The SEO sector in Ireland

Up to quite recently in Ireland search engine optimisation has very much been the "minority sport" within the broader SEM sector.

I'd put this lack of usage down to a number of "historical" factors:

The size of the Irish market meant little competition at home.
Few Irish sites were competing on a worldwide basis.
The easy availability of PPC.
The reluctance by clients to change websites to "accommodate" the SEs.
The hostility towards SEO from many in the web-dev sector.
The relatively late realisation of the importance of search engines.

2008 and search engine optimisation has become mainstream in Ireland.

Things have changed profoundly, with clients now demanding sites perform well in the search engines the Irish design industry has belatedly woken-up to search engine optimisation, and the number of SEO services providers has grown dramatically.

Clients now have the choice between established domestic players, foreign outfits who are now targeting the Irish market, and more recent arrivals to the sector who either out-source the work or attempt to do it themselves.

On the down-side, for many clients this wider availability can make choosing SEO services a more difficult task, and with there being some risk involved in SEO, is a task that warrants "due diligence".