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Manchester, UK is the place where the industrial revolution first took place, and one of the main things it is known for, in addition to the football club, of course. But the city promises more, including tech industry development. In the last decade, the number of startups has grown and so did the number of IT companies that choose to relocate or establish an office/headquarters in the city. 

In 2019, Manchester was the largest tech hub by the number of employees in the UK, outside London. The forecasts show that the city will keep this position at least until 2025. Fashion, technology, fintech, nanotechnology, new media - you can find everything from these in Manchester at its highest. The city owns an impressive digital portfolio due to IT companies that positioned the city #2 in the UK. 

Additionally, the city has become the main stage for digital leaders; Home to more than 3 million people and with an economy bigger than Wales or Northern Ireland, the digital sector in Manchester is estimated to 3 billion GBP. On top of that, the local councils have gathered their forces to boost the local economy and infrastructure digitalization level, this is how the “Northern Powerhouse” brand appeared. 

Another important aspect of Manchester’s IT industry is the education sector. With Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester, local tech companies are supplied with a high-quality workforce which covers almost all other branches of the tech industry. 

The average salary for Machester IT workers is estimated to 37K GBP/year, which is slightly lower than London, but still on top of other cities’ IT average. 

Like in almost all large tech hubs, projects with Manchester-based IT companies can be costly. But if you are aiming for a budget project you still have companies to choose from. 

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of optimizing your website in order to get a higher ranking in organic search results and consequently more organic traffic.

SEO is a long term strategy and requires advanced knowledge of ranking algorithms and some technical background, to be able to optimize websites for popular search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc.

According to the latest survey on digital marketing conducted by ÐÔÊÓ½ç, about 70% of IT companies revealed that SEO is their main channel for leads, meaning that it’s a vital marketing activity that generates traffic, prospects and sales.

Some of the benefits of SEO are:

• Free organic traffic
• Brand awareness 
• Better control over brand traffic
• A vital marketing channel for leads & sales
• Supports other channels: social media, paid ads, direct traffic, etc.
• Optimizes your advertising budget
• Usually, has a higher conversion rate
• Gives you a competitive advantage
• Is a good long term investment, generating decent results

It’s not easy to find a reputable SEO company, as some SEO agencies used to provide questionable/suspicious services in the past, and lots of businesses became reluctant to pay for search engine optimization services.

When looking for and choosing an SEO service provider, you should consider a lot of aspects. Ideally, you should do some basic research, set up clear goals and ask yourself a few questions before hiring a company.

Here are some things to look for when searching for SEO agencies to partner with:

• Expertise
• Portfolio
• Years in business
• Case studies
• Price (expect to pay at least $30 / hour if you’re hiring an agency)
• Approach and particularities (technical SEO, link building, content optimization, etc.)
• Communication and reporting

ÐÔÊÓ½ç lists more than 26,900 SEO companies from all over the world. Check out their profiles and feel free to get in touch with them.

To ease the selection process, we’ve created a powerful filter which you can use to narrow down the results based on your requirements and shortlist the companies.