Nowadays there are so many SEO agencies claiming to be able to get your website to the “top of google”, while it is potentially possible, it depends on many variables.

Most of these agencies don’t fully understand the complexity of running a successful SEO campaign and finding the right SEO agency for you will be very rewarding.

What is SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the optimisation of the content on your website so that it shows in a more prominent position within the results of the search of any given topic (keywords). Search engines (Google, Bing etc..) continuously update their search algorithms to favour relevant and popular content, and to punish those who upload irrelevant keywords and content.

Basically, SEO is the process of getting people onto your website from organic search results. SEO is not as simple as you think, and many businesses are turning to SEO agencies to improve their online presence. Finding the right SEO agency for you can be as challenging as Search Engine Optimisation itself, so when embarking on that journey, here are a few tips to bear in mind.

What Questions To Ask When Enquiring With An SEO Agency?

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It can be a very difficult task when choosing which SEO agency to use.

And as SEO is an invisible product, SEO agencies can try to confuse you by using different terminology to make themselves sound good.

The best way to find out about them is to ask them some vital questions which are listed below.

1. What other marketing experiences do you have other than SEO?

SEO is part of an overall strategy, not a standalone product. You should work with a company that understands this.

2. What do you need from me?

It’s not as simple as leaving all the work to the agency, the more you input, the better the SEO results will be. Make sure you work together in tandem and that the agency will encourage this too.

3. How much will be done in-house?

Many of these agencies will outsource their SEO work, the more that is outsourced, the less accountable they will be.

4. What SEO experience do you have?

Enquire what businesses they have worked with before and the longevity of their partnerships. People are likely to be loyal if they are yielding positive results, demand to see stats behind campaigns of a similar size to yours. They should be happy to share their success stories.

5. How much contact will we have?

Communication is key to a successful SEO campaign. The more you put in, the more you potentially can get out. Although it is a 2-sided coin, both parties should be willing to communicate.

6. How will you choose my keywords?

You can ride to the top of google with very specific phrases. However, it won’t do any good if nobody ever types these particular words. Even broader used keywords might not be the right ones for your particular business. You have to find your own niche of keywords for your business and this is where a good SEO agency is vital. They will understand this and offer bits of advice according to your niche.

7. What results can we expect over a certain period?

First off nobody, and I mean nobody can guarantee any position in the google ranking, as they can change the algorithm at any point. If an agency says something along the lines of “we can have you on page 1 by the end of this week”, hang up the phone and search elsewhere. What should happen is, the agency and you should agree on some goals and make sure that you are both happy, and check in for regular updates.

The Big No’s When Choosing An SEO Agency

Regarding anything with independent variables and random algorithm changes, nothing can be guaranteed, as with SEO. Know when to say NO by looking out for these things below.

1. Over submitting to search engines.

A well-constructed website does not need submitting everywhere. In-fact over submitting to the likes of Google, Yahoo and Bing will impact you in a negative way and rank you down.

2. We know someone at Google.

If your SEO agency claims to know someone at google that can help with your ranking, it is very much unlikely. Even so, every single employee at google have to sign confidentially agreements, also the search engine system is… a system, and cannot be altered by employees to favour a particular website to show for “plumbers in Leeds” for example. By any means, the SEO agency should stand by its own reputation and not the reputation of someone else.

3. Many many backlinks to your website.

This is negative for your ranking if you receive many backlinks very quickly, search engines like to see the steady progression over time. Irrelevant links built quickly are a great way to get punished and ranked lower.

4. Metadata copyright.

Agencies that say they want to keep the rights to the data they analyse, create or edit for you can potentially undo all your previous SEO work if they decide to prevent you from using it. Make sure you keep your data yours.

5. Over or underpriced.

It’s not unreasonable to want reasonable. An SEO agency with a good reputation will charge you reasonably, whereas an overpriced quote will show that the agency is not aware. Being under-priced will show that the agency is going to provide a low quality of work.

6. Guaranteed 1^st

Nope Nope Nope!! It is impossible to guarantee any position at all. People that say they can guarantee 1^stpage at the end of the week or anything along those lines do not have a clue about SEO full stop! Google rankings do not update overnight, they are updated annually. Even 1^stplace cannot be guaranteed, let alone in a short space of time.

7. Indexed website in a couple of days.

An SEO professional needs to analyse your website before indexing, research is a huge part of an SEO professionals’ job. To index without researching is very lazy and could impact the SEO negatively, as they will not know the correct keywords to use.

The best advice I can give to finding the right SEO agency for you is to keep researching until you find an agency that can answer all the right questions.

Also, remember the big no’s we talked about, and you will be well on your way to finding a great SEO agency.