Well done search engine optimisation, often called SEO for short, is designed to allow web sites to show up in search results when individuals look for products and services rather than simply company names. The idea is the fact that people looking for things online are able to discover a business website without the prior familiarity with the business or its name. You will find all manner of tricks and methods which fall under SEO, though the good sustainable methods (also sometimes called “white hat SEO”) are based around the perception of making your web page easier for search engine to read and understand, meaning they rank you higher in searches for appropriately relevant terms.

It's not uncommon to determine to outsource SEO to external marketing agencies and other companies, but you will find far too many dodgy types out there who like to take companies seeking SEO - especially local and smaller businesses - for a really expensive ride. How then does one actually go about finding the best, honest and legitimate search engine marketer?

It's actually incredibly easy to discover a quality SEO agency online. Go to a search engine like Google or Bing and type in “SEO agency.” Ignoring the paid advertisements at the top, whichever firm has landed at the top of the search results are what you want - they must be pretty good at SEO or their very own website would not be so high within the natural listings!

To narrow things down a bit, you could try extending your search. Say you are living in Essex and want a local agency - just type in “SEO agency Essex.” Or if perhaps your web page is specialised and also you want particular help with it you may add your industry or site type - “SEO tourism” or “SEO eCommerce” for example. This may be a great way to locate niche SEO agencies that have specialist expertise in your field.

Sometimes SEO agencies (or at least people claiming to be SEO agencies) attempt to solicit companies by sending them emails or submitting contact forms with various enticements and offers. However if you see something like this come in then it really is best to ignore it - if a business which supposedly specialises in search engine optimisation is reduced to spamming inboxes to get business rather than, say, doing SEO so their own website ranks highly and people can find them anyway, chances are they aren't very good. The same is true of SEO services advertised on paid advertisements at the very best of major search engines or on banner advertisements on other web sites. If their search marketing is any good, what makes them having to pay for their placements?

Another thing to keep in mind is to steer well clear of the SEO agency that promises you “top position for x keywords” or something similar. Nearly all modern major search engines used personalised searching, meaning that everyone sees websites in slightly different ranking from SEO positions depending on their personal search history. Absolute rankings are a thing of the past, any anyone claiming to deliver this sort of service is lying through their teeth. Modern SEO shall utilize sustainable “white hat” techniques to be able to bring useful traffic to your web site, not use exploits and dodgy tricks, which will constantly get them slapped by search engine updates like Google's infamous Panda and Penguin algorithm changes.

Once you have found an SEO company that looks mostly all right you certainly will need to ask them some questions before you leap into their services. And additionally the common checks like existing client list and testimonials, it's a great idea to talk to someone directly on the phone or even in person.