Due to all the misunderstandings of what SEO actually is, and the bad reputation a lot of black hat SEO companies have generated for the industry, it’s not surprising that many small business owners shy away from having a professional SEO company get them some results. This is perfectly understandable, after all, you’re paying for something you can’t really see, from a company that is quite possibly not in your country, for something that takes time to work and done by people you may never meet! Thats if it works at all. But taking time to understand what it is and what it can do, talking to the right company who takes the time to understand your company and your aims can transform your business. SEO is truly a measurable form of marketing (actually one of the few), so working with a company who shows progress, reports on what they are doing will give you a strong ROI in the long term.
You should start by knowing if SEO can work for you. Whilst this sounds a little contradictory there are a few rare situations where it might not. Results are always achievable, but you have to be realistic in what you can do with your budget. If you want to compete for a hugely searched key phrase that has lots of competition and your site is brand new with little budget for SEO then you are going to struggle. The other main reason why SEO wouldn’t be the best option is if you have been punished either a sudden big drop in rankings or de-indexed and removed from Google completely.
Knowing what to ask and be asked when talking to SEO companies
Your SEO company should have an initial consultation, and by asking the right questions about your site and your business, they should be able to give you a good idea of cost, time and expected results. If they start talking technical jargon at you, don’t ask you any pertinent questions and start quoting prices then you should be very wary.
A good SEO company should talk to you in a clear and easily understandable way, not promise miracles, have evidence of results and preferably not working for your competitors. Essentially there is going to be a lot of trust due to the reasons stated earlier. A lot of site owners like to go local and meet up, specifically to fill that need of trust. But the most local SEO company isn’t necessarily the one with the best results or that is right for you. Normally a referral will help as that is how the best business is always done as you will trust the person giving it.
In this current digital world where you can work with people all over the globe where do you start if not local? The truth is most people don’t search, they are nearly always cold called and will choose from that or they will ask their friends. Simply “googling” best SEO company may or may not get you speaking to the right SEO company.
There are also good questions that you can ask them too, like what current examples do they have of their work? Do they and references you can speak to? Do you report on all your work? Are they working with your competitors? All these factors combined should give you a good idea of the quality of the company you are dealing with.
Other factors in choosing an SEO agency
Cost also isn’t necessarily a major factor. If you have been quoted a cheaper price you have been quoted different work. You’re not buying the same SEO from any individual company like you are buying groceries. At the end of the day you have to use some logic, common sense and a bit of gut instinct like you do with any other business decision and use the points we have made above.
Be very cautious of companies offering “pay on results”: would you operate your business this way? It only incentivises bad practice and black hat techniques. Also there is no such thing as an absolute guarantee, after all, is your SEO company in charge of Google?
