SEO = Search Engine Optimisation - the art of persuading Google (and others) to give your website prominence in search results so that you get more clicks and visitors

ORGANIC SEO = making a website play by the rules set by search providers by changing its content to meet their requirements whilst still delivering the customer experience you require

There are several different techniques you can use to get noticed on search engines, including:

- Paying for the privilege - "PPC" or "Pay Per Click" to place adverts on search results pages (e.g. Google Adwords) ← most "SEO experts" will sell you this

- "Black Hat" and "Grey Hat" techniques which might get you a short term boost but cost you in the long run ← you really don't want to do this

- Simply playing by the rules - delivering properly marked-up and informative website content as quickly and cleanly as possible ← WE DO THIS

In our experience, most good website designers are exactly that - designers - making attractive-looking websites usually from some kind of content management system or tooling framework such as Wordpress, Drupal, React.js, Node.js, Gatsby... the list goes on

Unfortunately these tools, whilst helping speed up development and ease future maintenance, tend to introduce a lot of "bloat" behind the scenes, especially once you start adding various plug-ins and templates to deliver specific requirements, which can cause search engines to penalise your ranking due to poor performance

Often, in order to speed up delivery or save a few £s, existing written content is reused over and over within a new website - either copied from an older website or from printed materials, social media posts etc.

Rarely do we find Organic SEO high up on the priority list of a web designer which is why there is almost invariably room for improvement

Add to this the fact that search engines regularly update their algorithms, and even the best performing website can soon start to drift unless it is constantly monitored and maintained

Every website and therefore every commission is different, however the general process is:

- PA20 Web Solutions will study your existing website in detail both from a contextual and a technical perspective

- This will usually mean giving us access to tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics (or similar)

- We will then report our findings along with a series of recommendations for improvement going forward

- Depending on the arrangement you have with your current website providers, we can either take care of those recommendations for you against an agreed timeline and budget, or you can pass on our suggestions to the relevant bodies

- You can then ask us to monitor performance as the changes get applied, with regular strategy updates

In terms of pricing, how long is a piece of string? To keep things simple, we have a set hourly rate that we charge for any activity we undertake - this is a fair market rate at the lower end of the range, reflecting our desire to remain a small niche consultancy and lack of city centre expenses

Once we've had a quick look at your requirements, we can estimate the time required for the steps needed and this will give you a budget - it's up to you how quickly we spend it - some clients want everything tomorrow, and others are happy to spread it over a number of months

We don't publish our portfolio as we don't like to brag - and some of our clients take our involvement privately

Over the years we have worked on websites across a wide range of markets - entertainment, education, retail, services, tourism, consumer goods, transport and more

If references is a make-or-break thing for you, we're sure we can put you in touch with a couple of our former clients - just let us know

Oh, by the way, PA20.uk is one of our side-projects - go and google pretty much anything about our home island of Bute and see how we do...

PA20 Web Solutions was set up by Martin Harris, a 39-year veteran IT consultant who cut his teeth on ZX80s way back when

Since then, Martin has had an interesting IT career, starting as a programmer working with HMRC and direct mailing firms, then a technical support role in the public transport and legal markets, an IT management role with Stagecoach, global IT project management for Unilever and finally IT director for travel specialist Education Destination

In 2009, he set up his own freelance consultancy and nowadays manages a range of subscription-based lead generation websites as well as managing Organic SEO Consultancy