Top 10 UK SEO suppliers for 2004

For the last 2 years I have reviewed the top Search Engine Optimisation suppliers in the UK based on their performance in achieving top rankings for themselves. This year I find it more difficult to be fair when the top firms now have a longer record of practical client service, and differences in simple measures can be marginal.

Google is now in such a dominant position in the search engine market that its results have a major immediate impact on traffic. So this year I have chosen to look just at Google and just at the key phrase most used for SEO companies.

They also made a significant change in their ranking algorithms last November that had a particular impact on SEO companies. Google's constant aim is to improve the quality and relevance of search results for the searchers. They want to limit the effect of 'spam' by webmasters they see as 'manipulating' results for their own benefit. So what effect did it have on our top specialists?

If you search for 'search engine optimisation' in Google UK for UK sites only, these are the top 10 results on 5th January out of a total of 86,900:

Congratulations are due to Search Engine Serious and Make Me Top. They are the only 2 to have appeared in the same list at the end of 2002. The other 8 are not new to top rankings either; but have simply improved their Google performance.

Google advise that a major part of their rankings are due to the PageRank they measure for each page and the external links to it. PageRanks above 5 are unusual - particularly for small sites. But neither that nor the number of links relate directly to the results above. Google guards its secrets closely.

1)	It is possible to achieve consistent positions on the most competitive keywords - but it is highly risky to base all your strategy on assumptions of success
2)	Content is likely to be increasingly important in achieving high rankings
3)	Linking strategies have to be based on more than simply adding reciprocal links. 'Link Farms' are already a negative but other links will not do much good unless they are the result of others wanting to link to you for the quality of the content you offer.
4)	Major improvements in content are expensive. Many small companies will find it more economic to spend money on CPC advertising to prove the potential profitability of their sites before making such an investment.