On-site SEO for small businesses in Cheltenham

SEO can feel like a dark art. It isn’t. It’s about understanding what your customers are searching for, and making sure your website answers that better than anyone else’s.

Search engines want to give people the best possible result for their search. SEO is about being that result — not by tricking algorithms, but by building a site that genuinely serves the people searching for it.

I work with small businesses to improve on-site SEO over time: the structure, content, and technical foundations that help search engines understand and rank your site. It’s a long-term strategy, and one that works best alongside the conversion side of things too — see our Website Growth approach for how SEO and CRO work together.

What’s included

The main features of our SEO packages include keyword research, competitor analysis, content optimisation, reporting, website audits, and consultation.

Keyword Research

We work with our clients to understand their target market, and the terms that they may be searching for through keyword research, using Premium SEO tools. We match this information to long term keywords that have the ability to draw in new traffic to their website, and make recommendations for new content.

We know that business owners are specialists in their field, and so we create new content based on an extensive brief filled in by the client, then optimise this content for the search term discussed, and apply to the website.

Cheltenham SEO - Search Engine Optimisation Keyword Research

Competitor Analysis

We analyse three of your online competitors who feature the search terms you want to target. We make recommendations on areas of your website that need improvement, as well as new content ideas. We track the common keywords from your website and your competitors’ websites over time, and report on this monthly.

Content Optimisation

Once the initial copy is written, we use our Premium onsite SEO software to integrate your keyword/s into your content, including titles, meta tags, images, and internal links. We also include other relevant terms that give search engines the right indicators that the content is relevant. Don’t worry, we will never keyword stuff your content; this is bad practice and likely to harm, rather than help, your website position.

optimise copy for SEO - Search Engine Optimisation for website content

Search Engine Optimisation SEO report for your website

Reporting

We provide monthly reports to show where you appear in search results for your keyword terms, and we also provide real-time data dashboards that can inform future direction and highlight unexpected opportunities.

Website Audit

Search engines take so much more than just the keyword into consideration, when deciding where to rank your business’s website. We perform a quarterly site audit that can indicate areas of the site that need more work – page speed optimisation, missing code, and mobile optimisation are all factors in how search engines decide to position your website. If your audit highlights a significant amount of work that’s urgently needed, we will quote for this at a reduced hourly rate. For small tweaks and adjustments that are simple to undertake, we will do these as a complementary service for all our Search Engine plan clients.

Consultation

Our regular web consultation is a chance to review the reports, dashboards, and audits, and provides an opportunity to spot issues and drive future strategy for your website. Google announces algorithm updates very regularly, so a site made to meet yesterday’s standards won’t necessarily meet today’s. Whilst the focus of our plans are SEO based, we will integrate general website advice, as search engines evolve their strategy continuously and may make algorithm updates in the future that relate to those aspects. Some examples of this. in recent times, include transitioning websites to SSL, implementing cookie-blocking functionality for visitors, and Schema markup (which allows more of your content to appear in searches).

“Very impressed! The site has definitely brought in new business. I will be engaging Happy by Design to help with advertising and email marketing”

“Happy by Design were absolutely brilliant from the very start – quick, efficient, innovative and with a flair for style and design.”

“I would recommend Happy by Design without question to others looking for designers that genuinely care about delivering the right results. Many thanks! “

Website SEO Plan FAQs

Common questions about Happy by Design website SEO packages.

What's a keyword?

A keyword is probably the single most misused term in all online marketing. When we refer to keywords, what we mean are search terms that users enter into search engines. This is normally more than a single word. Short keywords, such as ‘SEO’, are highly competitive and prove challenging for more relevant searches. Longer terms, or Key Phrases, such as ‘SEO Plans in Cheltenham’, are likely to be less competitive and more relevant. Customers who find you using longer search terms are more likely to need your services and they will see you as a good fit for their needs.

Do you write the content?

We ask that you create some initial content around a topic for us to optimise for you. We provide useful guides on how to do this, and collect this content via an extensive brief. We do this, as you are the expert in your business, and we find that working together on this process creates the very best content for your website’s users.

Don’t like writing content? We can write original content, in full, for an additional fee per article, providing a good and thorough brief.

Will you change my content?

Search Engine Optimisation is simpler than many imagine, no matter how complex the terminology. In short, it is simply a matter of integrating, in a natural way, the terms that your potential customers will be searching for, and ensuring your content answers the users question in the best way possible. Sometimes, this will mean integrating those terms into content, in order to give “Search Engine Spiders” the right indicators about the content. So yes, it is likely the the content would need to change.

Do you create backlinks?

We don’t. We focus on on-site SEO only, but can advise you on the best way to get good quality relevant backlinks, over time. We would advise our clients to be wary of buying links, as this may backfire and cause Google to distrust you. It’s also worth being aware of many bad practise link-building strategies that may hurt your website, rather than help. Some SEO plans that include backlinks may mean that if you ever leave the plan, you would also lose backlinks.

Do you offer PPC?

We don’t offer PPC, as our focus and specialism is in Website Design and Organic Search Engine Optimisation. However, if this is something you would be interested in pursuing, we can put you in touch with one of our trusted partners.

What is the monthly reporting?

We provide monthly SEO reports that track all the keywords we optimise for, over time. This can indicate how well a website is performing against certain keywords, and also highlight content that needs revisiting. Often, rather than generating brand new content, revisiting pages, and updating to reflect more current information, it is a more successful strategy in the long-term. Should this be the case, we will treat this as one of your keyword optimisations for that month, after discussing in a website review.

Will I be number 1 on Google?

Organic Search Engine Optimisation can’t promise to make you number 1 on Google for any old keyword; and you should be suspicious of any marketer that promises this. But we can recommend keywords that are easier to compete for and work with you to increase your rankings, over time. Organic SEO is a long-term investment for your company that can’t pay off without ongoing time and attention. If you are looking for quick results, SEO may not be the right next step for your business. In this case, it may be advisable to undertake paid advertising and we can recommend a partner to work with.

Why should I go for the on-page SEO plan?

Your website is essentially a shop front for your business. For many people, your online presence is the first impression that they will have of your business, if it has any visibility at all. If your website doesn’t immediately answer their query, there are many, many others that possibly can. SEO strategy can inform you what your customer might be searching for, and support your business in providing a good user experience. It boosts your credibility and helps you to find your market.

Do I really need an SEO plan?

Not necessarily! Not all businesses need to invest ongoing funds, in order to compete online, and other businesses may not offer the kind of thing that people would search for. Some business require more immediate results than SEO can achieve, whilst others survive successfully via word of mouth. We will only work with you if we feel your business could benefit from SEO. Some businesses may benefit from one-off optimisations, such as page-speed tweaks, audit checks, SSL implementation, etc. We can quote for these individual SEO services, if required.

What about Local SEO?

We would recommend optimising your content for local search, if you are a small business within a locality. This can include setting up your business on Google Maps, creating location-specific landing pages, and including location-specific keyword content. We would count these as one of your monthly keywords.

What about Social Media?

We do run social media plans for a number of clients, however the Search Engine Optimisation Plans don’t include this as standard. If you would like us to include social media planning and posting in your plan, we can quote on this additionally.

Can I combine this with a Web Care Plan?

You certainly can and we would advise this, as good website maintenance is essential for a well-optimised site. We offer a 20% discount when combining our SEO plan with a Maintenance Plan.

Get a quote

Get in touch to discuss your SEO project today

Get in touch

Other SEO Services

As well as ongoing SEO Packages, we also offer a range of SEO Services that we can offer as one-off optimisations for your website, or search presence.

Local Search

We help businesses to set up a Google My Business listing, with a professional and effective business profile. We integrate location-specific keywords into your website, enabling your business to gain a competitive edge locally. Great for brick-and-mortar businesses, or those that service specific areas. Local SEO is hugely important for the success of any business offering local products, or services.

Blog Posts

Blog writing can be a huge and daunting task, and something many businesses simply don’t find the time for. We can create blog posts on your behalf. Starting with a well written and detailed brief, we ensure that we understand your business, the topic, and correct tone of voice. We’ll create copy that will integrate keywords, engage your audience, and help nurture your relationship with them.

Page Speed Boost

A slow-loading website can be a real problem for website visitors and Search Engines. We can take a look at your WordPress website and see what can be optimised to improve page speed. Whilst there’s usually lots we can do to help, one of the biggest factors is your WordPress hosting. We offer hosting that’s been developed by WordPress enthusiasts to create a user experience that’s second to none.

Google Essentials

Not all websites are built initially with Google in mind. If this is the case, we can run through essential setup with Google to ensure that it covers the basics. This includes Google Analytics setup, Google Search Console, XML site maps, and submitting pages to Google.

On-site Strategy Consultation

We can run your website through our on-site audit tool, and arrange a 30 minute consultation to discuss opportunities and areas of development. Whilst the focus of the consultation is SEO, we will integrate website design advice.

Site Audit Fixes

Once we have performed a site audit, we can work through the recommendations that arise via the report. These reports can indicate missing, or duplicate Keywords, page speed issues, and other aspects that can indicate search engine friendliness.