Once you understand how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works in detail, it gets easier to know how important it could be to your organisation, be it an e-commerce business selling B2B, a consumer-facing retailer, a membership organisation, or a charity. It literally can Make or Break a Business – Make, if you suddenly find yourself on the top page of search engines such as Google (which dominates trade) for phrases relevant to your business, Break if said coveted top positions suddenly drop unexpectedly for a temporary period or are removed permanently, which can happen too.

Now, as the founder of one of UK’s most experienced SEO agencies and having specialised in this specific niche of the Online Marketing world for over a decade and a half, I’d like to think that for quite a few potential clients, we can justifiably claim to be the Best SEO Agency, or at the very least, a Recommended Best Buy if Which magazine were totting up the scores. Why do I say that?

Quiet simply, we are good because we’ve been doing it (SEO) for a long time; our UK-based staff stick around (as they all own equity in the business alongside me), so we have little time to learn about our clients, we also know which clients we want to work with – where we get the best results.

Add all that together, and we arrive at a scenario where we’ve never had a client penalised by Google (or any other engine), and on average, we cumulatively grow our clients’ online prominence by over 2% a month. It used to be even higher, but these days, we can’t even get close to playing tricks—and even 2% cumulatively can double a business in just three years, which is no time at all in Marketing circles, really.

But I know we won’t be the best SEO agency for everyone. Here are some examples of clients who might be better advised to look elsewhere….

  • We do have B2C clients, but the vast majority of our work is supporting B2B businesses. It’s generally tougher work for less financial reward, but we relish a good challenge and are good at making even the most mundane products or services stand out more online.
  • Very large companies tend to like fancy presentations and glossy offices, and we’ve long since dispensed with all that to focus on small—to mid-sized SMEs, generally where we are working directly with an owner or Director who can make fast decisions. The effort saved on meetings and fancy reports gets spent on delivering results that impact the client’s bottom line ASAP.
  • We’re nosey and like to get under the skin to understand our clients’ businesses almost as much as they do. So businesses that like to keep agencies at arm’s length and, for example, not share their deep-seated goals will not tend to like our client-focused approach. For us, every campaign is unique, and we think the best agencies should align themselves around your goals, not vice versa.
  • Clients with deep pockets should probably also look away—if we don’t think a proposed budget makes good financial sense, we will turn it down and only accept a smaller budget where we consider demonstrable work can be delivered consistently. We’ve only ever had two clients spending £10,000 a month. In both cases, we had to admit we were running out of work to do, so we handed the money, but on the subject of budget, I should add that we believe we are unique in having algorithms (or, more accurately, savvy spreadsheets) that can calculate the sweet spot of optimum budget investment to achieve the best client ROI. This takes the guesswork out of picking an online budget or, at the very least, informing clients of whether we think they are over-egging it or being stingy, so it lessens the shock when results come in. We believe this is a sensible approach.
  • Location is, of course, relevant for some people. We have several clients around the world and in the UK that we’ve never met face to face. For others, they like the convenience of feeling we are just down the road if they want that meeting. So it’s nice to have but not essential.
  • Openness is pretty essential. As an industry previously mired in hidden tactics, we like to be honest about what we do, and for a small extra fee, we will even itemise it for you. The best agencies should be transparent, not a wall of fog.

This also applies to talking about past or current campaigns—whilst no agency can share confidential information, it’s not unreasonable to ask about the SEO firm’s track record and failures. We provide names or clients to talk to—many of whom have worked with us consistently for over a decade, something that’s highly unusual in the fickle world of SEO.

So, are we the right SEO agency for you or even the best SEO agency in the UK?

That depends really on your own goals and factors like your budget versus expectation, but based on longevity, results, and our average client lifespan (plus the number we’ve helped grow and sell out), we think we are certainly up there in the top ten!

Stuart Haining
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