Andy Cockayne

Andy Cockayne

Freelance SEO Consultant

I am a highly motivated SEO Consultant with over 14 years successful search engine optimisation experience.
I'll provide a strong increase in your website traffic via improved rankings on Google Search


Why Work with Me

Increase Website Traffic

I have over 12 years SEO experience working across many business sectors, I know how to increase organic traffic to your website and it’s not just any traffic, it’s people who are searching for your products or services. My SEO work is ethical, I don’t take risks with your livelihood.

Transparency

Transparency in SEO is paramount, and trust is how any business relationship is built, I therefore encourage your engagement, questions and queries. I will provide a full SEO report at the end of each month and will arrange regular in person or online meetings to discuss the reports.

Better ROI

SEO is the most powerful form of digital \ online marketing and due to the relatively low costs of doing it (you are only paying for an SEO professional), it also offers the highest return on investment (ROI). The caveat is that it does take longer to achieve results compared to 'paid search' such as Google Adwords.

I'm Cheaper Than an SEO Agency

If you decide to work with an established digital agency, then you are going to pay more for SEO services than you would do compared to working with me. I have very few overheads and I generally do all of the work myself, so you are not paying for the services of a team.

No Long Term Contracts

I don't work with contracts, I prefer a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ which allows you to scale up or down at any given time. I can work on a  month-to-month basis or just on a fixed piece of work and If for any reason you wish to terminate the agreement, all I ask is for 30 days’ notice in order to tidy up any loose ends.

I am Location Independent

Because I work freelance, I can work from anywhere with a good internet connection, my home, my office or even your office. I am happy to meet you in person to update you on progress and outline future plans or we can arrange an online call on Skype, Zoom or similar.

My Freelance SEO Services

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

Data Analysis

Content Audit Icon
  • Provide important insights to prioritise or add into the project plan.
  • Benchmark for future KPIs
  • Highlight past performance to give an accurate  picture

Keyword Research

Keyword Research
  • The first  and extremely important step for any SEO campaign
  • Identifies the search terms being used online
  • Uncovers terms or queries to be targeted

Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analys
  • Understand your main online competitors 
  •  Identify their  keywords, content & backlinks
  • Helps to shape a successful strategy for your website

Technical Audit

Technical Audit Icon
  • Highlight any issues hindering website performance. 
  • Indexing and crawl errors
  • Page load speed and mobile optimised

Content Analysis

Content Analysis
  • Ensure that you have the correct content on relevant pages in order to appear for the correct queries
  • Identify new topical content and webpage opportunities

Page Elements

Reporting Icon
  • Page titles, meta descriptions, header tags
  • URL structure & Image optimisation
  • Internal linking

Backlink Analysis

Backlink Audit
  • Identify and remove toxic backlinks that could be penalising your site
  • Identify new backlink opportunities to help improve the overall website backlink profile

Link Building

Link Building Icon
  • Backlinks are the currency of the web
  • They move the needle in the search engine results
  • Need to be from relevant and authoritative sources

Why SEO Works

It Helps Build Brand Credibility

Establishing your brand as an authority in its respective industry takes a lot of time, patience and effort but by offering valuable products or services and promoting them using SEO, you can demonstrate your expertise and so increase trust with customers and prospective buyers. 

It Provides Better User Experience (UX)

Providing a positive User Experience (UX) to website visitors is an increasingly important aspect in how Google determines where your website appears in search engine results pages (SERPs). Ensuring that your SEO is done correctly will massively help with UX and your overall organic search results.

It Impacts the Customer Buying Cycle

It's no secret that people do online research prior to a purchase. By using good SEO, you can provide important details of your products or services and any deals or offers you may have. This sort of information when presented correctly undoubtedly has an impact of the customer buying cycle. 

It's a Relatively Cheap Marketing Strategy

There are obvious costs associated with SEO but when compared to other marketing strategies, it is a an inexpensive way of promoting your business, products and / or  services that will (if done correctly) deliver an excellent return on investment.

It's a Long Term Marketing Strategy

Good SEO will  have a positive impact on your website and business within approximately 12 months of commencement, often in much less time depending on your industry. Although there are regular algorithm changes in SEO (thanks Google!), the benefits of it are most certainly always long term.

It Delivers New Opportunities

SEO will deliver new opportunities to you brand and business as the more identifiable and recognisable you become, the more interest you will receive, it is how the internet works. People will start to search for your brand and not just a keyword associated with you making the end result a much bigger probability.

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

Book a Consultancy Call

I use Calendy to book consultancy calls, I offer a free 30 minute Zoom call to have an informal chat about your website, your SEO understanding and requirements as well as aspirations for your site \ business.


Ideally, if you can answer the the following questions prior to our call, it will allow me to gain a better understanding of what is required to help you;


- What is your website URL?

 - Do you have Google Analytics and Google Search Console setup?

- What keywords are important for your website and business?

- What are your goals for the website and business?

- How much SEO work has been done previously?

- Who are your main competitors?

- What are your biggest challenges in business?


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