Terms of Service

Last Updated 27-Jan-2023
Effective Date 02-Jan-2021

Definitions And Interpretations

In these terms and conditions the following definitions apply unless otherwise stated:

‘Business Day’ means a day (other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday) when banks in London are open for business.
‘Contract’ means the contract between the Agency and the Client for the supply of Services governed by these Terms and the order.
‘Client’ means the individual or business entity who purchases Services from the Agency and whose details are set out in the Order. 
‘Force Majeure Event’ means an event beyond the reasonable control of either party, including but not limited to strikes, lock-outs or other industrial disputes, failure of a utility service or transport network, act of God, war, riot, civil commotion, malicious damage, compliance with any law or governmental order, rule, regulation or direction, accident, breakdown of plant or machinery, fire, flood, storm or default of suppliers or subcontractors.
‘Agency’ means Better Ranking
‘Intellectual Property Rights’ means all patents, rights to inventions, utility models, copyright and related rights, trade marks, service marks, trade, business and domain names, rights in trade dress or get-up, rights in goodwill or to sue for passing off, unfair competition rights, rights in designs, rights in computer software, database right, topography rights, moral rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications for and renewals or extensions of such rights, and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection in any part of the world.
‘Order’ means the order placed by the Client through acceptance of a quotation or by signing up to a package as detailed on the Agency website (betterranking.co.uk)
‘Order Form’ means a written quotation accepted by the Client, or a completed order form submitted through the Agency website (betterranking.co.uk) or which together with these terms and conditions shall form a binding contract.
‘Quotation’ means the written quotation prepared by the Agency which contains its proposals for providing Services to the clients.
‘Services’ means the services the Agency will provide to the Client as specified in the Order.
‘Specification’ means the description or specification of the Services in the Order.
‘Terms’ means these terms and conditions as updated from time to time by the Agency.
‘VAT’ means value added tax chargeable under English law for the time being and any similar additional tax.
‘White Label Work’ means Services provided by the Agency to a Client who rebrands these services as their own for the benefit of
their client.

• Where these Terms use words in their singular form, they shall also be read to include the plural form of the word and vice versa. Where these Conditions use words which denote a particular gender, they shall be also read to include all genders and vice versa.
• The headings in this document are inserted for convenience only and shall not affect the construction or interpretation of these Terms.
• A reference to a statute or statutory provision is a reference to such statute or statutory provision as amended or re-enacted. A reference to a statute or statutory provision includes any subordinate legislation made under that statute or statutory provision, as amended or re-enacted.

We’re creating an SEO service that’s fast, affordable, and hassle-free by injecting technology and transparency into an industry that sorely lacks both.

Nothing is outsourced; everything is handled in-house. We can control the quality of our work and keep our pricing competitive for businesses and compelling for agencies looking to mark up the price by fully investing in our service infrastructure. Our service can be customised to meet your specific needs. Some clients prefer to handle only one aspect of it; if this is the case, please inform us.

While there are no contracts with Better Ranking, we advise all clients to maintain the service for 2-3 months in order to see results and be provided with adequate visible growth statistics.

• We accept no responsibly for lack of organic growth seen within 30 days of service commencement.
• We provide no reports or guarantees of any growth until the second month of service commencement.

Overview of Our Services

Blog Articles
Content reigns supreme when it comes to long-term ranking on Google. Google favours sites with consistent content published online, whether it’s through a user-based community or blog posts.

As a result, we provide weekly blog content that is designed to assist you in obtaining local organic traffic. This increases the site metrics that Google considers when ranking a site, resulting in consistent growth for our target keywords.

Our content is written by trained, experienced writers in-house and vetted by our proofreaders and your account manager. It’s one-of-a-kind, well-structured, and adds value to your website for years to come.

Website Optimisation
Fixing any technical issues with your website, as well as editing pages, posts, and categories for your target keywords, are all important aspects of SEO. You don’t have to worry about a thing because we’ll take care of everything. Our optimization team will examine your website, correct any technical issues, and integrate your target keywords.

Please note that for optimization, we only provide comparison reports, not detailed change-by-change reports. At our price point, this is not feasible. We place a higher priority on delivering our service than on maintaining manual documentation that isn’t necessary in the long run.

Please click here to learn more about our optimization process.

Backlinks
Backlinks are the last component of SEO. Many SEO services, such as blogs, directories, and forums, will advertise affordable links back to your site in large quantities. This isn’t a long-term strategy for search engine optimization.

Some agencies will use a ‘Private Blog Network,’ which is a collection of sites that the agency owns. This is a rented link that can be deactivated at any time. This is strongly discouraged.

We concentrate our efforts on obtaining link placements and references in your industry’s media and blog sites. Backlinks can be obtained in the most genuine way possible. It’s also Google’s only approved backlinking method. Quality comes first for us.

Please keep in mind that publishing our weekly blog articles is critical; if you don’t, backlinks will be difficult to come by.

Website And Email Content Use

• We make no representation and give no warranty as to the accuracy or quality of information received by any person via the Server and we shall have no liability for any loss or damage to any data stored on the Server. You warrant the accuracy, truthfulness and reliability of any information (including, where applicable, statements of opinion or advice) which you place or allow to be placed on your web pages. You warrant that you are authorised to promote and/or provide any information which you promote and/or provide on your web pages (for example if you are providing financial information, that you hold any necessary authorisation under all relevant legislation including the Financial Services Acts).
• You represent, undertake and warrant to us that you will use the website allocated to you only for lawful purposes. In particular, you represent, warrant and undertake to us that: (1) You will not use the Server in any manner which infringes any law or regulation or which infringes the rights of any third party, nor will you authorise or permit any other person to do so. (2) You will not host, post, publish, disseminate, link to or transmit: (2a) Any material or information which is unlawful, infringing, threatening, abusive, malicious, defamatory, obscene, indecent, blasphemous, profane or otherwise objectionable in any way. (2b) Any material containing a virus or other hostile computer program. (2c) Any material or information which constitutes, or encourages the commission of a criminal offence, or which threatens, harasses, stalks, abuses, disrupts or violates the legal rights (including rights of privacy and publicity) of others, or which infringes any patent, trade mark, design right, copyright or any other intellectual property right or similar rights of any person which may subsist under the laws of any jurisdiction. (3) You will not send bulk email, whether opt-in or otherwise, from our network. Nor will you promote a site hosted on our suppliers network using bulk email. (4) You will not employ programs which consume excessive system resources, including but not limited to processor cycles and memory. (5) You shall observe the procedures which we may from time to time prescribe and you shall make no use of the Server which is detrimental to other customers. (6) You shall procure that all mail is sent in accordance with applicable legislation (including data protection legislation) and in a secure manner. (7) In the case of an individual User, you warrant that you are at least 16 years of age and if the User is a company, you warrant that the Server will not be used by anyone under the age of 16 years. (8) You are entirely responsible for any civil or criminal liability that is incurred as a result of any use of your web pages. If you post or allow to be posted a defamatory or libellous message, it is you that will be deemed to have published it and you shall be liable for the consequences of it.
• We and our suppliers reserve the right to remove any material which they deem inappropriate from your web site without notice (specifically, but not restricted to, Warez and illegal MP3 content).
• If you advertise or offer to sell goods or services via your web pages, you undertake to provide goods in conformity with any description and warranties made. You agree to comply with all relevant legislation including Advertising and Broadcast regulations, Consumer Credit Acts and Trades Descriptions Acts. If you are advertising goods in the course of a trade or business this must clearly be so stated.

Pricing
We offer all of the above. There are no hidden fees, contracts, or setup fees. We believe in providing SEO services that benefit everyone, which is why we work with over 2500 businesses and 350 agencies.

Payments
Payments are extremely important to Better Ranking in the same way they are to any small business. We ask for payment up front and insist on timely payments.

• Payment must be made automatically via GoCardless or via invoice to SPP in a timely* manner (outlined on invoices). Should payment be exceeded Better Ranking reserve the right to cancel all services and hold all content until payments are met.
• Payment must be made in accordance to Payment Terms illustrated within the Contract unless otherwise agreed in writing in advance.
• We understand and will exercise our statutory right to interest under the Late Payment Of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 amended by European Directive 2000/35/EC if we are not paid according to these terms.
• All work remains copyrighted to Better Ranking until settlement of relevant fee account.
• All invoices are subject to UK VAT at the current rate, unless a valid exemption certificate is provided.
• All payments must be in UK Pounds Sterling.
• If Better Ranking incurs any costs as a result of the Client’s neglect or default, Better Ranking may charge those costs to the Client in addition to the contract price.
• The Client shall pay for any preliminary work which is produced at his/her request, whether experimentally or otherwise. A 50% rejection fee is applicable on all work executed by Better Ranking should the Client cancel their contract.
• When payment is overdue, Better Ranking may suspend work, service and/or delivery without notice and without prejudice to any other legal remedy until due payment has been made. Any work started but incomplete may be suspended and payment therefore becomes immediately due and payable, notwithstanding anything expressed herein, and any monies in respect of. Furthermore, if the project resumes a new timeframe will be submitted in accordance to Better Ranking’s availability. 
• Better Ranking may require payment in advance, or a deposit of at least 50% of the quote/estimate total prior to instigating work on an order, particularly but not limited to the following situations: new clients; clients with a poor payment history; large, lengthy or complex projects. Where a deposit is required, the balance shall be due upon completion of the work, unless otherwise agreed in writing in advance.
• If your payment is returned by the bank as unpaid for any reason, you will be liable for a charge of £50 for each occurrence.

Insolvency
If the Client ceases to pay his debts in the ordinary course of business or cannot pay his debts as they become due or is deemed to be unable to pay its debts or have a winding-up petition issued against it or being a person who commits an act of bankruptcy or has a bankruptcy petition issued against him, Better Ranking without prejudice to other remedies shall:

• Have the right not to proceed further with the contract or any other work for the Client and be entitled to charge for work already carried out (whether completed or not) and materials purchased for the Client. Such charge to be an immediate debt due to him.
• In respect of all unpaid debts due from the Client have a general lieu on all goods and property in its possession (whether worked on or not) and shall be entitled on the expiration of 14 days’ notice to dispose of such goods or property in such manner and at such price as it thinks fit and to apply the proceeds towards such debts.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Our SLA is as follows;

• The hours provided in Service Level Agreements (SLA) can be used in any way, other than for fixed costs and essential services – such as web hosting or advertising placement – or towards payment of debts or existing/quoted jobs.
• Once an account handler at Better Ranking has been given a job brief as part of the SLA, should the work take longer than 30 minutes, we will endeavour to provide a total estimate of how long the job will take for approval by the Client before any work is commenced.
• For each job requested by the Client as part of the SLA, a minimum of 15 minutes will be deducted from the remaining SLA time allowance.
• All hours worked as part of an SLA are recorded and can be forwarded to the Client on request.
• Once a Client approaches the final two hours of their SLA allowance, Better Ranking will endeavour to notify them automatically via email, providing the opportunity to purchase another SLA.
• Any hours that have not been used within the initial 12 months after purchase will roll over to the following year, up to a maximum of 24 months. However, although Better Ranking reserves the right to increase the hourly rate as business needs dictate, the hours in an SLA will be honoured at the original rate at which they were purchased for one year, after which time, any roll-over hours will be applied to subsequent years at the new hourly rate.

Ownership

The ownership of the web pages and copyright therein shall remain with Better Ranking until payment in full has been received for all sums owing. Once payment has been received, ownership and copyright shall pass to the Client for page text and graphics specific to the Client.

Ownership of all code used in processing web pages shall remain with Better Ranking and it is expressly agreed that the use of such code in processing the web pages does not confer any passing of title from Better Ranking to the Client.

Development

• Better Ranking can only develop websites to be as secure as reasonably possible at the time of delivery and can not offer indemnity against future threats.
• Better Ranking develops websites for compatibility for browsers that are still supported by their manufacturer: If further compatibility is required, Better Ranking must be advised at the outset.
• Better Ranking will not take responsibility for any loss data and/or functionality and/or defects to the website after automatic or manual client changes have been made within the content management system. This includes WordPress updates, Plugin updates and/or any new Plugins installed. Better Ranking will install the latest version of WordPress and supported plugins at the time of launch.
• Better Ranking by default not include form submission entries unless specified in scope. The client must provide sufficient indication to this within their privacy policy if required.
• Better Ranking can provide legal disclaimers and privacy policies; but it is the responsibility of the Client to confirm with their own legal advisers that these meet their individual requirements, as Better Ranking accepts no responsibility for their accuracy, relevance or currency.

Other General Terms

• These conditions and all other express terms of the contract shall be governed and constructed in accordance with the laws of England and you hereby submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
• Better Ranking shall not be liable or deemed to be in breach of contract by reason of any delay in performing, or failure to perform, any of its obligations if the delay or failure was due to any cause beyond its reasonable control.
• All quotes/estimates, Briefs & Budget Guides, Scopes and other Better Ranking documents are commercially confidential and may not be disclosed to third parties without prior written agreement.
• These terms and conditions, together with any documents expressly referred to in them, contain the entire Agreement between Better Ranking and the Client relating to the subject matter covered and supersede any previous agreements, arrangements, undertakings, proposals or contemporaneous communications, written or oral: between Better Ranking and the Client in relation to such matters. No oral explanation or oral information given by any party shall alter the interpretation of these terms and conditions. In agreeing to these terms and conditions, you confirm that you have not relied on any representation other than those expressly stated in these terms and conditions and you agree that you shall have no remedy in respect of any misrepresentation which has not been expressly made in this Agreement.
• Any notice to be given by either party to the other may be sent by either email or post to the address of the other party as appearing in this Agreement or ancillary application forms or such other address as such party may from time to time have communicated to the other in writing, and if sent by email shall unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be received on the day it was sent, or if sent by post shall be deemed to be served two days following the date of posting.
• Headings, numbering and summaries are included in this Agreement for convenience only and shall not affect the construction or interpretation of this Agreement.
• You acknowledge that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and Better Ranking as a result of your use of these services. You agree not to hold yourself out as a representative, agent or employee of Better Ranking. You agree that Better Ranking will not be liable by reason of any representation, act or omission to act by you.
• Better Ranking reserves the right to revise, alter, modify or amend these terms and conditions, and any of our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner without prior notification. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted in accordance with our Terms and Conditions.
• If any of the provisions of this Agreement are judged to be illegal or unenforceable, the remainder shall continue in full force and the effect of the remainder of them will be not be deemed to be prejudiced.
• This Agreement takes effect on the date on which you order our services. Acceptance of these terms is an absolute condition of the Client requesting work. An order constitutes acceptance of all our Terms and Conditions.
• You shall not assign this Agreement or any benefits or interests arising under this Agreement without Better Ranking’s prior written permission.

Additional Works

There may be occasions when we’re asked to provide works outside our outlined offerings of web, content, backlinks and optimisation such as social media work, digital PR, PPC etc. We are happy to do this based on agreements with our management team, but please be aware that this is based on existing subscriptions only. When subscriptions are cancelled OR if renewals exceed reasonable renewal periods we reserve the right to cancel remove accounts that we set up.

Methodology And Process

• Better Ranking reserves the right to sub-contract the fulfilment of an order or any part thereof.
• Better Ranking shall be indemnified by the Client in respect of any claims, costs and expenses arising out of any libellous matter or any infringement of copyright, patent design or any other proprietary or personal rights contained in any material supplied by the Client. The indemnity shall extend to any amounts paid on a lawyer’s advice in settlement of any claim.
• Origination and/or conceptual work and any copyright subsisting therein shall remain the property of Better Ranking unless otherwise agreed in writing with the Client.
• Better Ranking may penalise Clients for lateness of clients requirements that withheld Better Ranking to carry out works. 
• When required to expedite project delivery ahead of the time needed for the proper production of a given deadline, Better Ranking shall not be liable for defects and/or payment of overtime wages, or other additional costs, to meet delivery time. Expediting a project will be paid by the Client at a cost agreed.
• Better Ranking shall not be required to use, print, upload or hold any matter which in its opinion is or may be of an illegal or libellous nature or an infringement of the proprietary or other rights of a third party.
• It is the Client’s responsibility to agree to Better Ranking’s process, if the Client does not obey and/or agree to the Better Ranking’s process than Better Ranking have the right to terminate the project and request for balance of the project up to the date of cancellation.
• Better Ranking may amend/update the process if required to reflect business changes or interests.
• Any stated timescale is reliant upon the client providing all required information/copy/images within the time set out at project initiation, meeting project milestones, meeting payment terms, change of scope after works commerce and delay in approving Brief & Budget Guide from the date of submission

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Guarantee

Better Ranking offer an SEO Guarantee. We will rank your website on page one of Google within 6 months, or we’ll continue your website SEO for free, until we do.

• The client must inform Better Ranking, the agency, that they wish to be included in the SEO Guarantee, prior to subscribing to an SEO Package.
• The client must subscribe to 6 months SEO (search engine optimisation) at the agreed rate.
• We will establish with the customer a list of relevant key phrases to rank in Google search (amount depending on number of phrases included in specific SEO package).
• We will achieve a page one Google ranking for at least one of these phrases within 6 months from the date of sign up, confirmed by our SEO reporting software.
• We will assess the customer’s website and key phrases before sign up. If we conclude that the website is not of sufficient quality for SEO to be carried out, or a page one rank is not plausible for any reason, we reserve the right to reject the project.
• In the event that we do not achieve the agreed page one result for at least one key phrase, we will continue working on the website SEO, until we do.
• Better Ranking reserve the right to withdraw this guarantee at any time, without prior notice. If the guarantee is withdrawn, this will not affect any customers already signed up under the guarantee.
• Any request for a refund will be assessed against the work undertaken and must fall when traffic is outside 30% of target. For example, if the target traffic is 100,000 and the current traffic is between 70,001 and 99,999 per month, a refund request will be issued on a sliding scale.

Click here to get started. We hope to collaborate with you in the near future!