Payments to improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02580
Date received: 12 September 2018
Date responded: 10 October 2018

 

You asked for information on any payments by the Scottish Government to improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), including information on any particular links that the Government sought to promote, in July 2018.

A payment of £450+VAT to improve SEO performance in July 2018 was made to Whitespace to support www.scotland.org (the gateway platform for the global marketing of Scotland as a nation) with work undertaken on the following URLs as a result of a performance audit against the website’s portfolio of keywords:
1. https://www.scotland.org/news/scotland-helps-sniff-out-a-diagnoses-test-for-parkinsons-disease
2. https://www.scotland.org/visit/things-to-do
3. https://www.scotland.org/live-in-scotland/property
The payment covered the fee for the audit and action on the three pages listed.