A Complete Guide on How to Choose The Right SEO Agency in 2020
In branding or running a website for your business, half the job is completed when you choose the right SEO agency. The right SEO agency would yield great value to your business. Working with the right guys, you would see more growth, sales, and returns on investment.
Choosing the right SEO agency could be a daunting task for new and smaller businesses that don’t have experience of working with an SEO agency.
Your choice is even made harder by the hundreds of agencies out there. All, have enticing websites and many come with mouth-watering advertisements.
Selecting the right agency could seem like a big gamble. But then, you know too well, your business cannot afford to gamble with something as integral as your online presence.
Not only does your SEO agency aid your growth and visibility online, but it also has unrestricted access to your content and business strategy so you want an agency that you can trust.
If your business needs an SEO agency but you do not know how to go about it, this article is for you. I would guild you through the characteristics you should be looking for and the questions you should be asking in choosing the right SEO agency.
Criteria To Consider Before Your Search
The first step is to determine the direction you want to stir your website. That way, you can select an agency that fits best with your goals. There are two vital questions you would have to ask yourself before you start looking for partner agencies. They will help you define what you want from the partnership.
1. What Kind Of Site Do You Want To Build?
At first, answering this might seem very simple until you take a deeper look. you want the best site that is modern and user friendly. You desire a site that would attract thousands, true. But in setting goals for your site, you need to be more specific with your desires.
Outline Your Business Goals
- Ranking your website on search engines
- Attracting qualified traffic
- Building a name and strong reputation for your brand.
Having specific goals like these would help you in deciding the right SEO agency for your business. This brings you to the next question.
2. What Aspect Of SEO Would Be Serve Your Brand?
The goal of your site could be likened to a destination. The SEO agency is like the vehicle to take you to your goal. Different agencies have different capabilities and expertise. You have to decide which best suits your brand. Among the common types of SEO we have
Once you have decided on the goals of your site and what aspect of SEO would get you to your goals, you can begin to interview some agencies out there.
Questions For Your SEO Agency
If you have little experience in choosing SEO agencies, you would find an SEO request for proposal (RFPs) to be a useful tool. Using an SEO RFP, you can receive proposals directly from the SEO agencies. This saves you time and the headache of extensive research.
The various agencies send in their proposals via email, and all you do is compare and choose the one that best suits your brand. With this information, you begin to ask the hard questions.
How long have you been in the SEO industry?
A number of years of experience could be a great sign. It shows that the agency has grown and improved over time. They must have gotten their fingers burnt in the early days and over time had developed a system that kept them in the industry.
This alone is not enough to make you decide to do business with any company but it is a great start. With a good number of years under their belt, you can tell that the agency understands what it takes to build a website or online presence.
How do you keep up with modern trends?
For an agency that has been around for quite some time, you would want to ensure that they are evolving with time. The SEO industry is very dynamic. Strategies quickly grow old. New things come up all the time.
You need to know how informed they are and how well they have adapted to changes over time. This is one key factor that would help you choose the right SEO agency.
Can you explain your Strategies?
The SEO agency should be able to work you through their process and explain how it would deliver results and fit into your goals. Over time and from the experience of working with several clients, the agency should have proven strategies that deliver. They should be able to walk you through their procedure, explaining how it has been successful in the past and how it fits into the goals of your site.
In explaining their strategy, the agency must show transparency. You need to know how open they would be about their process and progress. They have to explain how they would report to you and what information you would have access to. How often would you get reports?
Do you have a team with the right skill sets?
A wide range of skill sets is required in operating an SEO agency. The agency should show how their various departments would come together in serving you. Do their experience and specialization fit with your goals?
For example, if you are an eCommerce site, you would want an SEO agency that is eCommerce based. You want an agency that understands your niche and are equipped with the expertise to make your site rank.
How can you show your achievements?
Remember, the goal is to choose the right SEO agency. One thing a good agency would have is positive testimonials. Satisfied clients would be open to giving testimonials. Still, inquire further. Questions like, what keywords on your client’s site did you make rank, can be very appropriate.
Let them show the resultant search traffic that came from Google organic search.
Google Analytics is a great tool you can use to research metrics like the number of visitors to your website in a given time, the keywords they used to find your website, the names of search engines or other websites that referred people to your website, and more. This tool would enable you to verify the achievements of the SEO agency.
Do you have a dedicated staff that I can always reach out to?
The assurance that there is always someone that you could reach out to is a big advantage for an SEO agency. You would want to know what is going on with your site. It would be key to have someone in the agency with an open channel of communication.
You should agree on the best time to call for information. You probably wouldn’t be able to call as much as you want but there should be a satisfactory medium of communication.
How good is your client retention?
Client retention says a lot about how well a company is doing. A high client retention rate shows that the clients are satisfied with the service. While it’s hard to obtain the industry average for client retention. A number north of 60% seems fair enough.
This is not to say that agencies with a client retention rate of below 60% may not be good enough, as so many factors could contribute to this.
Still, you would be more comfortable if your agency has a loyal customer base.
What do clients say about your services?
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to talk to other clients. A good agency would have no problem getting recommendations. Reaching out to their clients is a great way to decide if you would be bringing your business to the agency.
Conclusion: How To Choose The Right SEO Agency
The importance of SEO to your business cannot be overstated. Your relationship with your SEO agency goes beyond that of a vendor. Your SEO agency should be a partner. This article gives you a template for screening and selecting the right SEO agency. Follow the above criteria in making your decision. You should make a careful selection, ruling out any that does not meet the requirements discussed.
This is the age of information. You want an agency that can project your information to the views of those you intend. It’s almost an act of magic but it doesn’t take a magician, it takes a qualified team.
