The UK Search Engine Placement Scene
We’ve taken a few calls in the past week asking if we can provide search engine placement services. It’s an interesting phrase to use and one that had kind of fallen out of use for a little while – or so it seemed!
Generally, when people talk about placement in this way, they are looking to get the best positioning and visibility in the search engines. In some senses, it reminds us of the days when we’d get numerous enquiries about search engine submissions – more about that in a minute!
Ok, so if clients are interested in search engine submission, then what’s involved? To a certain extent, this will depend upon where they are in terms of business developments. Let’s explore this issue a bit more deeply.
Launching a new website
A lot of companies approach us because they are launching a new website. This may be replacing an older version, or be due to the fact that they are a startup.
This is an interesting task for us. Some SEO experts would suggest that it’s hardest of all to produce results for a brand new site and that can certainly be true. There’s general agreement within the SEO industry, for instance, that domains gain authority over a period of time. There’s usually a good chance that domains will gain inbound links over time.
So what does this mean for a new site? It means that you’re likely to be faced with a situation where you’re competing with more established sites. That can obviously be tough.
On the other hand, challenges help to make SEO interesting! We like to get involved with sites at an early stage so that we can concentrate on optimising before development has gone too far. Some web development companies have little knowledge of SEO (understandably) – a brief consultation with us may be enough to reduce expenses in the longer term.
Although some clients only wish to hire us for off-site optimisation, we like to take a look at a site anyway. Ideally, we’ll provide a full written report of suggested changes.
Getting indexed by the search engines
What about when it comes to getting spotted by Google and the other search engines? Getting indexed is often a concern for startups, but it really shouldn’t be a worry. Most sites are indexed within a few days of being launched and the process can always be speeded up placing a link or two. It’s a simple process and we find that most websites are indexed before owners get to the point of speaking to us.
Search engine optimisation
The next step is to think about how your site will be marketed. Organic search engine placement refers to the process of demonstrating to Google that your site is the most relevant for a particular query.
You may hear this type of work referred to as allowing you to access the results for free. Sadly, this isn’t really the case. The reality is that the most successful sites will be paying for a monthly SEO service.
But the term does help us to differentiate from the alternative, which is…
Paid search
It is possible to pay for positioning on Google (as well as the other leading search engines). If you do, you’ll see your website separated from the main listing.
So why would you want to pay in this way? The main answer is often that you want fast results. Although SEO usually works out to be extremely cost-effective, it’s also true that it takes time to produce results. It’s not an immediate process.
If you opt to go down the search engine optimisation route then you’ll need to prepare yourself to wait some months for results.
Conclusions
When talking about placement, it’s fair to say that there is no correct approach for all. You need to decide on a strategy that will work well for your business.
We’re happy to advise – you can contact us for more details.
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