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SEO with added YES

SEO

15 killer questions to ask your SEO agency

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Video written and presented by Andrew Laws | Articlisation by Mohamed Ashraf | Art by Dall-e (with prompts by Andrew Laws)

Table of Contents

Hiring an SEO agency should be easy, but…

Hiring an SEO agency is a big step toward making your website work harder for you as a lead or sales generation machine. The process of finding and hiring an SEO agency could be a simple one, but there are some concerns that you might have that are holding you back from getting started on your SEO journey.

Here are some common concerns that business owners and marketing professionals have when finding the best SEO agency to work with.

In this article, I will explain the questions you should ask a prospective agency. I’ll also explain why these 15 questions are important and give some examples of the type of answers you can expect to hear from good SEO agencies.

Each question includes a TL:DR summary. This acronym means ‘too long: didn’t read’. It’s internet slang we’re using to summarise each of the questions below. In theory, you can skim this article and only read the TL:DR sections.

a warrior with a shield
We’re going to assume Dall-e was going for a latin vibe on this shield.

1 – How Do You Measure the ROI of SEO?

Hiring an SEO agency is, in itself, an investment. Taking into consideration the other costs of running a website, you want to get the biggest return on that investment possible.

With SEO, the answer to the challenge of measuring ROI is quite simple: Are you getting more leads and sales? While seeing your rankings rise in search engine results (SERPS) is fantastic, if that ranking does not translate to actual sales, then it would be pointless.

So, it’s quite a simple formula: Website + SEO = More money, and this leads us to our next question.

TL:DR – The only true way of measuring the ROI of SEO is to ask yourself one simple question – ‘Am I making more money’?

2 – What Sort of Return Can You Expect to See with SEO and How Long Will it Take?

Like any marketing strategy, it depends on several factors. For example, if you are making very small profits on something like widgets, it would take a longer span of time to see big returns, since you would have to sell a lot of widgets.

It’s an age-old conundrum – what’s faster? Selling a £1 can of pop to two million people, or selling a £2,000,000 private jet to one person?

So, it’s all about targets. SEO only aims the ship in the right direction, but it depends on what the ship is carrying.

In terms of how long it takes to see a benefit from SEO, it can average three to six months, conservatively, but again, it’s all about the market’s competitiveness.

You would have a faster success rate in a market where SEO knowledge is not commonplace. If none of your competitors are doing SEO well, or they haven’t even heard of SEO, then it’s your chance to gain a huge commercial advantage. But time is of the essence!

Bonus tip

Ask the SEO agency you’re considering hiring to give you an idea of how many of your competitors appear to be doing SEO. It’s a great test for the agency, and gives you a clearer idea of how much of a fight you have on your hands to get to the number 1 spot in Google Search.

So, what’s the best time to start SEO? Simple: right now!

An important thing to consider is that doing SEO isn’t like rubbing a magic lantern; there are significant steps that need to be taken by both the client and the SEO agency before seeing gains.

One of the great truths of SEO is that if your competitors ‘nope out’ of SEO when the going gets tough, and you persist, you will win. The more you say ‘yup’ when they are saying ‘nope’, the harder you become to beat!

Due to the massive diversity of the web, it’s difficult to give specific examples. Just imagine you are working to improve rankings for an e-store that sells shoes. The challenge will be very different for you, than it would be for a manufacturing company that needs to completely transform its entire Internet presence to make any progress.

The scales could just as easily be tipped in the opposite direction. We know of online stores with horrendous technical and SEO problems that need addressing. Just as much as we find industrial and manufacturing companies with brilliant websites.

But, no matter the project, an SEO agency will always consider the scope of the task and its feasibility. A good way of insurance is asking for a case study, which all SEO companies create to show pride in the projects they have undertaken.

Semrush has written a great article called ‘How long does SEO take to work‘. We recommend all our clients read this article.

TL:DR – The speed of ranking improvements is dictated by the competitiveness of your market. But you can expect to wait three to six months on average.

3 – What are the Pricing Models for SEO Agencies?

Just like the speed at which you could see results with SEO, pricing models vary from agency to agency. However, an agency should be able to easily break down all costs related to the project.

At Yeseo we have four pricing models; we have a day rate, monthly clients, project clients, coaching clients, and sometimes the occasional hourly one-off clients.

So, depending on your budget and prospects, you can quickly get some SEO advice for a price that fits your needs.

TL:DR – All agencies charge in slightly different ways. When requesting SEO pricing try to focus on transparency.

4 – Are There Any Hidden Costs to SEO?

It’s very unlikely that you will find an SEO agency that includes any hidden costs in their package or project. After the initial deal, should a project turn out to be more complex or long-term, your agency will contact you with updates on the actual cost of the project, having studied it more thoroughly.

If a client’s competitors go the extra mile in the duration of the SEO project, then the SEO agency might need to step it up to keep up with the growing competition. In that case, the client will be informed that more work must be done.

For example, if a site advertising fitness equipment is going through an SEO makeover, and all of a sudden, other fitness stores start ramping up their marketing for treadmills and dumbbells, then that first site will need to keep up with extra SEO work in a shorter span of time that what was previously expected.

TL:DR – No. Although needs can change, working with an agency that can flex to meet new challenges will give you a competitive advantage.

dramatic couple with a telescope
If your SEO agency is good, there’s no need for the drama of searching for hidden costs

5 – How Do You Tailor SEO Strategies?

Every SEO agency has its own strategy and key points they cover with every client. For example, at Yeseo, we have a long checklist or “road map” we go through to make sure the client gets the best value possible from the start of collaboration with our clients.

In general, though, no two SEO strategies are the same. Because no two websites are the same.

There are core tasks that every SEO agency follows, like keyword research, on-site auditing, internal link building, and competitor analysis, to name but a few.

An SEO agency will customise every project according to the client’s wants, needs, strengths and weaknesses.

Perhaps one client knows exactly which keywords to target, but they are lacking in their linking, images, meta descriptions… etc., while another client has the opposite problem. Both will require different strategies, but both will be effective in the situation in which they are used.

TL:DR – All good agencies tailor all campaigns. In SEO there is no ‘one size fits all’.

6 – What is an SEO Agency Doing for Sustainable Results?

The word ‘sustainable’ has many different meanings, but in this context, let’s think of sustainable results as consistent results.

SEO is a lot like the stock market in which things can go up and down. A page or website can rank as number one today, number two tomorrow, number five the next day, and back to number one again. This slippery slope means there’s always work to do to get back up the slope again.

Only one tool can be pulled from the proverbial shed for this scenario: constant monitoring. New challenges and opportunities arise all the time.

It’s the SEO agency’s responsibility to jump at those opportunities and use them as efficiently as possible for their clients, but it’s even more impressive when an agency can see these opportunities coming from miles away, like the businesses that started using ChatGPT before its unprecedented boost in popularity in the past couple of years.

TL:DR – A great SEO agency will constantly monitor everything, not only to discover threats but also to exploit opportunities.

7 – What Makes an SEO Agency’s Strategies Different?

While it’s fair to assume that all SEO agencies have pros and cons, in truth, all SEO agencies work to the same Google guidelines. There’s only one Google, thankfully.

What makes one agency different from another, however, is the extra benefits they offer clients and keen eye for possible opportunities. The borders around what is and what is not SEO are a bit wobbly.

Search Engine Optimisation is all about doing what it takes to get results. In my own experience that can take us to some very interesting places, sometimes in a geographical sense (we sometimes manage exhibition stands).

On the other hand, another SEO agency might be stronger in a specific aspect of SEO but might not have that same keen eye for emerging opportunities.

This is why researching the market is indispensable when it comes to finding an SEO agency you can be comfortable with.

TL:DR – There’s only one Google, but all agencies deal with that fact in different ways. Find an agency that you feel you can collaborate with best.

anime couple looking at city
“I just know the right SEO Agency for us is out there… somewhere.”
“Yes Deidre, I agree.”

8 – How Experienced is Your SEO Agency?

It may be an awkward question to ask, but there’s nothing wrong with asking an SEO agency about their experience and how long they have been in business.

After all, you need complete trust in your agency, and while marketing and sales are different, they share the need to convince the client of one’s capabilities… it’s like a job interview where you ask the difficult questions (just don’t ask them where they see themselves in five years).

Is the number of years of experience important? Not really, IF the experience is there. Think of it this way – if J.R.R Tolkien hadn’t written any books prior to The Lord of The Rings, would he have been any less impressive as a writer?

As long as there’s tangible evidence of experience and capability like case studies or even contacting an agency’s clients, then you’re good to go. After all, a client will always be the best possible reference to contact to ensure the services of the SEO agency you’re considering are up to standard.

At Yeseo, we have full confidence in our clients and we encourage anyone interested in working with us to contact our clients to find out what they really think of us.

TL:DR – An agency having years of experience is important, but the attitude and tenacity of an agency can be more important.

old man doing seo
“I sense a great distubance in the SERPs”

9 – What Niches Has the SEO Agency Worked In?

When it comes to marketing and SEO, it’s all about the niche. What can come off as surprising, though, is that many SEO agencies won’t work with two companies in the same niche simultaneously. We view it as unethical.

The goal for all our clients is to elevate them above their competitors. If an SEO agency works with two competitors how can they choose one to get all the effort and resources to rank over the other?

In short, an SEO agency will likely work with any niche, so the skill of buying SEO is to find an agency that can learn fast and identify growth opportunities even faster.

TL:DR – Most people in SEO will avoid working with two clients who compete against each other.

10 – How Does the SEO Agency Stay Up to Date With Industry Changes?

A good SEO agency will always be on top of the latest trends and news, and with pretty much all SEO agencies, the answer is quite simple: Reading!

With the influx of information, news, and trends happening every day around us, anyone who works in SEO finds themselves going through a ton of online magazines, web pages, and blogs to stay up to date.

For example, the usage of AI complicates the ranking process on Google, and that kind of information is pivotal for an SEO agency to know to be able to figure out the moving parts.

It’s not so different from Doctors reading the British Medical Journal. Except an SEO professional is (thankfully) not responsible for saving people’s lives.

TL:DR – The best agencies are obsessive readers and rabid consumers of information.

Bonus tip

Ask the agencies you are considering to add you to their email newsletter list. Do they report on changes in the SEO world? More importantly, can they translate those changes to your business needs?

11 – How Often Does the Agency Send SEO Reports?

SEO reports are a given for any agency; it’s pretty much the biggest indicator of performance. It’s just like your high school report card, except we don’t try to hide them.

As for the reporting period, it’s different from agency to agency. At Yeseo, we send our clients a report once a month, and then book a meeting to talk about it.

We inform the client of what has gone up, what has gone down, and the action plan for the month. We do send large technical reports, but we work on the basis that the most important part of the reporting process is the executive summary accompanying the larger report. Most of our clients get everything they need from our report in a handful of seconds, rather than needing to wade through all the super-geek stuff that is in the bigger report.

Here at Yeseo, we try to be as non-technical as possible and explain everything simply and briefly, but other agencies might have a different viewpoint.

Ask the agency you are considering working with to show you a recent client report. Client reports are confidential, but almost all SEO professionals have websites of their own that they experiment with, so ask for a report on one of those sites.

TL:DR – The frequency and details of reporting will differ from agency to agency, but clarity should be championed over bewildering techno bleats.

complex SEO report
I asked GPT 4 to create a simple SEO report using some basic data. It made this monster. The more you look at it the worse it gets!

12 – How Much SEO Knowledge Do I Need To Have as a Client?

You’re probably thinking, “I’m just a client; why should I know any of that SEO jibber-jabber?” Well, you might be right.

You might need some SEO knowledge, but it’s our job to let you know how things are, what needs to be done, and what needs to change.

It’s like your mechanic explaining to you why your alternator is busted and what an alternator even is; it’s just an indicator of trust.

If you learn something about SEO and are able to combine it with your own technical knowledge of your business or niche, then you will gain a massive advantage over your competitors.

TL:DR – With SEO a little knowledge is a dangerous thing – for your competitors.

13 – What Strategy Does The Agency Use to Adapt to Changes in SEO Practice?

Unlike many aspects of digital marketing, SEO hasn’t really changed that much in the last few years. Other than in some nooks and crannies, like what Google expects to see, how to make your excellence known to Google, and how that excellence spreads.

All the best agencies watch for changes in the Google algorithm very closely. Although most of the very big changes years ago were to weed out the crappier side of SEO. These days changes tend to be academically interesting to people who really love SEO (like us), but might not always have an impact on the day-to-day lives of our clients.

Still, the Google algorithm has remained relatively unchanged for years, and so the core formula of inputting good SEO practices leading to an output of success is the same.

This is actually where the “io” in Yeseo.io comes in. The domain “io” stands for input/output.

TL:DR – Agencies should be aware of changes in practice.

14 – How Does the SEO Agency Communicate?

Communication is a given when it comes to any business and client, and it’s no different for SEO. Good communication means the SEO agency will know exactly what the client expects and let the client know exactly what they should expect.

As you might imagine, a good chunk of this happens at the very beginning of the project, as that’s where all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.

At Yeseo, we value client communication very much, especially internal communication where we need to know who we can speak to about A, who can give us an answer on B, and who’s the best person with the best knowledge about C.

seo agency cartoon strip
This is what AI thinks a normal conversion between a client and an SEO agency looks like.

We use any communication channel the client is comfortable with, be it email, WhatsApp, Slack… etc. This is because communication equals clarity, and the smaller the gap is between the client and the agency, the better the results will be.

After all, two minds are better than one, but these two minds are even better when they can hear and understand each other really clearly.

TL:DR – Effective communication is key to any successful collaboration with an SEO agency.

15 – How is Client Feedback Incorporated into SEO Strategies?

Like any feedback, client feedback is all about listening. SEO is brilliant because it amplifies organisations that are already excellent. You will always know the personality of your company, and your goals, with more clarity than any SEO agency can.

So if you find your SEO agency is pushing you down a path you are uncomfortable with, then you just have a good enough relationship to discuss that.

In an ideal world, all relationships between a client and agency would be so in-tune and collaborative that bumps in the road would never happen. But they do, so having a great relationship will help you turn a potential crisis into a fantastic opportunity.

TL:DR – Effective communication and feedback is what makes SEO magic happen.

Conclusion – how to select the best agency

Going on an SEO journey can take your business to a whole new level. There are plenty of fantastic SEO agencies out there. Asking questions like the ones we’ve given you in this article will help you decide which agency is the best fit for you.

There is no objective truth to what makes any SEO agency ‘the best’. An agency with more reviews, or with a list of household name clients, isn’t automatically any better than a lone SEO consultant.

Take your time to get to know the key contacts at an SEO agency; the people you will actually be working with. Ask to meet your prospective team, don’t fall into the trap of only speaking to the sales department before investing your time and money in a new SEO agency.

Do your research, ask your questions, and then you’ll find it a joy to trust the professionals.

ai image of a man and a woman with telecopes
My final hint for this article – when looking for anything, ever, do not situate your telescope through the skull of your companion

Our LinkedIn Audio Event experiment with James Kindred

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We like to play. Play is an important part of creativity and can open up really useful thought processes for problem-solving. That’s our excuse for playing with LinkedIn Audio Events and we’re sticking with it!

On a more serious note, thanks to James Kindred for getting involved. Here’s a video report on our experience. There is also a LinkedIn post about this experiment.

LinkedIn Audio Transcript

Hello, I’m Andrew Laws of Yeseo, and I want to talk to you about LinkedIn audio events. Myself and my friend and associate James Kindred just now went live on LinkedIn audio.

We did it as an experiment to see what happened and to look at the tech, mostly because new things are fun to play with.

It’s also worth noting that when platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or any of them develop a new feature and roll it out, it’s quite a good idea to play with it because if they really want that new feature or technology to work, they’ll share any content you make with it far and wide.

AI image of Andrew Laws and James Kindred
Andrew Laws (left) and James Kindred (right) as reimagined by Chat GPT Dall-E.

Unfortunately, with LinkedIn audio, I don’t think this has happened because we did 20 minutes of chat. We only meant to do two, but it became 20. And when I hung up the call or stopped the event, that was it. It’s just gone into the ether.

LinkedIn audio doesn’t save audio, which is a bit disappointing. I think in future, I might do a browser recording or something to try and capture that audio and then maybe turn it into a transcript and maybe an article. Because the content of our conversation was really interesting.

Let’s just talk about the mechanics of LinkedIn Audio Events. I set up the event, which is still up on my screen here. We set up the event, and James and I went to join it, and it actually popped up as a little chat thing.

It said pre-live, we’re in the pre-live room. And when the countdown got to zero, I pressed go live, and there was an error message saying something had broken. So I pressed it again, and it worked.

What was interesting is that it looked to us like we had four people, just four people popping up to listen because they popped up, little faces popped up in the chat, and we said hello to them.

But looking at the analytics of the event afterwards, I think we had 13 people live. These are not big numbers, but we only announced it on Friday and, with no preparation, went live today. So I think that’s probably OK.

I liked that we could see some of the people who were popping up. I’m guessing it’s a security feature that it doesn’t automatically show everyone who’s joined the call.

I like that it was facilitated just in a chat-type box on LinkedIn. Because it means you can still use the rest of LinkedIn, so you can still do other things.

Something I didn’t realise until after the call is I think when you’re hosting a call, you can encourage people to talk to you to type, but I think you can actually make people live. I’m not sure how that works out because there are browser permissions and other things like that to deal with.

But on the whole, my first experience of LinkedIn Audio was really good fun. It’s like a podcast, but a hundredth of the work. I hope you found this interesting.

We’re always looking for brand-new things to bring you. So thank you for watching and to James Kindred for getting involved.

Words that win – copywriting that generates leads

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Content is king. We’ve known it for years. High-quality, SEO-optimised, human-first articles are to SEO what rocket fuel is to NASA.

But there’s a problem. Time.

Our copywriting services solve the age-old problem of having no time to write.

copywriting services people
Magnet copywriting generates leads!

How is our copywriting service different?

Let’s look at a common scenario in SEO: you have your keyword research in hand, and you have a rough schedule for which articles will be written and when they should be published.

Then nothing happens. At all. Sound familiar?

How about this one: you have your SEO research in hand, and you know the topics you need articles and blog posts for, so you hire a copywriter. Your copywriter delivers beautifully crafted articles, good enough to make Shakespeare weep. The quality of content makes your heart beat faster, but how do you know if the article will work from an SEO perspective?

The words on your website will not work their magic if they are not written for your target audience. Good content is not written solely for search engines. Google search engine crawlers won’t buy your products or hire you for your services. Humans will.

So how can you commission a content strategy that will motivate your audience AND give the Google crawlers a tingly feeling in their spidery legs? This is where we step in.

Excellent writing for clients who excel!

Here at Yeseo, we’ve been working deep in the SEO mines for many years. At least one of us started working with SEO before Google was a thing. In that time, we’ve developed a system to ensure that every article we create punches hard from an SEO angle and a human angle.

We’re not about to trouble you with all the details, but here’s a rough look at how the magic happens:

Part A – Preparation & assembling the ingredients

  1. Keyword research
  2. Content strategy

If you have already commissioned keyword research and have a content strategy or schedule for your web content, that’s great. If your data meets our standards, we can move on to part B.

If you haven’t yet done any keyword research, or you don’t have a content strategy, then we can do the research and create your strategy for you. We have a lot of experience in this department of SEO, and as modest as it may sound, we are very good at it.

Part B – Content creation magic

Step 1

Kickoff!

At the start of every month, we confirm which articles we will be writing for you

Step 2

The nod of approval

You agree on the articles, and we get to work

Step 3

The cogs start moving

Our SEO team prepare an internal briefing document to ensure our writers can write an article that will perform as potently as possible from an SEO perspective (without ruining the article)

Step 4

The magic, part 1

Our writers do their research and write draft articles

Step 5

Yeseo internal check 01

Our editors approve the articles

Step 6

Yeseo internal check 02

Our proofreaders approve the articles

Step 7

Yeseo internal check 03

We check the article meets our internal SEO brief

Step 8

Delivery & Approval

We present the articles to you for your approval, with stock images and a meta description

Step 9

Moving on

Pending any edits you suggest, we will hand over the articles and start work on next month’s articles

Step 10

Publishing (optional)

We publish the articles on your website

Out of all the steps above, you only have to get involved in two!

You might have noticed that in the above list, the only parts that require any of your time are parts two and eight. We have designed our website copywriting services to be as simple as possible for our clients.

We’ll handle as much of the content creation process as possible. We might need to contact you to clarify the occasional idea, but we have even given a lot of thought to ensuring our copywriting services take up very little of your time.

You can concentrate on doing what you do best: taking care of your products or services. We’ll do our bit to entice your potential customer or client.

We understand the power of content marketing, and we want to help you make your web pages, landing pages and blog posts fantastic tools for growing your business.

You know your business. We know SEO, and we know content. Let’s talk.

Call us on 01473 852075, or say hello via this conveniently placed form:






    The Sketchy SEO AI Experiment

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    Current Stats

    Ranked pages

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    Top 10 rankings

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    Indexed pages

    1/10

    Monthly visitors

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    Published posts

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    Many SEO agencies constantly run SEO experiments. You could say that everything we do is, to some extent, an experiment. But you’d probably be wrong. We make constant tweaks, and SEO is a constantly evolving science, but all good SEO agencies know exactly how to do good SEO.

    With that caveat out of the way, I’m going to tell you why I’m conducting this ‘sketchy’ SEO experiment. I decided against using the word ‘bad’, because not everything I’m going to do in this experiment is going to be based on sketchy SEO.

    ai seo experiment scientist
    I used Dall-e 3 in GPT 4 to generate this image of meself. I have a missing tooth so I wanted that to be taken into account. But GPT could not get my teeth right! I also wanted the character to be smiling, but smiling and missing teeth appear to be mutually exclusive!

    We already know that downright terrible SEO is a waste of time. An experiment in truly bad SEO would contribute nothing. If everything I do in this experiment is awful SEO practice then I’m not going to learn anything.

    There will be aspects and sub-projects in this task that I would never use on client projects, but like many seasoned SEO professionals, I always have a few websites of my own where I can take bigger risks.

    Breaking stuff is a great way to learn, as long as the risk is mitigated or transferred. This is why I’m calling this experiment ‘sketchy’, rather than ‘bad’.

    You may have noticed that I’m not using the royal ‘we’ when discussing this project; that’s because it’s very much a one-man mission. I will seek input and opinions from my team and associates, but to have total control of the outcome, I’m going to do this experiment as a solo mission.

    Still with me? Great, let’s crack on!

    The hypothesis for the sketchy AI SEO experiment

    Google disregards AI generated content

    So many people have tested the theory that SEO disregards AI content that it’s pretty much fact at this stage. There are so many AI SEO experiment writeups that it has almost become a meme in the industry. So why am I adding noise to this debate?

    I have read some brilliant reports from SEO industry peers who have tested the impact of AI content. AI has been around for many, many years but has recently gotten lodged in the consciousness of the whole of society. AI is no longer technology that is only used by industry boffins, it has (to a certain extent) been democratised.

    Some of the excellent experiments out there were carried out some time ago. The results were noted, and then the experiments appear to have been abandoned. At least as far as I know. It’s my intention that my own AI SEO experiment will run for a good long time.

    I need to conduct my own experiment so that I can see all the data, not just the data that is reported during a writeup that someone else has done. Regardless of how great a writer is, they simply cannot include ALL data. I want total ownership of all the data so I can get a deeper understanding of the current and future impact of AI on the world of SEO.

    The assumption

    Because some of the ground covered in this experiment has been extensively covered before, I’m expecting the timeline of this test to run roughly like this:

    • Launch site
    • Add AI-generated articles
    • Gain some rankings
    • Rankings tank

    As mentioned earlier, other write-ups seem to stop after the rankings have tanked. I want to add an extra step and see if I can recover rankings.

    AI generated photo of an SEO scientist in a lab
    I asked Dall-e to create a photo-realistic image of me, based on the previous illustration. It was a mistake.

    The AI experiment parameters

    Time

    I am tracking every minute I’m spending on this project. I’ll occasionally update you on how much time I’ve invested/wasted on this experiment.

    The website builder

    I will build a WordPress website because I don’t want the CMS I use to give the experiment any specific advantages or disadvantages.

    Some might say that using WordPress gives the experiment an advantage over, say, Wix, but I’ve chosen WordPress because it is so ubiquitous.

    I will be using a free WordPress theme. This probably means I won’t be able to build with the Genesis framework that I love, but it’s a fairer test to use a freebie.

    The topic

    I’m going to build a website that focuses on a topic I know nothing about. I want to take any prior knowledge of the subject out of the equation. My theory is that if I were to create a test website on a topic I know well, then that would take away some of the reliance on AI.

    Hosting

    I’m going to build the site on run-of-the-mill standard cpanel hosting. Not cheap, but not expensive. Building the site on a platform like WpEngine would potentially give the test site an advantage, pulling it away from being utterly average.

    Domain name

    This is one of the parts of the experiment where I am deviating away from the advice that I would give anyone else. I’m going to use an aged, deleted domain. I’ll explain why further down in this article, but for now, it’s sufficient to say that I want some backlinks so I don’t have a starting start.

    DNS and CDN

    I’m going to leave the DNS with whoever I register the domain name with. I would usually recommend using a very good DNS service like Amazon AWS for a very marginal SEO gain, but leaving the domain with the registrar is more in-line with how someone who isn’t an SEO pro might operate.

    I’m also not going to use a CDN. Although the world of CDNs is very accessible now, I don’t think many site-builders would use one. So I’m not going to be using a CDN, this might change if I can’t get any traction.

    SEO Tools

    I will be using all the tools Semrush has to offer. As far as I’m concerned, it is the industry leader so it feels like the right tool to use. I will also be using Screaming Frog – because it’s awesome.

    Because I’m using Semrush I will be doing some keyword research.

    I will be using Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

    AI Tools

    I will be using GPT4, and any plugins that are available. I acknowledge that GPT4 is not a free tool, but I want to be able to use the data analysis tools to see if they can offer a significant advantage.

    I’m going to use some of the Semrush AI tools, including the SEO Writing Assistant. I’m going to accept every suggestion that the Writing Assistant makes, or as close as I can get. I’m also using Grammarly, which is also AI (I guess).

    seo scientist shrugging
    This is meant to be the same version of me as in the previous dall-e images. I’m shrugging because I have chosen a topic I know very little about. I massively prefer this image to the other versions. Typical.

    What content will I use AI for?

    Everything. Flippin’ everything. From the logo on the site, to the standard pages, through to the blog. I will use dall-e to generate any images I need.

    Where my AI experiment might differ from others is that I’m going to use Semrush for keyword research, for building keyword clusters and for creating content briefs. I plan to use the bing connection in GPT4 to do live research before writing articles.

    Safety nets and AI tests

    I’m going to run every bit of content through CopyScape. I’m creating a slightly frivolous experiment that is as much for funsies as anything else, but I definitely don’t want to accidentally plagiarise anyone.

    I’m going to use free AI content detection tools to get a gauge on how well GPT4 is writing. What I’d like to see is content that passes the test and is deemed to be human-generated. My theory is that Google has FAR better AI detection tech than any of the free tools. If they haven’t, then they bloomin’ well should have!

    One of the key aspects of this experiment is that I’m not just letting AI run wild. Everything is going to be very carefully prompted, to take it as far away from lazy use of AI as possible. We already know lazy AI use doesn’t work.

    Keeping track of the experiment

    I will update the metrics section at the top of this article each time I write an update on the experiment. All updates will be added to this page.

    seo scientist writing in a notepad
    This Dall-e image of me making notes makes me look so much cooler than I am in real life.

    21/10/23 – Kick off!

    Buying the domain

    I wouldn’t normally buy an expired domain but I want there to be some backlinks to kick-start this project. I have found a domain name that has one of my primary target keywords in it. I’ve not chosen an exact-match domain because it will directly help ranking (it won’t), but because the chances of the backlinks being niche-relevant are much higher.

    Domain stats:

    • 22 current domain backlinks
    • Domain originally registered in 2008
    • Dmoz listed (old skool!)

    I’ve looked on the Internet Archive to see if the domain was used for anything unsavoury, and it looks clean. The domain expired a few months ago, but that’s fine.

    The domain is a co.uk, but I’m yet to be convinced that what flavour of TLD you use for a domain makes any difference to rankings. The topic for the site is focussed on a British sub-niche of a larger niche so having a UK domain is a very marginal advtange from a user experience perspective.

    I have registered the domain for five years; long domain registrations are a minor ranking signal. Five years is the current maximum length for a UK domain name.

    The following tasks were completed today:

    • Added to cpanel hosting
    • Set up free SSL
    • Installed WordPress using Softalicious auto-install
    • Picked a free WordPress theme
    • Added Yoast (free version) and Google Tag Manager plugins
    • Set up Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and Google Search Console
    • Create Semrush project
    • Used GPT4 to generate a list of ping update services and added them to site settings
    • Created initial keyword clusters in Semrush

    I also added the first bits of content and submitted some of the pages to Search Console to request indexing.

    It was impossible to get any of the content to pass an AI content test, no matter how much editing I did. So the tests are either really great now or they don’t work.

    12/11/23 – adding content

    Posts/pages added today – 9

    The site is getting no traffic and has no rankings, which isn’t a surprise considering that it only has one blog post! Search Console is informing me that the homepage is now indexed, but only the homepage.

    The time has come to shove some more posts on the site. Here’s the workflow I’m going to use:

    1. Use Semrush to do keyword research and create a keyword cluster
    2. Generate a list of primary and secondary target keywords using Semrush
    3. Use this ‘master copywriter’ engineered prompt for GPT4
    4. Check all articles with Grammarly
    5. Use Dall-e to generate images for the articles
    6. Submit new posts to Search Console

    This method of creating clusters lends itself nicely to creating a load of articles that can all be assigned to one blog post category on the website. This way I can choose a different workflow, for a different category, next time I add content. I’m hoping this will make comparing results from the different workflows much easier.

    I’m still creating articles one at a time with this method, but in future, I want to test bulk-generating content.

    I also installed the free version of the Interlink Manager plugin. The theory is that the plugin automatically creates all your internal links for you. This sounds like a terrible idea. But I’ll happily chuck it at this test site to see what happens. I’m guessing that if the links are generated dynamically, rather than being written to the pages then Google probably won’t see the links anyway!

    Who are the best SEO agencies in Ipswich, Suffolk?

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    I have been based in Ipswich, Suffolk, for years. I have had the great pleasure of speaking to, and collaborating with many different companies. So, who is the best SEO agency in Ipswich?

    I have made my feelings and opinions on SEO known on this website and on many other sites, podcasts, news outlets, radio stations, and when speaking at business events.

    I am often asked about other SEO agencies, especially those in Ipswich. Talking about competitors is healthy for the world of SEO agencies and beneficial for anyone looking for an SEO agency to work with.

    two people helping each other

    Here (in no particular order) is a list of some of the SEO Agencies in the Ipswich area that are well-established and have a solid history:

    Crafted

    Crafted was founded in 2008. They are an agency that offers digital marketing, SEO, advertising and other services. According to the ‘about’ page on their website, they are proudly independent.

    Generate Leads Online

    Generate Leads Online, also known as GLO, is an Ipswich-based agency focused on helping businesses grow, in their own words, ‘with data drive digital marketing’. GLO won an award for ‘Start-up Business of the Year’ at the Suffolk Business Awards in 2022.

    Logic Design

    Founded in 2005, Logic Design work with a wide range of clients, both large and small. The Logic Design offices are located in Ipswich, and like many SEO agencies, they work with clients throughout the United Kingdom. Logic Design has won several awards and was a finalist in the UK Search Awards in 2022.

    Strategiq

    Strategiq has been building a reputation locally and nationally for years. In addition to SEO, Strategiq offers creative, marketing and technical services. In their own words they are ‘the strategy agency’.

    Seomers

    Led by Daniel Somers, Seomers describe themselves as ‘marketing without fluff’. Seomers offer SEO, PPC, Marketing and training. They have worked with an impressive lineup of companies, as have all the companies on this page.

    So here are just five companies in Ipswich, Suffolk, to consider if you are looking for quotes for SEO support. There are more Ipswich SEO Agencies listed on clutch.

    If you are in the process of choosing an SEO agency, you might find our ‘how to choose an SEO agency‘ blog post useful.