SEO Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I choose to work with Rank It?

Firstly, we understand that, above all else, all businesses are striving to make their digital presence as profitable as possible. To that end, we’re highly focused upon creating immersive, consumer friendly digital experiences that will result in conversions. There’s very little point in having a beautiful website which is difficult to navigate, has no obvious call to action and can’t be found anywhere by prospective customers searching for services within your industry because it’s stuck on page 10 for popular keywords.

Keywords – are they important for SEO?

Yes… and no. While it’s important to know what potential consumers are searching for online, and to align your digital marketing strategies accordingly, it’s suboptimal and even damaging to ‘keyword stuff’ in order to achieve visibility for various search terms. This is because search engine algorithms are increasingly rewarding interesting, informative content that caters to the user, rather than allowing lazy SEO agencies to ‘game’ the system. Keyword stuffing and other such derivative strategies can result in ranking penalties, which can ruin your digital strategy. Ranking for a desired keyword requires a more subtle, multi-faceted approach.

How much does SEO cost?

At Rank It, our rates are exceptionally competitive for both local and national SEO. But why would a business interested in increasing traffic in areas such as Altrincham, Haywards Heath or Market Harborough pay less than a business looking to dominate in Manchester, London or Birmingham? Simply put, it depends on the strength of the competition and the scope of the campaign. More competition = more work required.

In order to be as transparent as possible and to make this seem less arbitrary, we have package prices for SEO campaigns. For local SEO campaigns in areas populated by fewer than 100,000 people, excellent results can be achieved with a budget of £199 per month. For areas between 100,000 – 250,000 people, we typically charge £299 per month, with larger areas from £399 per month depending on the size of the locality.

In terms of national SEO campaigns; for medium companies with little competition looking to define their digital marketing strategy cost from £2k to £4k to set up the strategy and a monthly fee of £1k – £2k. High-End SEO for companies with high traffic volumes and strong competition are usually more expensive with a set up of £8k-£10k and a +£6k retainer.

This said, we offer a range of bespoke packages and can cater to most business sizes. Just get in touch with us to discover how we can best support you.

How long does SEO take?

Generally speaking, this depends upon the strength of the competition in your industry, either within your local area or nationally depending on the scope of the campaign. It’s also helpful if your existing website has a high domain authority as this will help to achieve results faster, but it’s not completely necessary.

Be wary of SEO agencies who guarantee page 1 on Google for keywords after 30 days, as this simply isn’t achievable in the vast majority of instances today due to far stronger competition and search engine algorithms rewarding unique, relevant content and excellent user experiences. Worse still, such rogue agencies employ a myriad of ‘black hat’ techniques which will almost certainly result in a ranking penalty and damage your business in the long term.

We’re confident that our campaigns will start to generate organic page 1 rankings, traffic and conversions in the 4-6 month range in the majority of cases. If we believe that your campaign will be up against particularly strong competition, we will explain at the outset using extensive keyword research and analysing your competition BEFORE we agree to work together, and we can agree on a suitable timeframe for results.

It’s also important to understand that SEO work is NEVER done. In essence, we are competing to supplant your competitors for search term traffic, so you can expect the vast majority of your competitors to also be working with an SEO agency. Therefore, the work is ongoing, and we react swiftly to changes in rankings.

Am I locked into a contract?

Our contractual terms are flexible and reflect the current business climate. Our initial contract term is 6 months, which will auto renew in 6 month increments thereafter. If there are any price increases as a result of increased costs, we will notify you 1 month in advance of any renewal. You can cancel at the end of the contract or rolling contract by providing 2 weeks notice before the end date.

Some SEO companies try to use the absence of a contract as a selling point, a feature. However, where does the accountability lie in such an arrangement? Our contracts are clear and straightforward in outlining the services we will provide.

How do backlinks help SEO?

Backlinks are extremely valuable when it comes to SEO. They represent a “vote of confidence” as one website is willing to send their traffic to another.

This said, our advice is not to trust link building providers but instead only rely on reputable, full service SEO agencies to perform planned and targeted link building campaigns, which simultaneously monitor the impact.

It is imperative to follow Google’s strict guidelines when it comes to link building. Failure to do so can result in severe penalties that will significantly impact your organic visibility.

How does SEO help to boost sales?

Google is subject to over 3.5 BILLION searches every single day and this figure is only increasing. When people require a new product or service, Google is more often than not their first stop.

It is our job to put you at the forefront of these searches. Our robust SEO strategies aim to position your website as high as possible on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Our strategy will focus on your key service pages, utilising a double-edged approach.

On one hand, we will get these pages ranking for high quality, often high volume, search terms. On the other, we will create informational content to support these key pages which will capture search terms of users slightly higher up the funnel, who are further from making a final purchase decision, before driving them towards the end of said funnel.

This multi-faceted approach has proved successful time and time again and we would love to set up a meeting and discuss how we can implement this for you.

Can you guarantee results?

“We can guarantee page 1 rankings in 3 months.” Within SEO, it is an incredibly frequently used line. One that, put simply, is not true.

No one can guarantee particular rankings, no matter what an agency may claim. There is a whole host of varied factors affecting organic rankings – far too many to deliver any concrete guarantees.

What we can promise, however, is that we will do all we can to deliver your business a comprehensive organic development plan that will grow your organic visibility over time. We have the results to prove this and you just need to take a look at our raft of case studies to see how we can help grow your business.

How does the process start?

We generally like to kick off the SEO process with a comprehensive meeting between both sides, which would involve the SEO team from our side and your personal account manager, as well as the relevant parties from your side.

This allows us to ask as many questions as possible, in order to gauge a thorough understanding of your business and its products/services. Consequently, we are then able to position your business as accurately as possible from an organic perspective.

Do you only work within the UK?

Not at all! We work with a huge range of clients from across the globe, spanning from New Zealand to the Middle East.

We also work with a conglomerate of European digital agencies and as a result, have access to an abundance of native speakers, allowing us to produce expertly curated local content.

Can you help with website migrations?

Yes! Our status as a full service digital agency means that we regularly build new websites and redesign existing ones. As a result, our SEO team is incredibly experienced when it comes to site migration. It is in fact one of our most regularly encountered tasks.

While website migrations can often be a daunting prospect, we have developed a tried and tested process over the years that allows seamless migrations. We ensure that the vast majority of rankings and traffic numbers are maintained, with all technical bases covered.