SEO Devon
Search engine optimisation for businesses across Devon.
Since 2014 I have been improving organic rankings with ethical SEO, Devon companies and national businesses alike, from a plumber who only covers Exeter to online shops that sell to the whole country. The work is transparent, the reporting is in plain English and the measure is enquiries, not vanity rankings.
What SEO is, and why it matters in Devon.
Nearly all of the clicks go to the first page. Most of them go to the top five results.
Search engine optimisation is the work of improving where your website appears in Google and Bing for the searches your customers make. Think about your own habits: how often do you reach the second page of results, or even the bottom of the first? The top five listings take around two-thirds of all clicks, and the first page takes nearly all of them. A site that is not on it is, for practical purposes, invisible.
That is also why SEO is worth doing. A top ranking for the terms that matter brings a steady flow of free, well-targeted traffic, and more of the right visitors means more enquiries, sales and bookings. For a Devon business, the local map results are usually where that starts, and the wider county or national terms follow once the foundations are right.
How I approach SEOWhat ranking in Devon takes.
The work behind every SEO engagement, in plain terms.
- Website and competitor analysisA technical audit of your site and a look at who already ranks for your terms, so the plan is based on evidence rather than guesswork.
- Keyword research with intentThe searches worth winning, mapped to pages, with the competitive ones planned honestly and the easy wins taken first.
- On-page optimisationTitles, descriptions, headings, internal links and copy, page by page, with one clear topic each.
- Technical foundationsSpeed, mobile performance, site-wide SSL, indexing and structured data, fixed rather than just reported.
- Local searchGoogle Business Profile, reviews, consistent citations and area pages for the towns you serve.
- Link earning and reportingLinks earned through useful content, local partnerships and press, never bought, with a monthly report you can actually read.
Local SEO or national SEO?
The first question in every project is who your customer is and where they are.
If you are a plumber who only covers Exeter, ranking nationally for “plumber” would be expensive and pointless. If you sell watches online, limiting yourself to Devon would leave most of your market untouched. Local SEO generally costs less and moves faster, because there is far less competition; local terms typically start ranking in three to six months, the larger national keywords in nine to twelve.
Most of my clients end up with a mixture, and I usually recommend starting local because those results arrive first and fund the longer work. Every case is different, so the first step is a conversation about your customers, and then a written plan. The pages for Exeter and Plymouth show how the local version works in a single city.
When the website itself is holding you backServices for Devon businesses.
Search is one part of it; the website, the words and the shop are the others, and they come from the same desk.
Web Design & Development
Bespoke, fast websites designed to win customers, not just look the part.
Learn more about web design & developmentSearch Engine Optimisation
Technical, local and content SEO that moves you up Google and Bing for the searches that matter.
Learn more about search engine optimisationBrand Design & Strategy
Logos, identity and the visual rules that make a business look like one.
Learn more about brand design & strategyCopywriting
Words that explain what you do, answer what customers ask and give pages a reason to rank.
Learn more about copywritingCustom Plugins
Plugins for WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify built for exactly what your site needs.
Learn more about custom pluginsBased in Brixham. Ranking businesses across Devon.
And avoiding the SEO cowboys while we are at it.
I get a fair few calls from people who have been stung by SEO companies before. Because rankings take time, an unscrupulous firm can charge every month while doing nothing, or doing things that quietly harm the site. Two tests sort the good from the bad: ask for references you can actually phone, and ask for the plan. Any decent SEO company will tell you exactly how it intends to move your site up; if that is “confidential”, walk away.
With me there are no secrets between client and consultant. You get a written plan, a monthly report in plain English, month-to-month terms and a phone number that is answered. Devon clients can meet me in person; everyone else gets the same work over a call.
More about how I workSEO questions from Devon businesses.
Local terms in a Devon town typically start moving within three to six months; competitive county-wide and national keywords usually take nine to twelve. Technical improvements can register within weeks. You get a realistic timescale for each term up front, not a single promise for the lot.
Not of rankings, because the only party who can guarantee a ranking is Google. The guarantee I can give is about conduct: a plan you have seen in writing, nothing done that could get the site penalised, and a monthly report where the number that matters most is enquiries, not positions.
No. SEO is ongoing work, but my clients stay because the results justify it, not because a contract makes them. Month to month, with a plan we both agree to.
Not much. WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and hand-built sites all respond to the same work. What matters is the audit at the beginning: it tells us whether the structure and speed are good enough to build on, and in a minority of cases whether a rebuild would be cheaper than the repairs.
Yes. Online shops and companies selling across the UK are a regular part of the work. The method is the same; the keywords are more competitive and the timescales longer, and I will say so up front.
With your web address and a short list of the searches you care about, sent via the contact page. I reply with an honest picture of where the site sits today, the first things I would change and what the monthly work would cost.
Ask for an SEO review of your site.
Your web address and the searches that matter are all I need to send back a written assessment and a first plan, in plain English, which is how I have always done SEO, Devon-wide and beyond.
- 1You send a few lines.What the business does and what the website needs to do.
- 2I reply, personally.Usually the same day, with questions and a time for a call.
- 3You get a written proposal.Scope, stages and price for exactly that. No obligation, no hard sell.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. The person who answers is the person who builds.