Andy Cockayne

Why Work with Me

My Freelance SEO Services

I provide the following SEO services, which are tailored to your business / company needs:

Why SEO Works

Is SEO Right for Your Business? 

Common SEO Questions 

What are the main differences between SEO and Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay per Click (PPC) both deliver traffic to your website, however, there are fundamental differences in how they do it and the costs associated in getting this traffic, these include;

• Generally speaking, organic SEO takes times to achieve desired results, however, PPC can have your website appearing on the first page of Google within a couple of hours of launching a paid campaign, however, the related costs can be excessive, particularly in competitive industry's such as car insurance, loans or mortgages.
• On a typical Google search results page, Google Ads (PPC) tend to occupy the top 3 (sometime 4) results, however, they are marked with 'Ad' to denote that they are paid results. The remainder of the page is generally made up of organic results though sometimes you may see 2-3 YouTube videos too - this is becoming more common and is another difficulty for SEO's to overcome. 
• Tests have shown that 70% of searchers click on organic results as opposed to the PPC results, the belief is that there is more of a trust factor in organic than paid.

There are some advantages in running organic SEO and pay per click (PPC) simultaneously as results from PPC can give a solid indication as to what keywords are creating impressions and driving traffic. Quite often SEO's will test a set of keywords using PPC prior to going all in on an organic campaign.

Why choose an SEO Consultant over an SEO agency?

The main benefit of working with a freelance SEO consultant rather than an SEO agency is the fact that you are working with one sole person and not a team of individuals, this is particularly beneficial when a business owner wants a single contact to gather information and updates.

Cost for SEO work is often more expensive when undertaken by an agency, this is understandable as they have many overhead expenses such as rent, utilities, staff and admin costs. You can often negotiate with a freelance SEO to find a cost that is acceptable to both parties.

Do you offer any other forms of internet marketing?

I don’t personally offer Pay per Click (PPC) or any form of social media management \ advertising. I am not a web developer either and so I will not offer to build you a website, I have built them for my own projects, however, it is not something I am comfortable doing for clients. If any of the above is requested by a client, I do have reliable contacts whom I can refer you to.

Content marketing is a service that I offer and I do write some content myself though I have a couple of excellent copywriters whom I often outsource work to, particularly at busy times.

How do I choose the best SEO Consultant?

There are a number of ways to find and choose the right SEO Consultant to work with, firstly, is referral, speak to other business owners or attend a networking event and chat with other people to find out how they are getting SEO done and who they are using.

Secondly, use Google and search for 'Freelance SEO Consultant [location]' and check out the websites on the first half dozen results. 

Finally, use a website such as Upwork or People per Hour but be sure to check that the consultant has good feedback and it is worth researching some questions to ask them before making a decision.

It is also vitally important that there is trust and good communication between yourself and the consultant, this is key to ensure any SEO of work undertaken on your website is a success. 

Does every business need a dedicated SEO expert?

If you are selling services or products online and you rely on your website being a core sales platform then the answer is a definite yes.

Without good and ethical SEO, your website will simply be an online brochure that no one knows about! 

How long will it take to rank my site?

There is one thing that is guaranteed with SEO and that is there are no guarantees…

Why?

Because there are so many moving parts, so many variables and so many caveats.

Hopefully, you’re still reading this, and I want to balance out the argument – depending on your industry \ niche, and providing your website hasn’t been previously penalised, you can expect to see some results on SEO work within 3-6 months

In less competitive industries, it may be possible to get your target pages onto page 1 in this period, however, in more competitive niches, it may take up to 12 months to achieve this.

What must be understood is that SEO is a long-term marketing strategy, and some patience will be required.

The benefits of SEO far outweigh any negative aspects and it is still by far the most successful and risk free online marketing strategy.

How much do you charge?

I charge between £250 and £1000 per month for SEO consulting services, depending on your requirements. 

If you are a small local business targeting just a few keywords then 1 day per month will usually be sufficient, however, for larger national websites or eCommerce stores then I usually estimate between 2-4 days per month.

I usually recommend 'front loading' my time in order to get the most important work done quickly and efficiently, we can then discuss a lower monthly retainer to ensure you maintain your rankings  which I will have hopefully already delivered.

Why can I get cheaper SEO services online?

Beware of cheap SEO services, there are highly likely to do more harm than good... if you cannot afford to hire a reputable SEO professional then learn it yourself, there are plenty of resources online, places such as YouTube or Udemy are a good starting point.

As with many things, 'you get what you pay for' and in the long term, it will likely cost you more for someone such as myself to correct the problems caused by poor SEO work

Do I have to sign a long term contract with you?

No, absolutely not, there is no obligation to sign a long term contract with me. I tend to work on a month-to-month basis, ideally with payment 1 month in advance and a 1 month notice period.

The reason I prefer to work using this model is that it builds trust and that is a fundamental aspect to any b2b relationship, 

Why do Google rankings fluctuate so much?

This is a common question often asked by business owners and to be honest, there is no straightforward answer.

There are several reasons why search engine result pages (aka SERPs) fluctuate so much and although we can never 100% accurately predict what they are, we can make some pretty good assumptions.

Rankings fluctuate due to competition and the more competitive a search query is, the more Google are likely to crawl relevant websites so causing increased search movement.

Google release many algorithm updates throughout any given year with many of them going unnoticed, however, periodically, they do release a big change, and this often causes SERP tremors. 

Finally, bear in mind that rankings are not results and quite often, you may see a different result to what I do, this is generally due to geographic location and sometimes surfing habits.

Can you help with my local SEO business?

Yes, without doubt, I have undertaken many SEO projects for local businesses, helping them rank in Google’s local results (also known as the map pack)

Local SEO has a different approach to national and eCommerce SEO and although the SEO principles are similar, you need to work with a consultant who has the experience with Google my Business and local search engine optimisation.

I have more questions, what should I do?

I am always happy to talk about SEO and I love helping businesses succeed using SEO strategies. If you have any questions or wish to discuss what I can do to help you and your website \ business, then please get in touch by either booking a scheduled call or by send me an email via my contact page.

Let's Have a Chat About Your SEO Requirements