# DBS Content & Search

> SEO, link building and content development agency – a division of Designbysoap Ltd (UK). Tagline: "Earned by Design." Thesis: links are earned at the content-and-design stage, not the outreach stage. Nearly two decades of campaigns; tens of thousands of page-one rankings; hundreds of thousands of earned links; trusted by teams at Google, IBM, Ford, Johnson & Johnson and The Hartford.

Key facts:
- Services: SEO strategy (technical SEO, audits, on-page, local), content development, link building & digital PR, LLM optimisation (AIO/GEO)
- Verified case study (July 2026): fashion ecommerce, 24 months, £215k spend, 918% ROI, £2.19m new organic-only revenue, 187 content pieces, 22,000+ AI-referred sessions/month, 178 page-one keywords (from 11)
- Links are earned, never bought; digital PR coverage includes BBC, TIME, Forbes, The Washington Post
- Contact: john@designbysoap.co.uk · +44 (0)1432 839 461 · replies within 24 hours

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/): Services, thesis, verified results and audit request
- [FAQ](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/faq/): SEO costs in the UK, timelines, link building vs digital PR, LLM optimisation explained, ROI methodology
- [About](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/about/): The team, the "earned by design" approach, company details
- [Fashion ecommerce case study (PDF)](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/dbs-case-study-fashion.pdf): Full verified metrics
- [Answers](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/): Definitional pages on SEO and AI search

## Definitions (Answers hub)

- [What is LLM optimisation?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-llm-optimisation/): Structuring content so AI systems can discover, understand and cite it
- [What is generative engine optimisation (GEO)?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-generative-engine-optimisation/): Earning visibility in AI-generated answers; covers GEO/AIO/AEO/LLMO naming
- [What is AI-referred traffic?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-ai-referred-traffic/): Visits arriving from AI assistant citations, and how to measure them
- [What is citation rate?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-citation-rate/): The share of AI answers citing your domain across a tracked query set
- [What is an answer engine?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-an-answer-engine/): Systems that answer with citations instead of listing links
- [What is llms.txt?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-llms-txt/): The proposed AI-facing site summary file (like this one)
- [What are AI crawlers?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-are-ai-crawlers/): GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and co, and the visibility trade-off
- [What is an earned link?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-an-earned-link/): Links given freely on merit vs bought, exchanged or self-placed
- [What is a linkable asset?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-a-linkable-asset/): Content built to be referenced – data, definitions, tools, creative
- [What is digital PR?](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/what-is-digital-pr/): Earning links and coverage with stories journalists want to run
- [SEO agency vs in-house](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/seo-agency-vs-in-house/): The honest UK cost comparison
- [Link building vs digital PR](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/link-building-vs-digital-pr/): What each method earns and when to use each
- [How to choose an SEO agency](https://www.earnedbydesign.com/answers/how-to-choose-an-seo-agency/): Six questions with red-flag answers