Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Barcelona Spain

I provide expert website positioning for commercial websites, whether existing or under development. More commonly called search engine optimisation (SEO), website positioning is all about getting your site found on the major search engines; Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask, etc.

Good SEO is always best when incorporated into the site during the design phase. Many website designers/developers do not understand SEO, or it's not part of their brief, or worse: they just don't care.

This explains why many beautifully designed websites are never found.

A good design will be search engine friendly , which means that the search engine spiders can parse your site and read the content.

If you ask me to optimise your existing site, I might suggest a total or partial redesign, depending on how big and bad the root problem(s) might be. I will work with your developer/programmer, ironing out the bugs and validation errors.

Good SEO is not just getting you ranked in the indexes, it's about meeting client expectations.

I can give you an idea of what can be done and what budget is needed to do so. By the nature of the competition involved, optimising for "Barcelona Real Estate" is more complex and costly than optimising for "Antarctica Refrigerator Sales".

And good SEO is not just about search engine rankings, it's about getting your target client onto your site and converting that visit into a return on your investment, whether that be a sale, an enquiry or a new subscriber to your newsletter/RSS feed. I have a strong business background and appreciate that the small to medium sized business owner is after an effective ROI, not just great rankings.

Good SEO will target many popular keyphrases, not just one or two. And usually there are two types of keywords we need to target, sector and geography, which multiplies the number of keyphrases that need to be targeted.

A good SEO knows that search engine optimisation techniques are changing; what was good SEO yesterday might get you banned today. I actively participate and contribute to some of the best SEO forums available since 2002.

Every site is different and may require a different approach, but here is an overview of how I approach search engine optimization and how I can help your site get noticed in the search engine result pages (SERPS):

• We start discussing who your target clients are and get an idea of their profile. You know your business and need to help me understand your sector. We're only interested in your targeted visitors, not Joe Sixpack.
• We look at your competition; what are they doing right?
• We study your possible keywords and keyphrases.
• I'll target hub sites and authority sites for your sector and how best to get links from them.
• I'll edit your page content taking into account keyword density and readability.
• I'll use our chosen keyphrases to edit page title, description tags, headings, alt tags and keyword tags (otherwise known as meta tags).
• I'll study and possibly recommend changes to your navigation and site structure.
• If I'm redesigning, I'll change much of the formatting to external CSS files.
• I'll plan and carry out a linking campaign. Text-based inbound links (IBLs) are crucial to SEO success and link reputation is more important than link popularity.
• Here's some news; from a search engine optimisation POV, reciprocal links have been useless for several years now (at least since 2004 if not earlier) so I won't spend your time looking for reciprocal link deals, unless they are likely to bring real traffic.
• I'll submit by hand to the most important directories. (Automated submissions and/or repeated submissions is NOT the way to go.)
• I'll check for poor code.
• I'll check for validation to W3C standards.
• I'll check for broken links.
• If your site is multilingual, I can apply the above to the languages you offer and to the geomarkets you are seeking.
• I'll create a website map to help the spiders parse all the content on your website.
• I'll create a robots.txt file to block spiders from harmful areas of your website.
• If you have written articles I'll get them published in a network of independant news sites with links back to your site.
• I can optimise your blog and help you build a community, and traffic.

Furthermore, I'm interested in usability and will generally make suggestions to make your site more intuitive and easy to use. There's not much point getting lots of visitors if they don't convert to customers.

There are a number of things I will NOT do:

There are many ways of cheating at SEO (called black hat SEO) that can get you short term gain, but they will almost always lead to long term pain! If that sounds like you then I'm not your guy.

There are also plenty of innocent mistakes that will do the same to the unwary and unexperienced. I'm aware of most of them, and with experience and intuition know what works/doesn't work today, and what will work in the future.

• I won't get your website banned or penalised by creating doorway pages, using hidden text, hidden links, cloaking, and I make sure that all testing I do on search engines is in accordance with their TOS (Terms of Service).
• I know who to link to and who to avoid (link farms, potentially bad neighborhoods, etc.).

SEO Conditions

The above is an overview, and I hope it gives you an idea of the processes involved. Every website is a story and my approach is designed according to the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities present.

It is not, nor should it be, a short term process and I would normally recommend a minimum term of 8 to 10 months.

As a guide, monthly fees start at 750 Euros, but will depend on the complexity of the project and the level of competition in your sector.

I am registered in Barcelona as a consultant (autónomo) and issue invoices with IVA (Spanish sales tax) if your company is located within Spain, or without IVA if your registered company is located outside Spain.

I believe if you are unhappy then you have every right to terminate our relationship and I do not ask you to sign a contract.

If needed I will sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

I cannot provide written guarantees on future improvements in the search engine results. (I can control your website, but I'm unable to control the search engines or your competition. )

Probably the most helpful thing of all... I can supply references from happy SEO clients in very competitive sectors.

Search Engine Optimisation RFP (Request for proposal)

The first step in planning a well-crafted and successful SEO campaign for you is to know where we are starting from, and what we're up against. For a report and proposal on the state of your website I'll need some information on your website, your sector and your competition.

Please keep in mind that these reports take several hours to complete and the more information you give me, the quicker I can reply.

SEO RFP (Request for proposal)

If you have doubts about the information I need, please ask.