Searching for a Secret Millionaire

LEEDS, England, November 28, 2011 -

Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire has bestowed an amazing gift of £35,000 on Leeds-based Homeless Charity, ‘Simon on the Streets’.

Out of an act of charity came further charity and a success story that Clive Sandle, Director at Simon on the Streets could have only dreamed of. When the charity’s website couldn’t be found on search engines such as Google, a chance meeting with Ian Harris, CEO of Search Laboratory Ltd, an award winning search marketing company, changed its luck around.

Search Laboratory provided the charity with free Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) recommendations, to help improve its online position. After taking these recommendations on board and implementing them, Simon on the Streets’ website leapt up the search engine rankings to page one.

This improved online position lead to the charity being contacted by a researcher from Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire, to take part in an episode with former Chief Executive of ITV plc and former Chairman of music giant EMI, Charles Allen.

Charles spent some time with the Homelessness charity helping out with the vital outreach service it provides, and even spent a night sleeping rough on the streets of Leeds to experience the plight of the homeless.

The experience had such an effect on Charles that on last night’s show he donated £35,000 to Simon on the Streets, which has enabled the charity to open a further outreach service in Bradford.

Clive Sandle said: “We can’t believe what great impact this has had so quickly. We are truly grateful for the work Search Laboratory put into our website; I never thought that we would achieve such wonderful results. A huge thanks goes to Charles and the Channel 4 team. This money will really change lives.”

So moved by Clive and the team that work with the homeless Ian Harris, CEO, told us: “‘Simon on the Streets’ has really touched all of us at Search Laboratory. So much so that we donate money directly to the charity and provide them with on-going SEO support.  The Search Laboratory team also slept rough with Simon on the Streets in September for their annual sponsored sleep out.”

Notes for Editors

Simon on the Streets, based in Leeds, is a homelessness charity that provides emotional support for those who are rough sleeping. Importantly the charity tackles the wider issues involved in rough sleeping and all their work is outreach based.

Search Laboratory Ltd, headquartered in Leeds, specialises in maximising profits from its client’s websites using Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Online PR, Social Media and multilingual search marketing.  The company was established in 2005 and employs over 70 search specialists who help clients improve the visibility of their websites online.

If you would like more information, images or comments relating to this story please contact: Sasha Hanau , Marketing Executive, Search Laboratory, T: +44(0)113-212-1211, E:sasha.hanau at searchlaboratory.com