SEO is one of the reasons that modern life is rubbish.
There's nothing wrong with the concept of SEO, but lots wrong with the way it is often implemented (including by many self-styled experts).
In the days of magazines, your cover lines were performing the same role as SEO - a way of grabbing the attention of newsstand browsers and making them want to pick up your product rather than someone else's.
SEO just translates that same principle into the web environment.
In the past, SEO has been done through rudimentary means such as keyword stuffing, but it has matured into a much more sophisticated art form now. There is an element of trying to game Google's algorithms, but mostly it's about using trend analysis and editorial experience/insight to genuinely understand what people are looking for when they search for stuff on the internet. It really is about giving people what they want.
There are lots of useful tools to help with this - one that's freely available for everyone to use is Google Trends. (Many of the more sophisticated trend analysis tools require paid subscription.)
To be fair, they seem to have built a competent, pretty generic website based on Wordpress using standard techniques to tick boxes with search queries, and they have the Yoast plugin. But, after that, they don't seem to be doing anything worth that kind of money. the site doesn't appear that high on search for "<locality> scaffolding"
I'd be very wary of relying on Yoast, or taking its recommendations as gospel - it largely works as a one-size-fits-all box-ticking exercise and getting a green light from Yoast doesn't necessarily mean that your website is properly optimised for your target audience. That said, it does provide some useful guidelines and general principles that are worth following.
By far the most important elements to focus on are your page title and meta description - these are the bits that are visible in Google search results.
Also bear in mind that you should be optimising for mobile these days, not desktop browsing.
Is there anyone who would like to take the role on commercially? SiL isn't actually worried about the SEO, as he has a large client base now, but does want website maintenance. And, if he pays for SEO, to have results.
For £5k a year? No, thank you!
Still, if he's paying a specialist company that much for their services, it's not unreasonable to expect his site to be landing on the first page of search results for scaffolding in his area.
