Finding the right SEO company with the right SEO services for your business can be crucial. With your time spent managing the business and the ever-growing number of SEO providers, it can be a challenge to find a good all-around match that doesn’t just look good on paper but can also walk the talk.
We’ll show you how to choose the right SEO company for your business and what kind of services you can expect from the right SEO vendor. This article will help you do proper research and preparation so that you can make the right decision.
What does an SEO company do?
An SEO company has experts and specialists in different areas of search engine optimization. By working with them, you should be getting the right mix of strategies and execution to help your business rank higher in search engines, attract leads, and boost revenue. Some of them include developing a content strategy for your blog, SEO website audit, on-page SEO, link building services, link clean-up, content creation, web design, and more. The chosen strategies and quality of implementation will determine your business’s potential growth online.
How to choose the right SEO company?
Choosing an SEO company can be a daunting task for entrepreneurs and business owners. Now that there’s an increase in the number of SEO companies, it made research and decision-making more challenging. The important thing is to know how to detect the companies that have extensive experience and weed out those who have little experience or those who are just winging it.
Here are some great tips that you can use to find the right SEO company that can help your business thrive.
1. Have a clear goal in mind
You don’t have to be savvy with SEO, that’s the agency’s job. All you have to do is determine your goal and know why you need to outsource your SEO. If you’re looking to include SEO in your internet marketing activities then it might be because you want to achieve one or more of the following:
- Increase organic traffic to your website
- Improve lead generation
- Boost e-commerce sales
- Improve branding
- Engage more users
- Incorporate a more targeted marketing strategy
- Reputation management
- Better overall customer service
These are just some goals that you can achieve with SEO. Before jumping into a partnership, you must decide why you need the service in the first place. You have to see the long-term vision and long-term effect of the activity as it will help you determine what you need and you can organize your time and resources accordingly.
2. Check all the prospective SEO companies and compare their products or services
Before entering any kind of partnership you have to know what’s going on in the market right now. At least at the most basic level. Research provides you with information about the market and what kind of services they can offer your business.
Conducting market research also gives you the opportunity to see what’s out there and lets you gauge a professional agency from an amateur.
Your aim here is to analyze the main factors that might affect your business. This will ensure that you’re going to make the right decision that’s also a bang for your buck.
3. Check the company’s past experience
A company’s history matters because it’s a testament to who they are. It lets you see where they came from, what their service quality level is, what they can deliver and it also demonstrates their relationship with their customers thus giving you a glimpse of their trustworthiness.
You can learn more about a company’s past performance by checking their website, reading case studies, or reaching out to them and asking to see their past campaigns. You are going to allot resources and energy to this company so asking for proof and taking a look at their body of work is crucial.
Having seen what they can do firsthand will boost the confidence you need to work and partner with them. It will also give you peace of mind as the company that will be handling your businesses’ online performance will give you the best possible results.
4. Check reviews and references
If their website received your stamp of approval and you’ve verified that they do indeed deliver the services you want, then it’s time to check client reviews. You can either find them on the website or listings on the web. You can learn more about an agency based on what previous clients are raving about. Getting insights on what industry the client is in, what the agency was able to do for them, and how the whole process went will give you an idea of what you can expect to experience yourself as well. It’s important to read reviews and other materials because SEO can do different things for different industries. For example, dentist SEO strategies are not far but certainly not the same as SEO for accountants.
5. Check how well you communicate or get along by talking to them
You can also get more information about the SEO company you’re thinking of hiring by asking the right questions. Communication is key. Schedule an appointment with an SEO consultant whether it’s through video chat, phone call, or face-to-face. You want to gauge how well you align and how well they understand your goals. It’s also a great way to ask questions and clear out details. By communicating, you can learn how quickly they respond, value clients, and gauge their professionalism.
Interviewing your prospective SEO company is also a great opportunity to know their process. Ask if they have experience working with businesses in your industry, inquire if you’re going to receive your own account manager or SEO expert, then proceed to ask about how the entire system works as well as the SEO pricing.
6. Check if their level of competency meets your requirements
Partnering with an SEO agency can do wonders for any business; however, you must make sure that the company you’re partnering with is up-to-date with the trends and they’re a reputable business. Great partnerships happen when you partner with a company that completely has control over its craft. This way, they can use their superior knowledge of the industry to recommend a grander and better vision than the one you originally conceptualized.
7. Request for an SEO Proposal
Finally, request an SEO proposal. After meeting with the SEO company and clearing out the details, you want to take a look at the SEO proposal, especially if you’re interested in working with them. They will initially create a proposal that will have all the implementation details of your SEO campaign. This will ensure that you understand the project’s scope and you have a clear idea of the process. It’s beneficial since you can modify any part as you see fit.
Pro Tips
Don’t choose an SEO company because of price.
Price is important when it comes to SEO. The cost of SEO services will depend on the industry you’re in, what you need, and your goals. Know that there will be cheap SEO companies, and they often fail to fulfill expectations. SEO is not magic, nor does it happen overnight. It requires methodological research, analysis, and strategic thinking while having the experience and expertise to recommend and implement your business’s right strategy.
Conduct your research on SEO pricing and set your desired budget. You can save on SEO by doing it right the first time. A botched SEO campaign can cost you more in the long run so don’t just go after an SEO service provider because it’s cheap.
Be skeptical of SEO agencies who guarantee instant results.
SEO marketing is a growing necessity for businesses and there are many who plan to capitalize on this evolving trend. Some start calling themselves professionals even without the proper experience while others just recently added SEO to their services in the hopes of casting a wider net. More often than not, they will try to lure in customers by guaranteeing instant results — consider this a red flag.
SEO is a continuous process that one can’t just set-up once and leave after that. An SEO campaign can last for a month or more and will yield results after 4 to 8 months. However, the results it will produce in the long run will be far better than what it yielded in the first 8 months.
Make sure that the company is using the best SEO practices.
SEO is an in-depth process that requires skill and strategic analysis following best SEO practices. There are guidelines that search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo have set that webmasters and SEO experts alike should adhere to when optimizing a website. However, there are underhanded methods that aim to circumvent these rules. These unethical practices are called black-hat SEO. They may promise you instant results for a short period of time but will have your website falling out of the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and may even get penalized or banned from search results.
Wrapping Up
These are just a few tips on how you can choose the best SEO company for your business. One of the most important signs that a company is right for you is by gauging how you feel while talking to them. Do they make the process feel secure or obscure? Can they share past successes? Are they answering all your questions without a veil of secrecy? Most importantly, do you feel comfortable moving forward? Trust your gut.
The location shouldn’t be a determining factor. Never limit yourself to what you can find in your local area since SEO’s not based on where it’s done, but rather on how experienced the people behind it are and how their expertise in the field will influence the whole campaign.
SEO is an effective way to boost your business’ potential and increase your ROI, however finding the right SEO agency is going to be quite a process. But everything will be worth it in the end. Remember that you have built your company carefully and it wasn’t easy, so allot time to do proper research and you’ll eventually land the right SEO company that will take your business to new heights.