If you have invested time and money into creating a visually appealing website but haven't focused on improving your search rankings, you may be wasting resources without even realizing it. When your website lacks a consistent flow of qualified traffic and leads, it can be highly beneficial to hire a reputable search engine optimization (SEO) agency to take charge and make a significant difference.
Initiating Your Search for an SEO Agency Defining SEO can be challenging since it involves a dynamic range of website optimization techniques aimed at achieving high search result rankings. These tactics include building a diverse and robust backlink profile, ensuring user-friendly website design and navigation, and regularly publishing relevant and informative content that caters to both user intent and search engine indexing.
Choosing the right SEO service can be a time-consuming process, as it requires a deep understanding of your website's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Obtaining this information can be difficult if you lack a comprehensive understanding of how SEO can specifically benefit your website.
An experienced SEO agency can significantly boost your organic traffic, resulting in substantial increases in monthly revenue. Conversely, an inexperienced agency can potentially hinder your current search traffic and impede future growth, negatively impacting your rankings.
Before you embark on your search for an SEO agency, it is crucial to do your homework and grasp the potential benefits of SEO for your website. Identify your competitors, establish your short-term and long-term goals for your website's performance, and determine how you will measure success. Having a clear understanding of your goals and managing your expectations will help you select the right agency to meet your needs.
Unfortunately, having clarity on your goals and expectations is not enough when hiring an SEO agency. Asking the right questions during the evaluation process is essential for extracting valuable information about the agency and making an informed business decision. Here are the top four questions you should ask when vetting an SEO agency:
Question 1: What is the agency's history, and how do they measure success? When engaging with a company, inquire about its online and offline history. How long has the agency been operating? Even if it is a new company, they should be able to demonstrate successful projects or showcase the experience of their staff. Understanding their effective and results-driven SEO campaigns will provide insights into how they can benefit your website.
Ask about the significant challenges the agency has overcome in the past year. This question reveals their adaptability and flexibility, crucial qualities in the SEO industry. It also helps establish trust during the evaluation process. If the agency can discuss instances where they encountered and resolved roadblocks like search engine indexing issues, server-related problems, duplicate content, or spam filtering, it demonstrates their resourcefulness and integrity. Conversely, a lack of experience with such obstacles can be a warning sign. SEO often presents unexpected challenges, so if the agency has never faced any, they might not possess the necessary expertise to deliver value to your website.
In general, a growing SEO agency indicates their ability to deliver results to their clients, leading to increased demand for their services and expansion. If the agency's workload and need for additional staff are increasing, it is a positive indication of their success.
Examine the agency's goals. If they haven't achieved their short-term or long-term goals yet but demonstrate effort towards attaining them, it is a positive sign. In contrast, an inability to show progress towards their goals should raise concerns.
Question 2: How experienced is the SEO team? Since SEO is a constantly evolving field, it is essential to have a team capable of adapting to changes. You need an experienced and knowledgeable team with a diverse skill set, so inquire about their experience and approach to SEO work.
SEO and digital marketing skills require continuous updating due to the industry's dynamic nature. Whether the team is small or large, understanding the skill sets of the individuals working on your
Question 3: Assessing the Agency's Portfolio When evaluating a company's portfolio, it's crucial to gain insights into their past successes and how they achieved them. What were the client's goals, what strategies were implemented, and how was success measured? Did they target competitive keywords, enhance the client's website, or focus on content strategy? These are all inquiries that the agency should be able to answer, providing supporting data. The agency should be capable of presenting key performance indicators that demonstrate improved website performance, such as increased leads, phone calls, or sales.
Furthermore, a strong client portfolio should serve as a foundation for the agency to explain how they can apply their successful strategies to benefit your website. When and why did they utilize these strategies, and how will they tailor them to your company's unique position in the market? The agency should be able to justify and elucidate how even minor adjustments to your website will result in increased traffic and improved keyword rankings.
If a company struggles to articulate the value they've added through SEO to past and current clients or if their details seem intentionally vague, it is advisable to consider a more transparent and results-driven agency. Exploring alternative options can save you time, money, and effort.
Question 4: Industry Experience of the Agency Ideally, the SEO agency you hire should possess experience in your specific industry. Digital marketing and SEO strategies can vary across different industries, making it essential to engage someone who understands your industry and the SEO market associated with it.
For instance, consider an e-commerce store specializing in auto parts (website one) and a website focused on selling cloud-based accounting software (website two). Although both are online stores offering goods and services, their SEO strategies would differ. The primary SEO goal for website one might be to rank for specific part numbers, while website two would prioritize persuading visitors to sign up for a free trial of their cloud-based product.
The strategy for website one would be relatively straightforward, whereas website two would require a more complex SEO approach. Website two would need clear and concise calls-to-action, with a simple form containing minimal fields. Incentives such as free trials and guarantees (e.g., "satisfaction or your money back") are commonly used by software companies to attract quality leads. Website one would aim to rank for part manufacturers and part numbers, while website two would focus on providing compelling content to encourage visitors to sign up for a free trial. In summary, the industry, market position, and unique characteristics of your company will shape the SEO strategy employed. Ensuring that the SEO agency you hire comprehends your industry is vital for the success of your website.
Further Research When hiring an SEO agency, it's advisable to take several steps to differentiate between underqualified candidates and well-qualified ones. Approach the vetting process as you would when hiring a new employee, conducting background checks, seeking professional references, and conducting interviews.
Naturally, conducting a search for the agency's business name on search engines like Google and Bing is a wise move. If you are considering an SEO agency, chances are you have already Googled them as part of your research process. Where they appear in the search results can provide insights into their services. If their own SEO is not impressive, it raises questions about their ability to improve yours.
Online searches can also provide a glimpse into their online reputation management skills (ORM). Informative press releases and positive reviews on platforms such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook are indicators of a company that values its online reputation and is likely to care about yours as well. Conversely, while almost every company may have at least one negative review, outdated social media updates, a large number of negative reviews, or a complete lack of reviews can be significant red flags regarding an SEO agency.
In conclusion, when seeking an SEO agency, it is essential to prepare your questions (along with the desired answers) right from the beginning of the hiring process. Establish your hiring criteria based on the specific requirements of your company and industry. By adhering to these standards and staying committed to them, you are more likely to attain concrete and measurable results.
Leave a comment