The process Explained:

Our SEO process is specifically designed to maxisimise your Google search rankings and is comprised of 2 main stages:

Initial
Setup

+

Monthly
Campaign

Initial Set Up:

During this part of the process your website is fully optimised and aligned with the latest web standards. Please note that most of these are advanced configurations and wouldn’t normally be included in a basic SEO package.

Monthly Campaign:

  • Once the initial set up is completed, our monthly SEO campaigning begins.
  • Our SEO monthly routines include (but are not limited to):
  • Internal Analysis and Reporting of current website performance and status.
  • Design/Layout “Tweaks” and Adjustments based on findings and competitor research.
  • Reporting on page position rankings and performance scores sent to you.
  • Content generation and Adjustments based on findings and competitor research.
  • The various technical aspects and elements of your website that are covered during our 2 step process are listed on the next page.

Technical Aspects & Website Elements Addressed

Here are some (but not limited to) of the technical components we look at as part of our industry leading SEO process:

  • Title Tags are populated
  • Meta Descriptions are populated
  • HTML Heading Tags – H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6 assortment and key words distribution is in line with current web standards
  • Image Alt Txt fields are populated for all images
  • Sitemap – XML and HTML are present and submitted to Google.
  • Text / HTML ratio – is 20% and above for all content pages.
  • Favicon is present on all pages
  • Microformats are present and in line with Schema.org
  • Code Optimisations are carried out and verified with https://validator.w3.org/)
  • Loading time & Performance optimisations are implemented and verified with https://tools.pingdom.com/.
  • Google Speed Test alignment is applied and verified with PageSpeed insights.
  • Google Mobile Friendly Test alignment is completed and verified with https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly)
  • URL Canonical Fixation (301 redirects) are in place.
  • Non-www and www versions redirections fixation is set-up.
  • Robots.txt is present for Google content crawling bots.
  • Google Analytics is set-up and integrated (Traffic monitoring)
  • Google Webmaster is set-up and integrated (Website Performance Monitoring)
  • Dublin Core Schema metadata is present.
  • Page Rank points exist (External Links utilisation).
  • Broken links audit is performed and broken links are removed/corrected.
  • Content is enhanced accordingly.

We combine all of the above technical elements with a strong focus on quality content writing and extensive competitor research to ensure we achieve consistent and long-lasting results for your business.

So, how long does SEO take to start working?

As a digital marketing and SEO firm we get asked all the time “How long will it take me to get ranked number 1 for my keywords?” The answer isn’t so simple, because the question itself is often misguided (no offence). The question is born from an understanding of SEO that was once the reality but no longer is.

New SEO vs Old SEO

Once upon a time the strategy was just about identifying keywords that were the most relevant to your business. You would figure out 5-10 keywords that were your “golden keywords” and would bring in the majority of your traffic.

When someone comes to us and says “I need to be #1 for such and such keyword,” we know they’re stuck in that paradigm. That keyword strategy is wrong, because with rarer and rarer exceptions, there is no one keyword, and no small group of keywords, that is going to drive a lot of traffic to your website.

SEO today is increasingly driven by natural language search, that is, people doing searches that are more like normal questions than two or three keywords. People are including more detail in their searches as they seek to find what they’re looking for faster. These keywords are much more relevant because they include more detail, and therefore traffic from these keywords converts at a higher rate.

And in aggregate, the number of searches in the long tail often adds up to many more searches than you would get from your “golden keywords.” Therefore the objective, when it comes to rankings, is not to rank for a few top keywords that remain the same over time but to focus on a much larger number of natural language searches that is growing and changing rapidly. This is when regular content generation (quality content that is) focused SEO comes into play.

Rankings don’t matter as much as you might think they do

Rankings matter. But they’re not the metric you should be focusing on. If, by asking “How long does SEO take to start working?” you mean “How long will it be before I get top rankings?” then you’re mistaking outputs for outcomes.
Think about it, getting rankings is an output “old-fashioned” SEO firms can easily sell because they’re emotionally satisfying, but they’re worthless unless they ultimately generate leads or sales for your business–the outcome you actually want. That’s why as SEO professionals we focus on outcomes, rather than outputs.

The Answer

Now we’re ready to answer the right question. And the answer is…it depends. Frustrating, isn’t it? But it’s the truth. What does it depend on? It depends on how long your website has been around, how much SEO has been done on it previously, what shape the website is in, how much content is on it, its link profile, and many other SEO factors. No two websites are starting from the same place, even if they’re in the same industry and competing for the same customers. However, here is a plausible scenario (based on our experience and results achieved for other customers) for what our SEO efforts should look like during the initial months, and the results you can expect:

Month 1

Research and discovery, website audit, keyword strategy, and planning. If research and discovery can be done quickly, then technical changes are made to the website within the first month. In other cases, a thorough research and discovery phase can last more than one month.

Month 2

Begin technical SEO work, that is, making modifications to the website including content upgrades based on-site audit results and competitor research. In some cases, the website needs to be overhauled. Other SEO activities such as working on the link profile and building content can be done at the same time the overhaul is happening.

Month 3

Continue to focus on content creation and competitor research. Blogging, FAQs, whitepapers, articles, expanded product and company information, etc. You will start seeing some improvements in rankings by the end of this month.

Month 4

Continued content creation, technical optimisation of the website, and development of a healthy digital footprint. By this month you will see a marked increase in rankings, traffic, and lead generation. It won’t be anywhere close to the improvements you should see 12 months into your SEO campaign, but it should be significant enough that you know SEO is working.

Month 5

We continue to amplify your content based on competitor research and performance results from the previous months. You should be seeing more and more traffic coming in from your SEO at this point, and your leads should be growing as a result. (Better content and a more comprehensive site will also help with conversions)

Month 6

Now we start to shift our focus towards conversion rate optimisations to improve how the traffic you’re receiving converts into leads and/or sales. Our activities will consistently be focused on content creation and promoting that content. The specific activities can vary greatly depending on what type of business you are running and the demographics you are targeting.

That being said, we have had customers see results inside of 6 weeks. How quick you start to see results in the form of new leads or customers will really depend on your target market and how “niche” your service or product is. Another factor that many SEO firms forget to mention is that in most cases it is not possible to “accelerate” this process in order to achieve results “quicker”, simply because Google generally takes an enormous (and pretty random sometimes) amount of time to “realise” the changes you are making to your website, review them and then award them an SEO score.

Our SEO Guarantees:

  1. We live in your world and that is exactly why we understand your business, your audience and how to reach them. Our guarantee to you is that none of our services are (or will ever be) outsourced in any way or form. All tasks are completed in Australia, by Australian staff.
  2. We only offer 100% White Hat SEO services. We don’t use any dirty tricks to rank your website higher in a short span of time (Google always catches on and penalises your website in the long run if you do)
  3. Our commitment to you: Fair pricing, transparent approach and open communication at every step of the way.

Pricing & Monthly Budgets:

The final pricing of your SEO campaign depends on a number of factors. The audience you want to reach with your website heavily influences what you’ll pay for SEO.

The larger and more competitive your target market, the more you will need to invest in SEO to remain competitive. If you sell a commoditised online service that has no geographic boundaries for example, like high-end web hosting, you can expect to pay extra to get results. On the other hand, SEO will be quite affordable if you are a medium, local or small business.

Small or Local Business

If you’ve got a small or local business that is limited geographically to one or a few surrounding suburbs (e.g., plumbing, dental office, restaurant, etc) then this budget is perfect for you.

Medium-Large Business

If you’ve got a medium business, multi-site, e-commerce store or services and/or products that are targeted to an entire state or city or multiple suburbs around each one of your locations, then this is the package for you.

National / International

For a national or international campaign that isn’t focused on a particularly niche audience.

Your monthly budget will depend on the number of hours required to achieve satisfactory results inside of a 3-6 month period.

If you are unsure as to what is the best budget for your type of business, services or products, please speak to your designated Account Manager.