Brief: SEO & Competitor Analysis 1H2022

CLIENT BACKGROUND
My client is a Small/Medium Enterprise (SME) manufacturer/designer of building controls
systems and services, and they are in the engineering part of the UK construction industry. Their
website is currently 7 pages long; new pages are in plan, to be added on an ad hoc basis.

My client’s aims are to:

o Achieve a rise in search engine rankings, and be on the top of the first page of hits
o Make themselves easier to find by end users and decision makers who are searching for
building controls services like theirs
o Currently most of their business comes from recommendations and winning tenders (i.e.
bidding); my client wants to attract more business outside of these 2 sources.

REQUIREMENTS:
o 2 reports are planned for the first half of 2022: one SEO audit and one competitor
analysis/research.
o For the SEO audit, you will provide 2 short reports:
§ After doing an initial audit, you will provide a list of what you found, and the
corrective actions you propose that you will need to take. This report will be for
myself and the operations manager. We will then confirm which actions you can
go ahead with.
§ After you do the approved corrective actions, you will provide a final report
which lists:
à What you have done
à Your recommendations for improvement of the site’s SEO, and
à Actions to take for my client’s site to move up the rankings.
§ These 2 reports just need to be short and to the point; we are interested in
finding out how you would see working with us and what you see as your
contribution to my client’s goal of reaching the top of search engine rankings.
o If my client is happy with the results of these 2 studies, then we will look at doing more
in the second half of 2022. So the lists below may not apply now, but they could at the
end of the year.

SCOPE OF SEO AUDIT:

The scope of the SEO audit will cover some, possibly not all, of the items below. Some of the
items on this list may not apply right now. But over the course of the year, we accept that the
situation could change. This is why these items are included in this audit list.

1. Technical Analysis
o Page loading time
o Checking for broken links & duplicate pages
o Google Analytics and analysis of results (note: Google Analytics is already set up)
o XML and HTML Sitemap checking and updating as necessary
o Robots.TXT file checking and updating
o Make recommendations based on the above findings

2. On-Page Optimisation:
o Meta Description Tags
o Title Tags Optimisation
o Header & Alt Tags

ICEDHOTIDEAS SEO_RESEARCH 1H2022V2 1 03JAN22

 o Image Title Tags
o URL Link Path & Internal Linking
o Content Optimisation
o Creation of Internal Links

3. High Quality Link Building (Off Page SEO) – this may include any of the following that apply
to my client’s business:
o Creating Inbound Links from trusted sources
o Outbound links
o Do follow Social Bookmarking links
o High PA & DA Web 2.0 Links
o Blog Submissions
o Local & Business Links
o Profile creation
o Dofollow Forum Posting
o Related Niche Blog Commenting
o Document Submissions
o Classified Ads submissions
o PPT Submissions
o Google Local Business add

SCOPE OF ONLINE COMPETITOR RESEARCH

Only UK information is needed.
This is a niche market, and we appreciate that you may not be familiar with the UK construction
industry. So we will provide as much guidance and background information as you may need.
o What are the sectors (education, research, residential, etc) that each competitor
provides services in?
o Backlinks:
§ List out the backlinks that are in the competitors’ sites – what products/services
and from which companies.
o What types of jobs did they do in each sector:
§ When, where and how much was each job
§ We need the name of the client for whom the job was done
o Sustainability - what are the services each competitor offers for:
§ Sustainability in terms of carbon saving / carbon emissions / net zero
§ Sustainability through ‘Smart Buildings’ i.e. buildings using Internet of Things
(IoT)
o What is the profile of the clients that commissioned these jobs:
§ The name, size of company, URL, management names & LinkedIn
§ What sector are they in (education, research, etc)
§ What other jobs requiring building management systems have they
commissioned in the past 5 years
Þ Who are the suppliers/companies that won these contracts?
o What insights / impressions can you give on the competition and the marketplace based
on your research?

FURTHER DETAILS ON COMPETITOR RESEARCH:

o This research and analysis work is entirely on the UK, specifically England
o 5 Competitor company names and URLs will be provided to you
o Names of the competitors’ clients are often mentioned in the competitors’ websites
under their Projects, News and Case Studies pages which you will also be analysing. For

ICEDHOTIDEAS SEO_RESEARCH 1H2022V2 2 03JAN22

 some of the questions we are asking, you may have to go to the competitors’ clients’
websites to find answers.
o If there are any engineering/construction concepts or client names which need
clarification, you need to ask us.
o Only one report is needed, but you will need to present your initial findings to us after a
week, so that we can see if you are on the right track.

TIMESCALE:
We are currently looking at one SEO Audit and one Competitor Research in the first half of 2022.

Allowing 2-3 weeks per audit/research activity, the project timeline would go like this:

• February: SEO Audit

• April: Competitor Research

For the SEO reports, we are looking at 7 days for your first short report, then 4-5 days needed for
my operations manager and myself to discuss this with the client. After this, there are another 7
days for your corrective actions and the second report. As mentioned, we don’t want long,
complicated reports, just an outline of your ideas / observations / suggestions.

Only one report is needed for Competitor research, but we would like to review your initial
findings after 7 days to see if you are on the right track.

FEE:
The timeline above is just a roadmap for the first half of the year.

Based on the criteria listed above, the time that would be needed for the SEO audit of a 7-page
website is not high.
o We are allowing 2-3 weeks (14-21 days) for you to complete each study, although we
would very much appreciate if this can be completed in less time
o I am therefore proposing $100 for each audit/analysis activity, i.e. $200 for the 2
activities.

You will be paid by the project, i.e. after the February activity is completed you will be paid, and
another contract will be created for the next project in April.

If my client is happy with the results, then he will consider funding for the second half of the
year. If this is the case, then I will let you know if the project will be extended.

For us, part of the importance of this project would be in seeing how you would fit working with
us over a longer period of time, and what you see as your contribution to my client’s goal of
reaching the top of search engine rankings.

Please review this brief prior to our meeting, and let me know if you have any questions and/or
if you agree to the terms above.

Many thanks,
Brenda

ICEDHOTIDEAS SEO_RESEARCH 1H2022V2 3 03JAN22