How do you choose the right SEO company in Manchester?

Stephen McCance March 24, 2014

There are loads of websites out there dishing out the jargon, but we recognise that the most important questions the majority of business owners want to know is ‘what IS SEO?’ and ‘what are the benefits of SEO to my business?’

How do you choose the right SEO company in Manchester?

Choosing your SEO company:

There are loads of websites out there dishing out the jargon, but we recognise that the most important questions the majority of business owners want to know is ‘what IS SEO?’ and ‘what are the benefits of SEO to my business?’

Search engine optimization (SEO) is actually not as complicated as some SEO companies would have you believe. Although it does require some technical expertise and a very in-depth understanding of SEO principles in order to get it right. Ideally, you would also have access to, or the capability to produce regular content that is relational to your field of expertise. It is largely due to time constraints and lack of SEO expertise that companies choose to outsource SEO to a professional agency that are well versed in SEO best practices and who have the time and resources to dedicate to their specialism.

Many SEO companies go for the age old ‘smoke and mirrors’ approach that has been around since pretty much the beginning of SEO, and this is where you, the customer, have to be savvy about what questions to ask and the right (and wrong!) responses to look out for.

5 signs your SEO company aren’t legitimate:

• They sell you an SEO ‘package’. An off the shelf approach can’t be successfully used in SEO. Obviously, there are key elements that will apply across the board, but each client is different and their SEO strategy needs to reflect that.

• They have automated ‘ticket’ systems and you are unable to speak to a real person (have you ever spoken to a person? Was it the salesperson by any chance?)

• There is a huge delay in response times – if they take an unusually long time getting back to you, chances are that you’re in a queue, meaning your SEO consultant probably has a large number of clients and is lacking the time to do a proper job.

• They’re exceptionally cheap. High quality SEO takes time, so if your quote seems too good to be true, it probably is and you may end up getting half a service. (Look out for extortionate prices too,

• You don’t receive reports, or you have to ask for them. If SEO is being done properly, then visibility into work and results won’t be an issue.

If you have any suspicions that your SEO company aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, then simply ask questions. If you ask questions and they can’t (or don’t seem to want to) reply then it’s probably worth getting a quote from elsewhere.

With algorithms constantly changing, the only successful approach to SEO is to analyse every site on an individual basis, and come up with a bespoke strategy accordingly. Having said that, there are some best practices that any good SEO company worth their salt should follow, and you should look out for them when selecting an SEO company to work with in Manchester. Changes to these best practices are happening all the time, and industry experts like Red Cow Media constantly have to keep up with the changes. The basic underlying principle of SEO that doesn’t seem to change is a strong focus on usability. Your website code and its content should be catered towards your users and their navigation of your website. Links should be relevant and in places that are, again, actually useful to users who may click them. If an SEO company doesn’t seem to be adhering to these basic principles, or they don’t seem to be keeping up with current trends, then they probably aren’t right for your business.

So what makes Red Cow Media different to other search engine optimisation companies in Manchester? We take a targeted and analytical approach to SEO strategy and employ techniques according to which parts of optimisation a specific website is lacking in. No one thing will work across every website in the world as they are all different, so we have no ‘off the shelf’ solutions, all of our clients are treated as the individual businesses that they are and a strategy is developed especially for them in every case. We are based in Manchester ourselves and, although we’re not all natively Mancunian, we all love it here as much as if we were! We make a point of getting to know our Manchester based clients and their businesses, and we see them regularly either at their offices or our own. In short, we offer a personal touch that is so often missing from the SEO industry. If your SEO company are based locally but don’t seem to want to get to know you and your business then this should also set alarm bells ringing. As an SEO consultant, the better you get to know your clients and their business, the easier and more pleasant your job becomes.

To learn more about local SEO services, particularly SEO in Manchester, contact one of our experts for an informal chat.