phrase we’ve managed it.
Most of our packages are performance-based. That’s how confident we are that we will deliver on our promises.
But before we bore you to death on the merits of sustainable SEO – and we can bore with the best of them – I feel duty bound to say there is more to life than being on top of Google.
Ultimately an impressive online presence is just a means to an end and 99% of the time the overall goal is not to be top of Google, it’s for your business to pick up more customers.
Of course most of the time getting to the top of Google will ensure your business does exactly that – and for our clients, the money they have spent getting there is a drop in the ocean compared to the money they gain from being there.
We wouldn’t have taken them on if it wasn’t the right move for them. But we’ve also turned plenty away because not all businesses gain from being at the top of Google.
If you are happy with your existing client base and not looking to branch out then an enhanced online presence might hinder rather than help you.
Equally, if your website or product is not good enough, you might not turn those extra visits into extra customers.
And even if neither of the above are true and it is the right time to increase your online presence, be aware of a trap that countless companies fall into when embarking on SEO.
For most companies, the emphasis should be on conversions – an increase in custom – rather than a simple increase in traffic.
For that reason, don’t concentrate on simply getting more people to your site – concentrate on getting the right people to your site.
In our experience, getting 100 of the right people to your site tends to be more valuable than getting 1000 of the wrong people.
Putting the emphasis on conversions – not just increased traffic
With the above in mind, we’d have three or four words of advice:-
1 Maintain a really close relationship with your SEO provider. Meet regularly so they know your business inside out throughout the whole process – not just when they start doing SEO work for you.
It’s imperative they adapt your strategy to take into account any changes in your business or in the marketplace generally.
2 Make sure they carry out rigorous keyword research. As standard, we analyse hundreds of potential keywords for each potential client before whittling it down to a shortlist, sitting down with them to discuss the options and recommending a way forward.
And there’s no need to pay through the nose – we offer initial research for free while the client decides whether to go ahead.
3 When choosing which keywords to optimise your site for, we’d advise trying not to fixate on the most commonly tapped in keywords – instead get to the bottom of what your potential customers are thinking and what they might tap into Google as a result.
Start by discussing your analytics with your SEO provider – it should be a useful head start.
4 Take into account your competitors’ digital media strategies and the marketplace generally.
Any responsible SEO agency should do this as standard but we’d advise a week or two of research and meetings with your SEO provider to ensure you’ve got all your bases covered before proceeding.
“SEO company London” is the Holy Grail for us. Is there an equivalent for your business? Call us on 0207 100 4562 for a no-obligation chat if you’d like to discuss your options.