Search Engine Optimisation (Optimisation, SEO)

SEO Definitions

“SEO services” refers to all the actions or services provided by iCogs.

Terms including “social media exposure”, “writing product descriptions”, “press release submission”, “manually create Meta tags”, “XML sitemap creation”, “Google Shopping optimisation”, “Google Places optimisation”, all refer to SEO service options which may or may not be included in your SEO services package.

“Best practice” refers to the generally accepted informally-standardised, best techniques, methods or processes that have proven to be effective at achieving a given task.

1. Your SEO services cannot begin until you have paid for your first month.
   
   
2. Any additional SEO services you add to your existing SEO services at a later date, will incur an additional charge.
   
   
3. We do not hold you into a contract but by agreeing to these terms and conditions you agree you will serve us with a minimum of 30 days’ notice (either in writing, or by a phone call which is then followed up by an email) if you wish to cancel your SEO services at any stage.
   
   
4. Should you request a refund, time already spent on your site will be deducted from the monies before being refunded.
   
   
5. In the unlikely event that you choose to end your contract with iCogs it is solely your responsibility to remove any access you have granted iCogs to, for example, your FTP details, your back office, Google accounts or services or any other accounts.
   
   
6. iCogs will always recommend keyphrases that have the potential to bring you the quickest return on your investment. If you pick keyphrases that we do not recommend, iCogs cannot guarantee any timescales or increase in traffic as a result.
   
   
7. Any SEO work you perform without our recommendations, including link building, changes to your website or anything else that negatively affects your rankings or your conversions will not be deemed the responsibility of iCogs.
   
   
8. Any failure on your part to stay in regular contact with us regarding changes to your site including confirmation and approval of keyphrases or content etc. that affects your SEO services negatively is not the responsibility of iCogs.
   
   
9. Any onsite SEO work recommended will only be carried out by iCogs if the website has been built by iCogs. If iCogs did not build the website, iCogs will act as a consultant for any onsite SEO work recommended. iCogs may be employed to work on the website if agreed in addition to the SEO work and any work carried out will be subject to agreed fees.
   
   
10. iCogs will not be held responsible for any illegal activities your website is involved in or promotes, e.g. selling counterfeit goods.
    
    
11. Any external influences that affect your site negatively through hosting services, domain registration or any others will not be held as the responsibility of iCogs.
    
    
12. Unless otherwise agreed; you are responsible for inputting and creating your own content.
    
    
13. Generating SEO reports including identifying errors on the site, recommendations to improve site rankings and advice are part of your SEO contract and time allocation
    
    
14. Content created on your behalf by iCogs, once you have approved it, is no longer the responsibility of iCogs. You accept full responsibility for its accuracy, maintenance and its legality.
    
    
15. Search engines change their algorithms regularly, which can result in fluctuations in your search ranking positions. iCogs will not be held responsible for these fluctuations or if an algorithm change results in dramatic changes to your website rankings.
    
    
16. All Google Analytics usage is in line with Google Analytics terms of service.
    
    
17. All Google Webmasters usage is in line with Google account terms of service.
    
    
18. iCogs will not be held responsible for any loss of data you may experience from Google Analytics.
    
    
19. For “Google Shopping optimisation”, iCogs will set up a Google base feed on your website only if the website has been built by iCogs. If iCogs did not build the website, iCogs will act as a consultant on ‘best practice’ procedures and techniques to create one.
    
    
20. For “Google Places optimisation”, iCogs will only act as a consultant offering advice and ‘best practice’ procedures and techniques in creating and optimising your Google Places listing.
    
    
21. For “XML sitemap creation”, iCogs will create an automatically updating XML sitemap only if iCogs built the website. If iCogs did not create the website, iCogs will create a static XML sitemap and upload it to Google Webmaster Tools.
    
    
22. It is your responsibility to create a Google account and provide unrestricted access to it for iCogs to set up Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools.
    
    
23. For “manually create Meta tags”, iCogs will allocate time every month, taken from your SEO services as detailed in your SEO specification form.
    
    
24. For “press release submission”, you agree to approve each press release in advance before they are submitted. Failure to submit press releases as a result of clients not approving press releases in a timely manner is not the responsibility of iCogs.
    
    
25. For “social media exposure”, it is your responsibility to create social networking accounts for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social networks iCogs recommends and to provide access to these accounts for iCogs where ‘social media exposure’ is included in your SEO services.
    
    
26. For “writing product descriptions”, iCogs will allocate time every month, taken from your SEO services, as detailed in your SEO specification form.