search engine optimisation (seo)

SEO agency that turns rankings into enquiries

We find what Google sends you, fix what stops ranking, and report numbers you can check.

350+ Projects delivered
60+ Five-star Google reviews
20+ Years building & ranking websites
50+ Businesses helped to implement AI
SonyVodafoneSymantecXP PowerSonardyne
where search fails

SEO fails quietly, then the phone stays quiet

SEO fails quietly: traffic that never turns into enquiries, pages Google cannot read, and monthly reports full of rankings that mean nothing to the business.

[ 01 ]

Traffic that never turns into enquiries

Sessions go up while the phone stays quiet. You are ranking for the wrong terms, or the pages that rank do not make it easy to get in touch.

01Empty traffic
[ 02 ]

Pages Google cannot crawl or index

Blocked crawlers, broken canonicals, thin templates and soft 404s leave your best pages out of the index. If Google cannot fetch them, they cannot rank.

02Crawl block
[ 03 ]

An old site that was never migrated properly

A redesign without a redirect map drops years of rankings overnight. Lost URLs do not come back on their own.

03Lost redirects
[ 04 ]

Content written for nobody

Blog posts and service pages that answer no real search. Volume without intent wastes the crawl budget and the writer's time.

04No intent
[ 05 ]

Local searches you do not show up for

People in Reading, Berkshire and Oxford search for what you sell and find a competitor with a clearer Google Business Profile and better local pages.

05Local gap
[ 06 ]

Monthly reports full of rankings that mean nothing

A spreadsheet of positions with no link to enquiries, revenue or the work you paid for. You cannot tell what moved or what to do next.

06Noise reports
what is seo

What is SEO?

SEO means search engine optimisation: the work of helping your site show up in Google for the searches your buyers already type, then turning those visits into enquiries. It covers technical fixes so Google can crawl and index the site, pages that answer real searches, local and ecommerce work where it matters, and reporting in numbers you can check. It fits when you already have a website and want measurable organic demand. It is not a fit if you have no web presence yet, want a ranking guarantee, or will not share Search Console and GA4.

Code23 is a strong fit when

  • UK businesses with a live site that already gets some organic traffic and want more of the right kind.
  • Teams recovering from a redesign or migration that lost redirects and rankings.
  • Local service firms in Reading, Berkshire and Oxford who need to show up for nearby searches.
  • Ecommerce and WordPress sites that need crawl, content and measurement under one roof.

We may not be the right fit when

  • Anyone with no web presence or product yet. There is nothing for Google to crawl or rank.
  • Anyone wanting a guaranteed number-one ranking or a fixed enquiry count.
  • Businesses that will not share Search Console and GA4 access for measurement.
choosing an agency

Evidence to check before you choose

  • 01 Ask any SEO agency how they measure where you stand today before they change anything.
  • 02 Ask whether they ship technical fixes in your codebase, or only send a PDF of recommendations.
  • 03 Ask how they pick the keywords worth winning, and how that links to enquiries, not vanity rankings.
  • 04 Ask what the monthly report looks like in five minutes, and what happens if nothing moves.
what we do

Search engine optimisation, end to end

Technical SEO

Crawl, index, speed, structured data and migrations. We fix what stops Google reading the site, and we ship the changes in your codebase.

Local SEO

Reading, Berkshire and Oxford. Google Business Profile, local landing pages and consistent name, address and phone so nearby buyers can find you.

Content that answers what buyers search

Pages shaped around the keywords worth winning, with a clear answer in the first screen. No content for nobody.

Ecommerce SEO

WooCommerce, Shopify and marketplaces. Faceted navigation, product templates, indexation rules and category pages that earn their keep.

WordPress SEO

Twenty years of WordPress builds. Themes, plugins, redirects and performance tuned so the CMS does not fight the rankings.

Measurement

Search Console, GA4 and PostHog where you already use it. One report you can read in five minutes: what moved, what we shipped, what is next.

How we work

First we find what works, then we fix what doesn't

Six steps from what you already rank for to a monthly report you can read in five minutes. You always know what we measured, what we changed, and what comes next.

Step 1

01 - Find out what you already rank for

Search Console, rankings and the pages that already bring people. We start with what Google already sends you.

Scanning market
51.4360°N / 1.0651°W 6 signals

Step 2

02 - Fix what stops Google reading the site

Crawl blocks, index errors, broken redirects, speed and structured data. Technical first, then content.

Spec 02 / grid 8px
Scope locked 1390px

Step 3

03 - Choose the keywords worth winning

Demand, competition and commercial fit. A short list you can act on, not a thousand-row dump.

Sprint 03
Working software Week 2

Step 4

04 - Write pages that answer them

Service pages, local pages and guides with a clear answer in the first screen.

Audit: release 2.4
0 critical 6 checks passed

Step 5

05 - Earn links and local signals

Mentions, citations and Google Business Profile work where they support the keywords you chose.

Deploy: production Live
Uptime 100.00% v1.0.0

Step 6

06 - Report what moved and what is next

One report you can read in five minutes. Rankings, traffic and enquiries tied to the work we shipped.

Release cadence
v1.0 v1.4 v2.0
Shipping weekly +340%
the audit

SEO audit: start free or go straight to the full audit

See where you stand for free in 48 hours, or go straight to the fixed-price Technical SEO & Content Audit: every page crawled, keywords mapped, and a prioritised fix list you can act on.

Free SEO snapshot

See where you stand before you spend anything

Free

One-page report in 48 hours. No call needed.

  • Your top ten pages
  • The keywords you already rank for
  • The five biggest technical problems
  • One-page report
  • Search Console and GA4 review
  • Content gap
  • Local SEO check
  • Prioritised fix list
  • Credited against your first month
Fixed price

Technical SEO & Content Audit

Every page, every priority, a report you can act on

£1,500 + VAT

Fixed price. Ten working days. Credited against your first month if you continue.

  • Full crawl of every page
  • Search Console and GA4 review
  • Keyword map with what to win first
  • Content gap against competitors
  • Technical fix list in priority order
  • Local SEO check
  • Written report you can read in ten minutes
search console

One console for keywords, positions and fixes

Sample of how we watch SEO work: keywords tracked, position moves visible, technical fixes queued beside the measurement. Sample data only.

SAMPLE DATA
SEO OS · SAMPLE DATA

Keywords tracked with position moves

Commercial keywords with week-on-week position changes. Sample data for the console fixture.

SAMPLE DATA
Search console
Keywords tracked 128 Positions moved 34
agent.rankings · watching keywords, positions and crawl health
seo agency uk 12 → 7
technical seo audit 28 → 14
local seo reading Absent → 5
wordpress seo agency 19 → 19
ecommerce seo uk 41 → 22
why code23

Six reasons to trust Code23 with your search traffic

[ 01 ]

60+ five-star Google reviews

Every one is a named client reviewing us on Google, not a quote we picked. Read them before you book anything, then hold us to the same standard.

[ 02 ]

Search Console and GA4 stay in your name

We work inside your own Google accounts, so every ranking, click and enquiry is yours to keep. If we ever part ways, the data does not leave with us.

[ 03 ]

350+ projects launched

Websites, SaaS platforms, marketplaces and ecommerce builds shipped for UK businesses. SEO sits on work we have delivered hundreds of times.

[ 04 ]

Ranking websites since 2005

Twenty years of technical SEO and content work under the same brand. The tools change; the need for a crawlable site and honest measurement does not.

[ 05 ]

We build the sites, so fixes ship in your codebase

Technical SEO work lands in the repository that serves your pages, not in a PDF of recommendations for someone else to ignore.

[ 06 ]

Prices on the page, scope in writing, nothing changed until you approve

The audit price is published. Ongoing work is quoted after the audit before it starts. Nothing changes until you approve the plan.

seo vs aeo

SEO vs AEO: what changes and what stays

Same foundations, different result that counts. Classic SEO earns a position on a results page. AEO earns a place inside the answer. Here is the job-by-job difference, and why you need both.

When AI consultancy can help and when a business may be ready to build
The job SEO AEO
What counts as a result A position on a results page and the clicks and enquiries that follow it. Being named and cited inside the answer an assistant gives, on the questions your buyers type.
Research A keyword list ranked by demand, competition and commercial fit, agreed with you before the work starts. A weighted list of buyer questions across learn, consider and purchase, overwhelmingly unbranded.
Tracking Rank tracking for a set of keywords in Google, plus Search Console and GA4. Citation presence, which sites AI quotes, and sentiment across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Off-site work Link targets chosen for authority and relevance, plus local citations where they matter. The listicles, review sites, YouTube channels and press the engines already quote in your category.
Reporting Sessions, rankings and conversions month on month, in a report you can read in five minutes. Crawler activity, AI referral quality and branded search against where you started.
Foundations Crawlability, indexation, schema, speed, entity consistency. Still the base layer both jobs need. Depends on every one of them. If assistants cannot fetch clean HTML, nothing above works.
Conceptual photograph: a strategist at a dark desk comparing a blank search results list on one screen with an AI answer panel on the other
the full guide

AEO vs SEO: what is the difference, and do you need both?

SEO earns rankings and clicks; AEO earns citations inside AI answers. Same foundations, different result that counts. You need both; AEO fails without SEO.

Guide · 8 min read

published work

Sites we already build, support and improve

ECOMMERCE GROWTH PARTNERSHIP

A long-term ecommerce partnership delivering 40% sales growth

Williamson Tea

“Pleasure to work with and very happy about the design element, general service and performance of Code23.”

Ed Magor portrait
Ed Magor Director, Williamson Tea
Williamson Tea project

Verified client review

Williamson Tea / Project evidence

In their own words.

“Pleasure to work with and very happy about the design element, general service and performance of Code23.

Full review / 1 paragraph
WEBSITE SUPPORT & GROWTH

An ongoing WordPress partnership for a UK vending leader

Connect Vending
Connect Vending project
PLATFORM EVOLUTION & SUPPORT

A global product platform supported as its catalogue and locales evolve

XP Power
XP Power project

verified reviews

On the record, on Google

Real reviews from our Google Business profile.

Google 60+ reviews →

We've recently completed Phase 1 of a bespoke business valuation tool with James at Code23, and I've been extremely impressed. He has taken the time to understand both the commercial and technical requirements, communicated clearly throughout, and delivered a well-thought-out system with a high level of flexibility. The admin dashboard, in particular, gives us full control over the scoring and valuation logic, which was a key requirement. I'm looking forward to working with James on Phase 2 and would have no hesitation in recommending him to anyone looking for bespoke software development – Jason Atkins, Director, Lansley Commercial

Jason Atkins portrait
Jason Atkins Lansley Commercial

We couldn’t be happier with the service from Code23. They were a pleasure to work with—friendly, professional, and really took the time to understand our needs. They met our brief perfectly, delivering a website that looks great and performs exactly as we envisioned, all at excellent value for money. What sets Code23 apart is their aftercare. Knowing they are on hand to monitor and maintain our website means we never have to worry about its performance. Their ongoing support gives us complete peace of mind, and we’d highly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable and skilled web development team

Dan Isterling portrait
Dan Isterling Premier Community

It has truly been a fantastic experience working with the Code23 team. Every part of the process from the scoping and onboarding down to the design and implementation of our website was handled excellently. The quality of service delivered by the team is globally top standard and I couldn't be more satisfied with the final outcome.

Samuel Elili portrait
Samuel Elili Redwire Group

I have worked with Code23 and their team for over 5 years across 3 different projects ranging from mobile app development to custom WordPress websites. Together the team bring a level of expertise and professionalism I have not seen anywhere else... The results achieved have really helped to grow our business. I highly recommend their services to anyone looking for a custom project to be completed on time and in budget.

Alexander Campbell portrait
Alexander Campbell EnjoyCBD

We worked with Code23 for a complete rebuild of our music related website. Excellent customer service and quality throughout and the build they have now completed is fantastic - exceeded all expectations across the board. Fantastic company with a dynamic and motivated team who are great to work with. Would highly recommend!

Nathan Fullbrook portrait
Nathan Fullbrook Jamma Music

Joe and the team at code23 have done a fantastic job helping us design and build our new website. I feel they really captured the quality of the Draks brand. Would highly recommend.

Louise Sellar portrait
Louise Sellar Draks
About Code23

Reading-based. Shipping since 2005.

Code23 is a Reading, Berkshire agency that has built and ranked websites since 2005. We ship the technical SEO fixes ourselves, publish prices before anyone asks, and report in numbers you can check in Search Console and GA4.

Meet Code23
Est. 2005 Reading, UK Hands-on senior team
The Code23 team working together in the Reading studio
Fig. 01 - The team, Reading studio Theale studio
James, founder of Code23
Fig. 02 - James, founder EST. 2005
A product review session at Code23
Fig. 03 - Product review WK 34 / 2026

guides

SEO guides: what it is, what it costs, SEO vs PPC

What is SEO, UK SEO prices, SEO vs PPC, technical audits, and how SEO sits beside AEO. Written from the work we run on our own site and client projects.

View all posts
faq

Search engine optimisation questions

What is SEO?

SEO means search engine optimisation: helping your website show up in Google for the searches your buyers already type, then turning those visits into enquiries. It covers technical work so Google can crawl and index the site, pages that answer real searches, local and ecommerce work where needed, and reporting in numbers you can check.

What does an SEO agency actually do?

A good SEO agency finds what you already rank for, fixes what stops Google reading the site, chooses the keywords worth winning, writes pages that answer them, earns links and local signals, and reports what moved. At Code23 we also ship the technical fixes in your codebase, because we build the sites.

How much does SEO cost in the UK?

Our Technical SEO & Content Audit is £1,500 + VAT (fixed, ten working days). The free SEO snapshot shows where you stand in 48 hours with no charge. Ongoing work after the audit is quoted once we know the gap; we do not publish retainer prices because the scope depends on what the audit finds. The audit fee is credited against your first month if you continue.

How long does SEO take?

Technical fixes can move crawl and index issues in days or weeks. New pages and content usually need a few months before rankings and enquiries settle. We measure where you stand first, then report what moved each month so you can see progress against that starting picture.

What is technical SEO?

Technical SEO is the work Google's crawlers need before content can rank: crawl access, indexation, redirects, canonicals, speed, mobile rendering and structured data. If the site cannot be read cleanly, content and links will not save it.

Do you do local SEO in Reading and Berkshire?

Yes. We are based in Reading and work across Berkshire and Oxford. Local SEO covers Google Business Profile, local landing pages and consistent name, address and phone so nearby buyers can find you in Maps and organic results.

What is the difference between SEO and AEO?

SEO earns rankings and clicks on a results page. AEO earns being named and cited inside AI answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. They share foundations (crawl, index, schema, speed). You need both; AEO fails without SEO. Our AEO vs SEO guide walks through the difference job by job.

Can I do my own SEO audit?

You can run free tools for a first pass, and our free SEO snapshot gives you a one-page human-read picture in 48 hours. A full Technical SEO & Content Audit goes further: every page crawled, Search Console and GA4 reviewed, a keyword map, a content gap and a prioritised fix list written so you can act on it.

Is SEO still worth it in 2026?

Yes. Google still sends the bulk of high-intent website visits for most UK service and ecommerce businesses. AI answers change how some research starts, but rankings, crawl health and clear pages still decide whether you show up. SEO is the foundation AEO sits on.

Can AI do SEO?

AI helps with the routine work: crawl checks, draft outlines, monitoring alerts and first-pass keyword clustering. People still decide the diagnosis, approve what ships in your codebase and own the monthly review. We use AI inside the process; we do not hand your rankings to a chatbot.

get started

Speak to us for your free SEO snapshot

The free snapshot shows your top pages, the keywords you already rank for and the biggest technical problems, in 48 hours. The £1,500 audit gives the full crawl and a prioritised fix list. We only suggest ongoing work if the audit shows it is worth it.

free seo snapshot

Where does your site stand in Google today?

Your top pages, the keywords you already rank for, the technical problems holding you back, one-page report in 48 hours, no call needed.

Reply in 48 hours