How do you decide which SEO agency will best suit your company’s needs? This article will discuss the 9 most essential questions you should ask the SEO agencies that you interview.
1. Expertise – While more than 10,000 companies are offering SEO services, we recommend that you choose an SEO agency specializing only in search engine optimization. It should be their primary service and the company’s main focus. We believe that you can’t be a master of all marketing services if your only skill is in one. You should look for agencies specializing in a handful of services, with SEO being the most important.
2. Experience – It is essential to look for SEO agencies with 10+ years of experience in the SEO industry. This will ensure that the company has improved and refined its SEO business practices over time. In the first five years of their existence, many SEO startups fail. At least 10+ year-old SEO agencies have been able to weather the storms of business cycles and outperform their competitors. We assume this is based on customer loyalty, performance, and results.
3. Case Studies – Request to see multiple case studies in the same industry as your business. Clear data should be provided in SEO case studies, and they should include precise data from Google My Business listings such as Search Visibility and Map Visibility. Clicks to the website, click for directions and Click on Call. These SEO KPIs can vary from industry to industry and company size.
4. Review – Pay attention to both the quantity and the quality of reviews. We recommend that agencies have at least 30+ Google reviews. Reviewers should have at least 5 years of experience. Companies with a lot of reviews within a short time should be flagged. Fake reviews are often a sign of fraud. Reviews are usually either 1 star or 5 stars, as with most businesses. It was expected that established SEO agencies with a good track record would have some negative reviews. This is normal in an industry where honest companies don’t want to ruin their reputations. 1-2% of reviews will likely be negative. However, SEO agencies with less than a 4.5-star rating should be avoided. This would indicate a higher number of negative reviews.
5. Keyword Research & Integration Strategy – Setting the right stage for your SEO campaign is crucial to its success. The SEO company should ensure that they are thorough in their research to gain a complete understanding of your business and products. How do they translate that information into search? Which metrics are they using to decide the best keywords to optimize for search? Search Volume? Relevancy? Competition? Competitor?
6. On-Page SEO Strategy: Good SEO campaigns begin with on-page optimization. Ask the SEO companies you’re interviewing about their on-page SEO strategy. Is there a checklist? What are the elements they review during on-page SEO strategies?
7. Link Building Strategy – Link building is one of the most challenging but essential aspects of search engine optimization. The Essex SEO Agency you select must use white-hat link-building methods. You should avoid any form of black-hat or traditional link-building methods, such as bots, comment and forum links, and other types of bots. The SEO company’s link quality standards should be discussed. Are they looking for links from websites that have a minimum domain authority or not? Do they want links from websites with a minimum page rank? Are they willing to do advertorials or guest posts? We recommend using an SEO company with a wide range of link acquisition methods.
8. Content Strategy – Content strategy is key to search engine optimization. Ask the SEO agency you are interviewing about their content strategy for your company. This can be done by discussing existing products and services that require the content to be optimized. Talk about other products and services that may need pages, content written, or optimized. Ask the SEO company for their blogging strategy. Are they blogging? What are their blogging habits? How do they choose topics to write about? As part of their overall SEO campaign, good SEO companies will use strategic content optimization strategies. This is a good area to ensure that the company you select is an expert.
9. Client retention rate – This is the last question we recommend you ask any SEO agencies you consider. This is an excellent indicator of how long other companies have been using the company’s SEO services. Sometimes, it is easier to understand SEO retention rates by translating the metric into months instead of percentages. Asking an SEO company about their client retention rate will result in them giving you a percentage number like “96%”. You can also rephrase the question to ask, “How long do your clients work with you?” You should get a response of either months or years like “22 months”. The average retention rate of good SEO companies is between 94%-98%, which means that clients should be kept for 1.5 to 2+years.
