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SEO Agency UK

last updated 
AUGUST 2026

Search has changed. Most agencies have added "AI Search" into their pitch decks and carried on. We rebuilt the whole approach: SEO, GEO/AEO, Digital PR, one strategy, no bolt-ons.

We're a specialist SEO and AI Search Agency with one job: getting you onto the front page of Google and into the answers LLMs give. Over the years our expertise in developing our own strategic approach to SEO, GEO/AEO and Digital PR represents our true passion for thinking outside the box, rewriting the search playbook, and redefining what it means to work with a modern SEO agency.

Showreel · Made in Basildon
0:60
At a glance
Service
SEO
Area
UK
Price from
£1,000 a month
Reporting
Monthly
Fixed prices · Answers in 60 seconds
01

Your Local SEO and AI Search Agency

As an expert SEO and AI Search agency, we go beyond traditional search. We look at the entire search landscape. What ranks on Google, and what gets quoted when someone asks ChatGPT or Gemini the same question. Using our expert knowledge, we optimise your site’s technical structure and design content strategies to ensure your brand stays visible, relevant, and ready to be found where it compounds the most.

02

360 SEO Agency Solutions for The Future

As a full-service SEO agency, nothing gets skipped. Technical SEO so your site is fast, crawlable and built to rank. On-page optimisation so you're found for the terms that matter. GEO and AEO that gets you discovered without your customer clicking anything at all. That last part is where search is heading, and it's the bit most agencies are still catching up on.

03

Performance and Data Driven SEO

Our approach starts with your performance and data: what you rank for, what your competitors rank for, and which of those searches turn into work. The same applies to AI search. We're building for it now, because the businesses getting cited in AI answers today are the ones who were first off the starting line.

5.0
★★★★★
Google reviews · All five stars
150+
Projects shipped
98
Avg Lighthouse score
21
Days, audit to launch
What we do

SEO Strategies Designed for Growth

Rankings are the means, not the point. A good SEO strategy brings in people who are ready to buy and turns that into enquiries you can count. That takes keyword research that separates buyers from browsers, on-page and technical work that lets the site compete, local SEO for the searches happening near you, links that hold up, and reporting that tells you what changed.

Keyword Research and Strategy

Any SEO agency can pull a keyword list. We'll go through yours term by term: what keywords are performing well, what Google and the LLMs are rewarding, and whether the people searching them are ready to buy or just reading. What comes out is a keyword strategy built around your customers rather than search volume alone.

On-Page SEO Optimisation

An off-page strategy only pays off once the on-page foundation holds. Build links to a page that doesn't match the intent behind the search and you have spent money moving the wrong page up. That's why we start with on-page optimisation: intent, structure, and internal links. Then the formatting that decides whether Google and the LLMs lift an answer from you or skip to a competitor.

Technical SEO Maintenance

Most sites have something technical holding them back, and it's rarely the thing business owners expect. We audit your website and maintain it properly. This includes site speed optimisation, mobile responsiveness, site architecture, what Google is actually crawling and indexing, and whether server performance is quietly costing you rankings. Then we fix what's found, in the order that makes the biggest difference.

Local SEO Strategy

84% of people looked for a local business in the last three months (BrightLocal, 2026), and they didn't all do it on Google. Local search used to mean the map. Now it also means someone asking ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity for a decent one nearby and getting three names back. We work on your Google Business Profile, Maps and Local Pack rankings, and the signals that decide which local businesses the LLMs recommend.

Off-Page Strategy and Link Building

Once your site can hold a link, we go and get some. Real outreach to real publishers: sites your customers actually read, journalists who cover your industry, and businesses you already work alongside. No link farms, no paid placements, nothing you'd have to explain to Google later. You see every link we build, where it came from and what it moved.

Analytics and Performance Tracking

Our reporting structure answers the most important questions: what came in from search this month, what caused it, and what happens next. Rankings, organic traffic and the search terms behind it all sit behind that. So does the part most agencies still don't report on, which is how often you appear in AI Search and which competitors are appearing instead of you.

How we work

Audit. Build. Launch.

01 · Weeks 1 to 2

Audit

Before we create your SEO strategy, we'll audit your site properly, top to bottom, to see how it performs now. The aim is to uncover the technical issues holding it back and pick the fixes that lift your visibility fastest at launch.

02 · Weeks 3 to 6

Build

The build phase starts with keyword research and a look at what your competitors already rank for that you don't. Search Console and Analytics show us what your site is doing now, Ahrefs shows us what's possible. 

03 · Month 2 onwards

Launch

At launch, we implement the SEO strategy in an order that makes the biggest impact. Technical SEO improvements, then on-page optimisation, then off-page and everything between. You'll receive your first report after the first 30 days and one every month after directly from those working on your site.

Why Cold

Rankings are the means. Enquiries are the point.

SEO is easy to make look impressive. Rankings for terms with no buyers, a traffic graph that climbs, with no more enquiries than you had this time last year. We work the other way round.

We start with the keywords and terms your customers actually use, clear whatever is stopping the site ranking for them and write pages that answer their questions properly. Then report against enquiries, because that's the only number that really matters to you.

Chart titled How Long Does SEO Take, showing performance rising across twelve months with significant growth from month six.
Questions

SEO, Answered Straight

Forty seconds answers without saying "holistic", "synergy" or "algorithm update". Anything else, ring the office and ask whoever picks up.

How Much Does SEO Cost?

SEO is a monthly retainer, and the size of it depends on your market and your goals. Three things move the number. Competition, because outranking four rivals is a different job to outranking forty. The state of your site, since a technically sound site needs less groundwork. And reach, because ranking across one town costs less than ranking nationally. We work out which of those applies to you before quoting, so the figure you get reflects your situation and your goals. Retainers start from £1,000 a month.

What’s Included in Your SEO Service?

Keyword research, on-page SEO, technical fixes, local SEO, link building and monthly reporting. The keyword work separates buyers from browsers. The technical work clears what's holding the site back, biggest wins first. The pages get written to answer what was actually searched, and formatted so the LLMs can quote them as well as Google ranking them. Links come from real outreach. And, your reports come directly from whoever works on your site, not an account manager relaying questions.

How Long Does SEO Take To See Results?

Expect early movement in two to three months and something meaningful by six. A site with technical problems can jump quickly once it’s fixed, because the rankings were being held back rather than absent. A site with no content and no links takes longer, since there's nothing there to improve yet. Competitive national terms can take a year. Local terms are usually faster. We'll tell you what to expect after we’ve audited your website, not after you've signed.

Is SEO Worth It For a Small Business?

The biggest advantage of SEO is being found by people who are already searching for what you sell, which is a cheaper way to be seen than paying for every click. Over time that builds more than traffic. Small businesses that keep appearing at the top get treated as the established option, and that credibility is worth as much as the visits. 

Can I Do SEO Myself, Or Do I Need an Agency?

Wrong question. The right one is whether the work will add up to your business goals. Plenty of business owners could do their own SEO but never will, because it's the thing that slips when the week gets busy. An agency starts from what you want your business to achieve, then works backwards: technical optimisation first, then content creation, then the links, then a report that can be acted on.

What's the difference between SEO and PPC, and do I need both?

PPC rents you a spot at the top. SEO earns one. Stop paying for ads and your traffic hits zero that afternoon, with nothing to show for the spend. A page that ranks keeps bringing people in for years off work you've already paid for.

OUR PROJECTS

made by

Graphic of the Cold Digital Marketing Agency logo annotated with the web design service provider trademark symbol.
Vevo, a client of Cold for HTML email design, web development, and web design
HTML Email Design
Web Development
Web Design
A Dissident modified Porsche, a client of Cold for photography in Basildon, Essex
Animation
Logo Design
Server Management
Analytics Tracking
Branding Guidelines
Magazine Print Design
Social Media Management
Branding guideline cover for Yacht Buoy, a Cold client for branding guidelines in Basildon, Essex
Web Design
Web Development
Merchandise Design
Analytics Tracking
Full Company Branding
Black rectangular sign mounted on a building facade displaying the logo and text 'DebutAcademy' with a leaf-shaped icon.
Web Design
Web Development
Web Maintenance
CMS Collection
Analytics Tracking
ALX sound, a client of Cold. For web design, web development, and logo design in Basildon, Essex
Web Design
Logo Design
Logo Design
Web Development
Analytics Tracking
Brand mockup for The Warren Clinic, a Cold client. For logo design, web development, and booking system design in Basildon, Essex
Web Design
Logo Design
Web Development
Booking System Setup
Signboard Design + Print
Business Card Design + Print
Black rectangular box with the word 'nexform.' in white and three small colored blocks (red, yellow, blue) to the left.
SEO
Web Design
Logo Design
Web Development
Branding Guidelines
CHP Surveyors branding designs. A Cold client for logo design, web development, and branding in Basildon, Essex
SEO
Branding
Web Design
Logo Design
Web Development
Closeup of race car driver's intense eyes behind visor in a red racing helmet and car cockpit.
Web Design
User Sign Up
Web Development
Ecommerce Website
Website Automation
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Local search

We Know Who Owns Page One In Your Sector, and Why

Same search intent, different town, an entirely different strategy. The competitors change, and so does the strategy for getting past them.

Page one in one town might be five local firms with barely a review between them. In the next town it's national brands and directories, with a map pack led by someone who's been collecting reviews for a decade. 

Colour coded map of Basildon borough wards, including Billericay, Wickford, Pitsea, Laindon Park and Vange.
Our Reviews
Basildon HQ, a real office you can walk into
Clients across the UK, Southend to Glasgow
Same week changes on every care plan
Webflow Certified Partner badgeRated 5.0 out of 5 on Google Reviews
Local client
 ·
Basildon

“Twenty minutes from our unit and they answer the phone. Try that with a London agency.”

Scott W
 . 
Nexform

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