What is SEO and what is a Search Engine?

No, that’s why Graham SEO offer different types of SEO services. You may be a local business trying to target a local audience or a nationally focused business with a wider spread of target customer. The age and history of your domain name counts too, this can go in your favour or against you when you are doing SEO. We think of clients as either in phase 1,2 or 3. Phase 1 is a brand new start up business with no history or presence on the internet. Phase 2 is a client that has been around for a while but does not have a huge amount of visibility on the internet but does have a strong brand in the offline world and get’s searched for by it’s brand name online. Phase 3 means you are already performing well in search and have a lot of opportunities known as low hanging fruity to capitalise upon when you start doing SEO. We take a bespoke, individual approach to your website and tailor the strategy according to these basic factors. We look at your competitors too, just to see if they’re doing anything that you can be inspired by but then do it even better. Our final phase is to grow your business using content marketing and the creation of further content assets. We have a team of writers and content creators here at Graham SEO or we can work directly with your writers in house.

How does Google work?

Google wants to give it’s users the best answer for the queries it is given. If you need an emergency plumber, for example, you are most likely to click the local results or even Paid Ads at the top of Google simply because of the urgency of your search. However, in most cases 85% of people who use Google are not ready to buy yet – they are merely browsing. Google is smart enough to know the difference between the types of searcher intent and will show you a website that matches this. It doesn’t always get it right though but it’s still the best search engine in the world and our best resource for general search enquiries. Most people still use it over and above others such as Bing, Yahoo etc so this is where most SEO providers will focus their efforts. Google uses a “search bot” which is software that crawls your website to try and understand the purpose of the website and the page or blog post it is crawling, you may hear this called a ‘spider’. Google caches the websites it crawls and stores it on their servers ready to be presented to you for when you perform a search.

Is SEO a one size fits all approach?

Google wants to give it’s users the best answer for the queries it is given. If you need an emergency plumber, for example, you are most likely to click the local results or even Paid Ads at the top of Google simply because of the urgency of your search. However, in most cases 85% of people who use Google are not ready to buy yet – they are merely browsing. Google is smart enough to know the difference between the types of searcher intent and will show you a website that matches this. It doesn’t always get it right though but it’s still the best search engine in the world and our best resource for general search enquiries. Most people still use it over and above others such as Bing, Yahoo etc so this is where most SEO providers will focus their efforts. Google uses a “search bot” which is software that crawls your website to try and understand the purpose of the website and the page or blog post it is crawling, you may hear this called a ‘spider’. Google caches the websites it crawls and stores it on their servers ready to be presented to you for when you perform a search.

Will we see a benefit from SEO for our business?

Google wants to give it’s users the best answer for the queries it is given. If you need an emergency plumber, for example, you are most likely to click the local results or even Paid Ads at the top of Google simply because of the urgency of your search. However, in most cases 85% of people who use Google are not ready to buy yet – they are merely browsing. Google is smart enough to know the difference between the types of searcher intent and will show you a website that matches this. It doesn’t always get it right though but it’s still the best search engine in the world and our best resource for general search enquiries. Most people still use it over and above others such as Bing, Yahoo etc so this is where most SEO providers will focus their efforts. Google uses a “search bot” which is software that crawls your website to try and understand the purpose of the website and the page or blog post it is crawling, you may hear this called a ‘spider’. Google caches the websites it crawls and stores it on their servers ready to be presented to you for when you perform a search.

There's lots of SEO providers, why Graham SEO?

Graham SEO is lead by a very experienced SEO Consultant, Graham McCormack. Graham is the project lead on every single project we undertake. We are a small close knit team of writers, content creators, link builders, technical SEO’s and client management personnel. Yes, you have a lot of choice but only the results matter and we’ve been getting results for over 10 years for our clients. The vast majority of our clients now come from word of mouth recommendations and it is very rare that clients cancel with us. If you are still unsure who you should work with then put us to the test. If you have an existing SEO provider we’ll be more than happy to give you an appraisal of their work and show you exactly where your business is up to (using real provable data) and where you COULD be if you work with Graham and the team.

Good SEO is not cookie cutter. You can follow a set of instructions and still not get results, especially if you are up against a seasoned SEO professional. Most serious businesses these days invest in SEO as a part of their digital marketing and so the playing field is not level. Yes, you could certainly follow a set of rules and get some results but this would be the equivalent of installing a boiler with a DIY book and expecting to be able to install boilers for everybody else. If you read our other FAQ’s you will have seen that we take your business on and employ a bespoke strategy for your website based upon over 10 years experience of what works and what doesn’t and no two websites will ever be the same.

How much does SEO cost?

Good SEO is not cookie cutter. You can follow a set of instructions and still not get results, especially if you are up against a seasoned SEO professional. Most serious businesses these days invest in SEO as a part of their digital marketing and so the playing field is not level. Yes, you could certainly follow a set of rules and get some results but this would be the equivalent of installing a boiler with a DIY book and expecting to be able to install boilers for everybody else. If you read our other FAQ’s you will have seen that we take your business on and employ a bespoke strategy for your website based upon over 10 years experience of what works and what doesn’t and no two websites will ever be the same.

I've seen cheaper SEO than you - why?

Good SEO is not cookie cutter. You can follow a set of instructions and still not get results, especially if you are up against a seasoned SEO professional. Most serious businesses these days invest in SEO as a part of their digital marketing and so the playing field is not level. Yes, you could certainly follow a set of rules and get some results but this would be the equivalent of installing a boiler with a DIY book and expecting to be able to install boilers for everybody else. If you read our other FAQ’s you will have seen that we take your business on and employ a bespoke strategy for your website based upon over 10 years experience of what works and what doesn’t and no two websites will ever be the same.

I just bought 300 links last month for £15 so why would I pay you £350?

To put it simply because: SEO link building is not about quantity You didn’t consider your current link velocity You didn’t consider your current anchor text ratio The links will likely be worthless for SEO You may be penalised by Google Link building is an art and buying link packages is an invite for trouble, we don’t recommend it no matter how much money you think you can save. The different types of Google penalty that can be imposed could mean that you never really even find out if you are penalised or not, you simply will never see results in the Google search engine for your website.

I've had SEO before & it didn't work for me, why should I try Graham SEO?

We’ve heard this one a lot and the simple answer is that your previous SEO is probably rubbish at SEO. Put us to the test, we’ll make an assessment of your website and tell you exactly what has been going on and what we can do to fix it for you and get you great results.

Yes we provide detailed monthly reports which explain exactly where the visitors to your website are coming from and how they are reaching you. We show you how SEO is performing and what we’ve done to get those results. We also explain what will happen next along with any related SEO news that is pertinent for your campaign or website. We create our reports using Google Data Studio combined with Pro Rank Tracker and all of the data is fed directly and by Google themselves.

We want to go with a northern company because we think you'll be cheaper than a company in the south, is this right?

Possibly, our prices reflect what we can achieve and we don’t have huge overheads to fulfil. Our customers are happy with our prices, we don’t set our prices in relation to your geographical location unless it means your niche is more competitive.

I am an SEO Consultant based in Wirral in the North West sat between Chester and Liverpool.

Contact Me

Prefer to just let someone else handle your SEO for you but want to be kept in the loop? No problem.

Get in touch here, make the initial enquiry on my form with some basic details.
We will be in touch, either myself or one of the team will either call you for a chat. If you prefer we can email you a questionnaire.
Your site will be audited, looking for the best way to tackle your SEO.
Proposal & onboarding, we’ll send you a bespoke campaign outline, if you are happy with it then we onboard you as a new client.

Here’s What Happens When You Sign Up

Your website is assessed and a bespoke strategy is put together that will yield you the best results.This is determined by a number of factors such as:
- The age of your website.
- The amount of Domain Authority (an SEO metric) in your website compared to your competitors.
- What your current backlink profile looks like.
- The amount and quality of pages and posts on your website.
- Which CMS you are using.
- Which parts of your website are currently receiving visitors and where your conversions are coming from.
- Where you are currently ranking in Google and for which keywords.
- What your competitors are doing better than you.
- Where your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities are.
I then use this information to fix everything on your website so it is optimised for Google and other search engines.
My team and I make sure to record everything as we go so we can accurately measure our progress and show you. Our goal is not just to generate traffic to your website but also sales so we use several tactics to do this.
We then compare your website against your competitors and also against similar companies looking for what they are doing well and where you fall down, we call this “gap analysis” and we use this information to your advantage.
We may create new “landing pages” for you if required, we will certainly optimise your existing ones.
We assess your “backlink & citation profile” which describes how you appear elsewhere on the internet and which websites link to you. This paints a picture of how we need to proceed next.
We build out your E.A.T for Google (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust – see here) so Google WANTS to show you in it’s results.
If required we make sure that you are registered with Google as a business and that your “Google Business profile” is well optimised.
We decide which type of content to publish to your website that will gain you the most visitors that are likely to turn into customers and set about doing this – then we promote it using off page SEO.

This is a guide to show you what we do but each client is different and you are treated as an individual case – no cookie cutter strategies here!

Regular Report

We issue you with a monthly report which shows you the results of what we’ve done for you so far and what you can expect next.

No Contract

SEO can take time and you should be prepared for this. We don’t hold you to a contract but we do ask that you give it at least 4 months, the amount of time it can take to see results depends upon your website and target keywords and can come much quicker at times.

Website Management

SEO is our specialism but we’re also website developers and can take care of your website for you. If you need tweaks here and there, things adding etc just let us know. Most of the time we’ll do it for free unless it’s something big. We can also install an SSL or sort out web hosting for you, whatever you need please just ask.

Regular Contact

We’re an internet company so we operate best via email but if you ever have any questions just drop us a line and we’ll answer you as quickly as possible.

Monthly Invoices

We will send you a monthly invoice to go with your report for your records.

Frequently asked questions

Here are a few answers to our most common questions

Q. You sometimes refer to a team, I’m confused. Are you an agency?

A: I am an SEO specialist. Graham SEO is a limited company and the buck stops with me. In order for me to do the SEO for your website I also work with an account manager and several writers plus an assistant for admin work. The strategy and overall project are controlled by myself (Graham), my system is such that I get on with getting you results aided by people to help me achieve this without having to do absolutely everything myself.

Q. How many locations can I target with this service?

A: We can target as many as you like, your fee will reflect each additional location so you may consider targeting the ones your budget allows and then moving on to others as you receive profit from the SEO results for your first locations.

Q: Other SEO providers limit the keywords, why don’t you?

A: Because our goal is to make sure you get more clients, your SEO is an investment into your business.

Q: I’ve already tried SEO & it didn’t work, what’s different?

A: There are more people selling SEO than school hot dinners & they don’t know what they’re doing most of the time. We are 100% committed & have a VERY deep understanding of how to get results.

Q: How long will it take to see results?

A: It depends upon a number of factors such as the age of your website and your target market. You should allow a budget for a minimum of 4 months but results can come quicker or take longer depending on a number of factors. I’ve had results within days and weeks before, so it’s a difficult question to answer without first assessing your website.

Q: I have a question not answered here

A: No problem, just our contact form and one of our team will get back to you ASAP.

Q: Do you offer other forms of marketing?

A: Yes we do. SEO is our specialism but we can also offer Lead Generation, PPC, Facebook Ads, Website Development, Social Media Marketing and more. Just ask!

Q: Can SEO replace my PPC costs?

A: Eventually yes. 70% of people ignore the ads anyway so you will actually get better traffic than PPC. Not only this but our SEO strategy hits people at all points of their buying funnel (e.g. “how old do I have to be to drive?”) and not just when they type in a commercial keyword e.g. “driving lessons “. Google personalises searches and you can grab your customers attention MUCH earlier than PPC.

Q: Where are you based?

A: We are based in Wirral, UK. Just south of Liverpool and north of Chester.

Q: Can I target certain keywords?

A: Yes but modern SEO does not solely focus upon trying to rank you for keywords anymore, it’s about getting you more sales and you can’t do that with that old school approach.

Q: Why should I trust you?

A: Graham SEO has operated for more than 10 years and worked with hundreds of clients all around the world. WE GET RESULTS! Click here for proof.

Q: I need help with my website, can you do that?

A: Yes, we have a team of developers who can make small adjustments and updates to your website as required.

Q: Can you guarantee results?

A: Nobody can & it is against Google’s guidelines to do so. SEO with Google is like riding a horse, you can make all the right noises but it’s still an animal. We’ve learnt to ride Google very well over the years.

Q: Can I cancel once I’m at the top of Google?

A: You can cancel at any time but that would defeat the purpose. SEO is ongoing and there is always somebody competing against you & Google updates to consider.

Q: I don’t want a monthly service, can I pay as I go?

A: We also offer individual one time services and SEO consultancy which you buy on an ad-hoc basis.

Q: Are you Google qualified?

A: There is no official SEO qualification for SEO, only Google Ads. We’ve done SEO for more than 10 years and we’ve seen many competitors come and go and we’re still here because we analyse, understand, innovate and test everything we do so that our strategies are bullet proof.