Business owners get so many emails and phone calls from SEO companies and consultants looking for new clients on a regular basis. It can be challenging to cut through the noise and determine what you actually need and who can provide the best service and options that meets your specific business needs. We have a few tips that can help guide you in the right direction and ensure you are getting the return on investment you are looking for.
Start with the performance results
If a seo company is truly making an impact, they will be proud to show what they have achieved with their clients. As a result, you should see case studies and review them. See who they have worked with and in what industries. Do they have specific experience and results with the industry your business is in? What were the results?
Also look into what they are tracking specifically. You want to see signs of growth which include new users, sessions, pages per session, and most importantly key events and conversions. Key events are those chosen specifically as the most important metrics to track and monitor. These can include form fills, video views, subscriber sign-ups, etc. Why is this important? Because it shows that the SEO company understands how to drive qualified traffic to your site. Traffic that is meaningful for what your business goals are and what you are trying to achieve. It verifies they know how to reach your potential clients where they are and that your business is visible with the right audience.
The SEO partner makes an impact
Who are you going to be working with and what is their experience? Do they have agency experience? This is a very important distinction and it does matter! The longer they have been in the SEO field, the better chance they have worked specifically in the industry that your business is in. Especially, if they have prior agency experience who often works with a variety of clients with different needs in a variety of fields.
You will also want to clarify if they are going to be doing the work themselves. Or will they be handing it over to an internal team member or outsourcing to a third party. Most larger agencies do keep the work in house but turn it over to a coordinator and account manager to manage. An SEO lead or director will usually oversee the strategy but leave the implementation to the other team members. Boutique SEO companies like Delco SEO have an experienced SEO expert on each call, handling the strategy, implementation, and monitoring the results.
You’ll also want to know if your SEO consultant has certifications and reviews? Certifications show industry experience and a passion and drive for the digital marketing field. For example, Google certifications like Google Analytics (GA4) develop knowledge about how to interpret website analytics and make those data driven decisions that are essential for long term growth. Bright Local certifications demonstrate specific knowledge like local SEO or GMB listings to help companies get their listing verified or reinstated.
Lastly, check out the company reviews. What are they saying? Are they very general or do they talk about specifics about how what the SEO company did made an impact. Are they recent? If so, it shows the company is getting new clients who appreciate their work and the results they are getting.
Transparency Matters
When evaluating potential SEO partners, you will want them to be transparent with the results. Starting with the pricing. Is it clear specifically what you will be getting and is it clearly identified in the statement of work? Does it mention specifically and match what you spoke about during the consultation and discovery calls? If not, they may simply be copying and pasting a prior proposal.
Are they forcing you into long term contracts or promising unrealistic results? The truth of the matter is, it does take 3-6 months to start to see results from an SEO campaign. However, we prefer not to lock clients into long-term contracts. Our goal is to build relationships based on trust, transparency, and results, and many of our clients have continued working with us for several years.
In addition, no agency or SEO consultant can promise you first page results. Searches in the traditional search engines vary and depend on a lot of factors including location, previous search history, keywords and phrases, etc. The focus should be on building a solid SEO foundation that includes providing helpful content with a good user experience.
Quite often the results reported often only tell one side of the story when in reality it is another. Ask how the results are measured and reported upon. It should be customizable and show the most important metrics to you and your business goals. It should be able to be accessed in real time and list what work was completed along the results. KPIs should be set each month to determine that milestones were met successfully.
Getting Started
The first step in looking for a good SEO partner is to first have a clear idea of what you are looking for, what your goals are, and what success will look like for you. When you communicate that to your SEO consultant, they should be able to craft a strategy around those specific needs. Start with, Who are you trying to reach? How do you reach them? How can we measure the impact when reaching them and is it working? And what is the overall return on investment? You will then have a much clearer message and increase the chance of your search engine optimization efforts being successful.
