SEO SLIGO

This is a very common question. The truth is that this varies depending on the competitiveness of your key terms or words or your industry. And how well your competitors in the North West region do their Search Engine Optimisation. Nobody can honestly guarantee you a Page 1 ranking for Sligo Ireland. However, a good SEO or Web Design Agency might give you an indication after the first month or two. As any golfer in Strandhill or Rosses Point  would tell you, it is all about playing the course in front of you on any given day.

Strandhill Golf Club Sligo

When on a journey in Sligo

Explore the charming and vibrant town of Sligo Downtown! Tucked away on the west coast of Ireland, Sligo Downtown is a hidden gem of local destination spots that are waiting to be discovered. From quaint coffee shops to unique boutiques, and everything in between, Sligo Downtown offers a variety of experiences that cater to every interest and taste. In this article, we will explore some of the must-visit places in Sligo Downtown, so you can plan your next adventure and discover the heart of this beautiful town. So, whether you’re a local looking for a new spot to explore or a visitor to the area, get ready to fall in love with the charm and character of Sligo Downtown!

Sligo has many popular spots for visitors and locals alike. Here are some known local spots in downtown Sligo:

O’Connell Street: 

This is the main street in downtown Sligo and is lined with shops, cafes, restaurants, and pubs.

Quayside Shopping Centre: 

This shopping center is located on Wine Street and offers a range of shops and boutiques selling clothes, jewelry, and gifts.

Sligo Market: 

This outdoor market takes place every Saturday on Castle Street and offers a range of local produce, crafts, and goods.

Sligo Abbey: 

This historic site is located on Abbey Street and dates back to the 13th century. It is one of the best-preserved medieval abbeys in Ireland and offers guided tours.

The Model Arts Centre: 

This contemporary arts center is located in The Mall and offers a range of exhibitions, performances, and events.

Yeats Memorial Building: 

This cultural center is located on Hyde Bridge and is dedicated to the life and works of the famous Irish poet W.B. Yeats. It features exhibits, events, and performances related to Yeats and his legacy.

The Hawk’s Well Theatre: 

This theater is located on Temple Street and offers a range of performances, including theater, music, and dance.

The Glasshouse Hotel: 

This modern hotel is located on Swan Point and offers stunning views of the Garavogue River and Sligo Bay.

The Garavogue River: 

This river runs through the center of Sligo and is a popular spot for walking, jogging, and cycling.

The Hyde Bridge:

 This historic bridge spans the Garavogue River and offers stunning views of Sligo town and the surrounding countryside.

If you’re a business owner in Sligo, Ireland, looking to boost your online presence and reach more customers, then look no further than MEANit’s SEO services. Our team of experts can help improve your website’s search engine ranking, increase traffic to your site, and ultimately, drive more sales for your business. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your online presence to the next level, our tailored solutions can help you achieve your goals. So, if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, contact us today to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced SEO specialists. Let MEANit help you unlock the full potential of your online presence!

You will see people offering to do SEO for less money. Some will even guarantee more traffic or higher ranking for some words. Or higher CTR click through rate. Usually, most of these guys just want your money and it is a numbers game for them. They are forever selling and getting more short term clients. That is how they work. Check, in an Incognito window, for private browsing, if they even rank for the services they offer. Look at their Google Reviews and see if businesses like yours in the Sligo area recommend people like them.
What you invest is up to you. The more you invest the better the results in leads or sales should be. However the fact is that the first few months are all just a gamble, to find out if we can do what we say and deliver some results for you. Make a decision to commit to 3 or 6 months and get started. If you get the wrong people initially, simply find a replacement agency, until you get it right. Same as you would do with any other suppliers.

Sligo Benbulben Mountain

When you invest in SEO services including local SEO or GBP management, you’re not just paying for the time spent on your project.

You are also investing in:

– Expertise – gathered from doing this professionally and studying SEO for years
– Experience – gained form years on the tools
– Research – the SEO team spend countless hours studying tactics and the effects of algorithms
– Tools and software – SEO requires quite a few complex paid tools
– Professional writers – not some AI tool
– Skilled link builders – engaging with other website owners to get backlinks
– Strategic planning – we need to always start with a plan
– Time management – we could end up spending days on a project, with endless possible rabbit holes
– Reliability – every day, every week, every month, repeatedly doing the work required
– Accountability – without results we know you will find someone else
– Precision – without due care an SEO team could do more damage than good
– Compliance with best practices – whether it is GDPR or WCAG we need to know the rules and work within the guidelines
– Keep updated with industry – spending time with other agencies and developers to sharpen our skills
– Security measures and Monitoring – more tools to protect your web presence

Criticizing the ‘cost’ of SEO services without understanding the depth of work involved is not really fair. And you should get back more than you are investing anyway. So many people want to be paid ‘well’ for their professional service, but struggle when it comes to paying well for a professional service provided to them. When you work with the right fit agency you will have no problem paying well. How your treat people who deliver a service like for you is exactly how your new customers will turn up looking for your service. It is just the way it works. Put out what you want to get back, treat people as you want to be treated.

We may be able to generate more traffic, better traffic, more enquiries, however it is still down to you to make the sale. If we get 100 more people a month to your door in Sligo or online, how many can you convert.

SEO Sligo is never-ending. And if you do get more traffic and more sales, why would you stop doing it?
Only after a few months will be able to tell you how long it should take to rank for a keyword or term. Find an SEO Sligo company and commit to 3 or 6 months. Then review the results. If you get the wrong team initially, find another one. Just like you would do with any other supplier.

Once you get it right, SEO becomes a big part of your ongoing advertising. My friend Sue Ginsburg likes to quote Henry Ford “The man who stops advertising to save money, is like the man who stops a clock to save time”. 

Things change in search and the way people use search and in Google algorithms. Add to that the fact that your competitors will be chasing you online, so it is important to stay fit and in good shape online.

The good news is that SEO is the lowest cost, most effective way to get enquiries, leads or sales. And done well you can stop running around looking for ways to get leads and just concentrate on managing your business, your production or growing your team. So many people get busy looking at all the shiny new tools and offers that crop up. Once you get your SEO right, stick with it, push it as hard as you need to do, to fill your pipeline.

SEO is NOT a cost, it is an investment. One that done right will give you the best return on your spend.

SEO Derry Services, MEANit SEO Agency

We get an idea of keywords from you and then we research your competitors in the Sligo area and add them to the list. Then we can start with one or two or however many you want. But let’s see what the list looks like after a month or two of grunt work by us. Only after a few months will be able to tell you how long it should take to rank for a word or term. Some words or terms may take longer than others for your industry. We work the time agreed to use the tools available on your behalf.

No. This is work for a day or half a day or two days and we charge for it. Ignore the FREE online options that are generic, just to hook you. Pay for the Audit and then decide if you want to proceed with the SEO that’s it.

What is SEO or Search Engine Optimisation?- If you have time to learn a bit more or even how to do it yourself, read our FREE SEO Guide to optimising your website for Sligo, or wherever you are based in Ireland– find all the details in the Guide on ‘What Is SEO’.

In no particular order here are some of the tasks we do for SEO clients, depending on what is urgent at any given time.

Technical SEO
Fix technical SEO issues
Fix any canonical or cannibalisation issues
Ensure domain variations all point to the root, as in http://www.meanit.ie and https:// www.meanit.ie  to https://meanit.ie
Clean up existing links
Clean up code
No Index paginated results
Test mobile-friendly version rendering and speed
You can address mobile-first indexing
Improve site delivery for core web vitals
Check the HREF LANG configuration
Ensure the hosting environment is adequate, secure, and fast with no IP neighbour issues
Check that the robots txt file is correct
Test and improve accessibility

Content SEO
Write up a content strategy
Write new, high-quality, topical content
Work on domain overall authority in your industry
Expand on topics covered in page content relative to your industry
Edit pages to respond better to end-user intent
Create content around Brand promotions elsewhere
Cull or curate old content or reduce the number of pages
Ensure all content is original or paid for
Check all images are correctly sized for the web
Check all images are correctly named with the proper naming convention
Clean out any old images from the Media library

On-Site SEO
Work on internal linking
Improve ‘Brand’ trust
Add to or improve Schema
Tweak or improve Page titles to engage in SERPs
Tweak or improve meta descriptions to convert more visitors
Use or improve anchor texts
Use a mini menu structure with jump links in long articles
Create and A/B Test landing pages

Off-Site SEO
Build new relevant links
Disavow unsuitable links
Work on your Google Business Profile entry
Work on the Linkedin Business Profile
Work on Facebook Business Page
Check external links to your internal pages
Resolve any current Google Search Console coverage issues
Do NAP audits for listings with your Name, Address, and Phone number
Get more reviews
Compare competitor sites and reverse engineer
Do some PPC or engage someone to manage a campaign
Constantly check, add to, improve, and edit Web 2.0 listings

Typical Plan or flow of SEO work over 6 months to a year

We would usually work in this sort of order:
1. SEO Initial Assessment
2. On-Page SEO
3. Web Core Vitals
4. . Google Business Profile
5. Navigation Restructure
6. On-Page SEO
7. Off-Page SEO Web 2.0
8. Content Audit
9.  Linkedin
10. On-Page SEO

Every client is different, so we focus on what exactly each client needs at any given time, in order to get the results they want.

Some start with a Technical Audit or SEO Audit and request Onsite Optimisation or Offsite Optimisation, perhaps for Local Search Optimisation and ask for Content creation or guided recommendations, whilst some just ask for Keyword Analysis or Mobile Optimisation and some want detailed Reporting with full Tracking details. We have a proven system that we like to use, however, we are happy to tweak it to suit each individual project.

Title Tags Optimisation
META Tags Optimisation
Back Linking
Images Optimisation
Sitemap update submissions
Broken links
301 Redirects
404 error check and repair

On-page edits
Content Optimisation
Internal Link Optimisation
Alt tags
Meta Descriptions
Page Titles

How much does SEO cost in Sligo or Ireland?

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation entails a lot of different tasks and skills. So it needs a specialist or a specialist team of SEOs and developers to apply any technical or code changes, plus perhaps a graphic designer. Usually an agency will bill an hourly rate to include the use of the team members, whichever are required at any given time. An average rate is about €100, but many do charge twice that figure. A freelancer may charge less, but therefore does not have the full team with all the skills required.

In the USA the average spend in 2021 on SEO services by a small company was about $500 a month, as referenced by Brian Dean at Backlinko. They surveyed 1200 small businesses or companies who identified as investing in monthly SEO services. Many invest thousands a month and most are happy with their returns. These business plan to invest more in 2022. Most who spend under $500 a month are generally not happy with the results. These respondents do not plan to stick with theircurrent agency or freelancer.

What are the options when getting someone to do your SEO?

Employ an SEO.
You could employ someone inhouse to do your SEO and the going rate is between €30,000 for a start and about €70,000 for the more experienced SEO, so the average salary is about €50,000 in Ireland. This is about €30 per hour plus tax and benefits.
Pros – include having the person in your physical office to do as instructed, when instructed.
Cons – You have to find someone suitable to recruit, manage them, look after them with benefits such as sick pay and holidays etc.

Employ a Freelancer.
There is a plethora of Freelancers offering SEO services and they can seem like the cheap or low cost option. The good ones are freelancing because an agency will pay them between €30 and €60 an hour, whereas they can get €100+ if they work directly with the client. The better ones can code as well as do SEO. And the unicorns can do both, plus be qualified graphic designers too!
Pros – They are self employed. You simply pay an agreed hourly rate. And there are no extra benefits. You can sack them at any time.
Cons – You still have to find one that you think is good and then gamble on them for a while to see if they are any good. And if they leave you can be left in a situation where you do not know where you stand, so you have to start all over again.

Employ an Agency
Pros – They have to find their own staff, train them and make sure they are good at their job, then manage them and provide relief staff for holidays and sickness. They have to do any recruiting and replace people who leave. They have to deliver results for you or you can just leave to go to their competitor.
Cons – It costs you more (or it can appear to cost you more).

SEO Sevices rates or costs
Some SEO services are more expensive to buy and deliver than others. You can expect to pay more for Link Building or website management, eCommerce or Enterprise SEO, creating Infographics, and videography. More that is than paying for Social Media marketing or management, keyword research or writing simple blog articles, on-page or off-page SEO, audits, and guest posting.
A good agency can be tasked with doing everything, whereas employees or Freelancers tend to focus on one or two services.

Marketing Budget versus SEO Budget
If you have a budget of say 10% of overall sales and you sell €1m a year, take that €100k as the Marketing budget, then allocate say 20% to 25% to SEO services. This is about industry standards. If you are applying metrics to all your marketing spending, you should be able to determine which tactics work best. It could be as simple as asking new customers, where did they get your contact details or why did they call you.

Bottom Line

If you really do understand SEO Search Engine Optimisation, you could employ someone to do the work you give them through a comprehensive SEO Plan. If you do not want to employ someone, you could try some freelancers and hope to get a good one, even if it is short-lived.
However, if you want to have a team of specialists do the work and get the results, hire an agency. Give them 6 months to get some results, to show a good return on your investment. What is the average LTV Life Time Value of a new client for you?  If the first Agency does not work out find another one until you get it right. Then build a mutually beneficial long-term relationship, so that you can work and grow together. Any good agency will not want short-term clients, so they will run you through as much of a filter as you apply to select them.

Not every website needs SEO Search Engine Optimisation?

Some people have a website more as a Digital Business card.

When you meet someone you are likely to google them. This is where SEO comes in, as you want to turn up when someone does that search. And you want to look professional. However, this could be as simple as having a one-page website or a basic site such as Wix or Weebly. Add some relevant text and some images, along with your contact details and that are you done.

Will this simple one-page site work without SEO?

Yes and no.

This one-page or simple website may work if you are going to send people to it, use it on your business card or advertising etc. For example something like www  johnsmithaccountant.com

However, it will probably not rank in Google for anything, but the domain name itself. In a search for “john smith accountant” this site may turn up. It is unlikely to turn up in a search for accountant or any specific accounting service. Depending on the competition and the number of competitors in the geographic location of the business.

If ‘John Smith Accountant’ is based in a city, let’s say Sligo or better still Dublin or maybe Birmingham, he may get found for “john smith accountant”, but he will not rank for John smith or for ‘accountant’ or for any accountant services.

Generally, you can rank one page for one term or keyphrase. So if you have five services, you will want at least one page for each one, to be able to optimse for these services in your target area.

Is this enough for you?
Maybe this is enough. You can direct people straight to your website. Or you could do Ads such as Google Ads or Facebook or Linkedin Ads, to bring people to this website. Effectively you pay to play.

Bottom Line
If you are happy to bring people to the website by advertising, then you do not need SEO.

If you are paying for ads to get visitors, it will work, but it may become very expensive after a while. Once you stop paying, you stop displaying too.

Investing in SEO is a longer term tactic. And it is one that over time reduces your requirement to spend so much on Ads as a tactic.

Initially you could do both, advertise in the short term whilst doing SEO for the long term.

Remember that SEO is a tactic, but it is not the only way to promote your business in County Sligo or further afield. So all the usual ways such as social media marketing, signage, livery, adverts in newspapers like the Sligo Champion or Sligo Weekender, magazine also can work. TV, OceanFM Radio, Van wraps, uniforms and loads of other standard marketing channels.

Fact check – We reckon that the overall figure is really about 1% click on the first ad in Google. The vast majority or 20% to 40% click on the first ‘organic’ result and half of that for the second organic result. Just as many will simply refine their search and move on to another page of results. Sounds surprising, and yet you know you do that yourself. Good SEO is critical.