What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to your website from search engines via the natural search results.
 
Without proper optimization, the chances of placing highly in Search engine results (SERPs) for the keywords important to your business are low.

Why do I need it?

You may already advertise your business online using banners, directory listings or even paid adverts so why would you look to investing more money in another form of internet marketing? Did you know that, according to various studies, most people prefer to click on the natural links rather than the sponsored link adverts? That doesn’t mean that paid adverts should be considered a waste of money but don’t fall into the trap that they are the only way to generate business online.

What is the difference between SEO and Pay Per Click?

Pay Per Click (PPC) is the more traditional form of online advertising – you pay the search engine directly for your adverts to be shown in prominent positions on the results pages, only paying when someone clicks on your advert.
 
PPC is usually based on a blind bidding system and can be extremely competitive and expensive without the right management.
 
SEO is a longer term commitment and is more comparable to PR than straight forward advertising. SEO does not have an immediate impact on the search engines, unlike Pay per Click where you can create an advert for your business or product and it can be online for all to see within 15 minutes.

What is the most popular search engine?

Google is by far the most popular search engine. Not only does it provide search results on its own pages it also powers search results on other websites such as AOL, Channel 4, The Daily Mail etc
 
It is estimated that over 300 million searches a day are filtered by Google.

How long until I see results?

PPC – Advertising using Pay Per Click means that you can get your adverts online within 15 minutes so results are almost instantaneous.
 
SEO – the nature of this process is that is a longer term solution and a lot depends on the work that has to be done to optimise your website. However, if SEO techniques are applied effectively, by experts, you shouldn’t have to wait too long to see positive results.