Every day, people go to Google to find products and services near them. If your business's SEO is not up to par, your competition will beat you to it.
A business cannot remain relevant in today's digital world without an online presence. And just having a website or social media page is not enough. A website needs a lot of things like good content, relevant, mobile-friendly, and ways to help people find what they want to know about a company and the services it provides. But your business could be the most beautiful business in the world with all kinds of content and none of that will matter if people can't find it when they type a web search. Essentially you need search engine optimization, or SEO.
Every day, people go to Google to find products and services near them. Adweek reports that 81% of people will do an Internet search before making a purchase. Small businesses must capitalize on these prospect searches to stay competitive.
When considering who to hire to optimize your business website, it's important to look under the hood and see what steps an SEO company takes in their SEO process, and whether it conforms to best practices. Here are some things to consider.
Does the SEO company provide a track record of success?
You've probably heard the phrase that it's more about the impression you leave on people than what you actually do. In the search for the best SEO company, both parties play equal importance. A good SEO company will have a proven track record of success and can show that other companies in your same industry are satisfied with the work provided.
The company will be able to provide results for at least three years so that clients access the first page of the Popular search engines like Google and Bing. They will have worked with many clients across multiple industries, and in different countries and regions. Data collected from past experience helps SEO companies discover trends within industries and locations, and gives you a better idea of what tactics are working.
This experience helps good SEO companies discover changes in search engine algorithms before they are announced. Good SEO companies will recommend best practices in SEO as part of their proposal, and will stay in line with what search engines recommend.
Do you personalize the service?
A proven track record of success is one of the most important things when looking at an SEO company. But a second is knowing that it will take time for the company to understand your business and what makes it unique and valuable to customers. In addition to understanding your business, it is important that they understand your customers and target audience.
You should communicate regularly during the early stages of hiring an SEO company to help them understand all the moving parts that drive your business. Key bits of information to share include helping the SEO company understand how your company makes money, other marketing channels you use like social media or advertising, and even who your competition is and how your company relates to others in the same industry. This helps the SEO company identify keywords and other aspects that will ultimately help strengthen your website.
What ROI do they achieve for clients?
Good SEO for a small business website can be invaluable in attracting new customers. But the return on investment for SEO can be difficult to measure. The biggest indicator of SEO success is monitoring how your company's keyword rankings improve on a search engine. and should increase steadily over time. SEO companies will select keywords based on market research and knowledge of the region and industry, then you will have to wait and trust that these keyword efforts are effective. First page rankings lead to an increase in traffic to your website and, ultimately, more leads and sales.
Good SEO companies will install analytics within your website that can identify where your traffic is coming from and ensure that specific SEO keywords are the best choices for you. attract potential clients. Companies are becoming increasingly competitive with each other for top search keywords, and you need an SEO company that knows how to increase your keyword rankings on the web to take it to the next level. SEO work is never complete. It is a constant effort to improve different keywords to keep your rankings high.
How do you provide customer service?
With anyone you do business with, you want to know that they are trustworthy and that the team you work with is responsive and supportive. Good SEO companies are no different. They will be people you can easily work with, learn from, experiment with, and someone who truly cares about the best options for your business. They will show personal care and will not treat your business like another customer on a sheet of paper.
It's easy to determine the type of attention your business will receive from an SEO company. Just take a look at the employee-customer ratio and find out how many employees will be dedicated to managing your business needs. You should also take a look at the other types of services from the SEO company. Are they small businesses like yours or big national brands? Small businesses need to hire a SEO company that works specifically with other small businesses and whose tactics and specialties work well for other companies like yours.
Are they transparent?
Ultimately, if you hire a SEO company, is to improve your business website. And you should know the steps that are being taken to optimize it. Good SEO companies are transparent every step of the way and will provide ways for you to monitor the work and progress being made. Good SEO companies keep a detailed record of the work being done month after month in a format that shows you exactly where your money is going, like a dashboard. Custom reports will contain the results of the strategies taken and will show improvement over time on key benchmarks.
These reports show all the work the SEO company does, why they are doing it, and how it is helping you achieve your goals. The account manager will be patient and expert in explaining what is SEO, how it works and the steps being taken on your website. They will be open to any questions and clarifications you have about the process.
Do they set appropriate expectations?
Good SEO work is just that, work. It takes time and effort to get your website to the first page of a search engine because you have to earn it. You don't lose 10 kilos by going to the gym once. And good SEO companies don't promise overnight results either.. They will outline the expected timelines and what needs to happen to reach the goal of getting your site to the first page of Google. Most SEOs take between four and six months before you start seeing results.
Waiting patiently for SEO to work can be one of the most frustrating parts of the business. Companies want your investment to pay off, but good SEO results take time to show. However, as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.
Do they use white hat tactics?
Have you heard the term black hat? Recently popularized by several television shows and movies, it refers to unethical or illicit ways of doing things online. Bad SEO companies employ black hat tactics that could end up damaging your website in the long run.
Good SEO is a combination of on-site optimization, or your code and content, and off-site optimization with business profiles and link development. Quality content with a focus on user experience is key. Target hate tactics for SEO focus on the entire experience for someone searching on the Internet: everything from the search results to the click on the website, and the ability to attract new customers for both mobile searches like desktop.
At the beginning of the process, good SEO companies will offer a technical scoping audit by evaluating your current website to identify strengths and areas for improvement. This audit includes things like known issues, suggested areas of improvement, an estimate of the overall investment, estimated positive business impacts, and presents a plan on how to best move forward.
How do they value your services?
When your partners partner with others, of course, you want to make sure that you are getting a good deal and that it is affordable. Often in SEO, quality and affordability are at odds because companies sacrifice one to achieve the other. Good and complete SEO requires time and skilled labor. And generally, that means that the better the agency, the more expensive their services are. But there is always an exception to the rule, and you can find SEO companies that have figured out the system and offer quality SEO at an affordable price, even for small businesses.
Ask SEO companies how they charge clients. Is it an hourly rate or a flat rate? If a company simply charges a flat rate and doesn't disclose what work that flat rate covers, consider it a giant red flag. Quality SEO companies tell you what they charge and what work they do for that price
Final Thoughts
SEO is a time-consuming process, but it is extremely valuable for any small business. Your customers go to Google when they are ready to buy. It is essential that your small business website has SEO so that people in your area can find you when searching for a product or service online. But it's important to hire the right SEO company to do this work to help your business succeed online. This list of things to look for and ask will help you weed out the bad companies from the good ones that will grow your business's digital presence.
