When looking for an SEO company what factors should we consider?

Introduction

If you are looking for an SEO business, well, you are quite literally spoilt for choice. That’s because up and down the country, there are now so many digital marketing agencies.

So, this is good thing, right? Well, yes, from a customer’s perspective there are loads of companies, yet sometimes all this choice can make it more difficult to narrow down the list to just a few businesses that you may wish to visit.

Now, as most businesses owners don’t have the time to understand seo, and let’s face it, that’s what they pay us for, so we have noted down some questions that you might wish to ask your next agency.

 

Must be white hat

When it comes to SEO its most definitely not worth opting for the cheapest option you can find. The reason being is this, if you invest in rubbish quality seo, your website could incur a penalty.

Now your thinking penalty, well how bad can that be? You might be thinking along the lines of it being a penalty like when you park your car in the wrong place.

You might be thinking that you can pay a small fine, and everything will be good? Well, the answer to that is a penalty when placed on your website, for using rubbish seo doesn’t work like that.

Instead your website can drop in terms of where it ranks, which means that when people are looking for the goods or services that your business offers, well they may well have a hard time even finding your business.

Also an algorithmic or manual penalty can even sometimes mean your business is removed together.

And you would be mistaken if you thought that such an issue could be fixed relatively quickly, that’s because sometimes a website will not be able to recover, back to where it once was for months, or even sometimes years.

Then you have to think about how much an seo company may charge to rectify the problem. For example, if your website has loads of low-quality backlinks, and you’ve been hit by a Google Penguin update, well this can sometimes be costly, if you pay an seo agency to fix the problems.

So, a word to the wise, choose a white hat, quality marketing agency.

 

How have you found the SEO business?

Have you chosen your SEO business based on an e-mail that was sent to you? Or, perhaps a salesperson seemed really nice at a networking event?

Well again, you have to think, is this the best way to find a new marketing agency. Sure, sometimes it is, leading agencies attend networking events, and sometimes also e-mail various businesses, yet you also have to think about all the other businesses out there, and would it be better finding a business doing what it does best?

What we mean by doing what they do best is, if the company does seo, surely its better to find them online?

Yet, even then you have to be cautious, as some businesses will reach the top of Google using black hat seo, that’s before there own website gets hit by a penalty.

So why not have a look at the businesses the agency is working with? Are they well-known businesses? If so then this may instil some confidence in the business, then you may wish to phone the business and arrange a meeting, and take someone with you that knows a thing or two about seo.

In a nutshell, you have to make sure you are choosing a real white hat seo agency.

 

Can they offer you a list of satisfied clients?

It’s all well and good a marketing business stating that they are the bees-knees, yet if they cannot show a list of satisfied clients, then their claims be well be exaggerated.

Therefore, look to work with a business that demonstrate positive results that they have gained for other customers.

Also, you may wish to look for a marketing agency that specialises in your line of business. For example, there are now so many seo businesses, that there are often marketing agencies that work only with dentists, or with divorce solicitors for example.

There are obvious advantages of working with a marketing business that specialises in your business sector, as they are more likely to understand what you do, and therefore should generate more effective marketing campaigns.

 

Don’t go too cheap?

All of us love a bargain, right? Whether that’s a really good price that we get on a new item of clothing or perhaps a really cheap holiday.

Yet, when it comes to online marketing, sometimes picking the cheapest company is often a mistake.

The reason being is if a company is offering an unbelievably low price, well that may well be because a marketing consultant is not applying much time to implementing seo.

Which means that the seo may well be automated, and talk to any seo agency, and they will tell you that automated link building is a really bad seo practice. It’s one which is likely to result in a penalty, such as a Google Penguin penalty.

 

Is the fee affordable for your business?

On the other end of the spectrum you may wish to choose a well-known agency, yet you have to ask can your business afford to pay high marketing agency prices?

The reason being is organic seo is often not a one-off process, meaning that most businesses pay monthly.

This means that some businesses may simply run out of funds, and that’s before the marketing strategy has really moved forwards.

So its important to get the balance right, that’s between not choosing a agency that offers rubbish seo, but also one which your business can afford.

 

Local

You should carefully consider where the marketing agency is based, after all its all well and good choosing an agency miles away, yet boarding that train, and having to book a taxi on each visit will get tiresome.

So why not choose a marketing agency that’s based near your business? But, with that said, do make sure that they are white hat.

Is their knowledge kept up to date?

Sometimes some digital marketing agencies offer a very broad service, that’s to say they may offer everything from web design through to logo design.

So, with that said, some agencies will not have the time, or the staff to keep on top of the changes that can occur to SEO.

That’s because Google’s algorithm is regularly updated, and you should choose an seo business that keeps their SEO knowledge up to date.

Have you met the person who is managing your account?

Often when visiting an agency there will be many members of staff. Yet, more often than not the agency will have a main sales person, this is the person that often talks you through all the various seo packages that are available.

Yet, we believe when you’re visiting an seo agency, you should ask to meet the employee who will actually be managing your account.

You may wish to ask the employee whether or not they understand your business sector for example. So, if you run say a solicitor’s practice, and you specialise in the area of divorce, you may wish to ask if the agency if they have similar clients.

If your business requires help with its SEO, why not give us a ring?