How to Choose an SEO Company?

SEO is one of the most effective ways to acquire leads and grow your business. It allows you to reach new customers and build a relationship with them. But, with so many digital marketing companies out there, how do you choose the right one for your business?

There are several things to look for when choosing an SEO company:

1. Ask for Referrals from Other Businesses that Have Good SEO Results

You can ask for referrals from other businesses that have used SEO services that have good results. If an agency has helped other businesses in your industry grow their online presence, they’re more likely to be able to help you as well.

You can ask for referrals from your network of business owners or look for online reviews of the agency. You can get a better idea of the quality of work they provide and how well they communicate with their clients.

2. Check Their Website

You can look through the SEO company’s official website, and check their design and keywords ranking. A good digital marketing agency will have a well-optimized website that ranks high in search engines.

You can use a tool like Ahrefs to check their website’s SEO. Look at their organic traffic, keywords they’re ranking for, and how much traffic they’re getting from each keyword. You should also take a look at their backlink profile to see if they’re building high-quality links.

You can also consider leveraging Serpstat’s backlink profile analysis tool to gain a comprehensive understanding of a digital marketing agency’s SEO prowess, examining the quality and strategy behind their link-building efforts for a more insightful evaluation of their capabilities in driving online growth.

If an agency can’t even optimize their own website, how are they going to help you grow yours?

3. Check Out the Agency’s Testimonials

You also need to check out the agency’s testimonials.  Look at what their past clients have to say about them. If they don’t have any testimonials, that’s a red flag.

A good agency will have testimonials from happy clients that you can read. These testimonials should be from businesses in your industry. But it may be hard to find such reviews if the SEO company you’re communicating with is a small company or a start-up.

4. Visit the SEO Company If You Can

When you choose an SEO Company, it’s important that you have a personal meeting with them. This will allow you to get to know the company and ask them any questions you may have. 

If an SEO Company invites you to visit their office, that’s a good sign. It means they’re confident in their abilities and want to show you what they can do.

5. Talk with the Owner of the SEO Company if Possible

If you can directly communicate with the owner of the SEO Company, that’s a good sign. Most owners of an SEO agency are SEO specialists. You can ask them specific questions about their experience and what they would do to optimize your website.

6. Ask for SEO Case Studies & Client Examples

To know the SEO company’s ability, next you should ask for client examples they have optimized for keyword rankings. If they are a reputable company, they will be more than happy to share this information with you. 

If they don’t have any examples to show you, that’s a red flag. You should also ask for case studies to see how they have helped other businesses in your industry grow their online presence.

You need to pay attention to the total website traffic (both organic and direct), lead numbers, and bounce rate of the client examples. You can ask the agency to open that Google Analytics account associated with that website to show you the progress they made.

Some SEO agencies pay attention to the organic traffic but pay little attention to the leads. That’s to say, some traffic may be not useful as that cannot bring conversation or sales. So the agency you want to work with should also focus on how they generate leads from their optimization work.

You also need to check the keywords ranking of the client examples by yourself, and the data of client examples some agencies shared with you may be months or years ago. As you know, the keywords rankings are always changing as Google release algorithm updates regularly.

7. Set Your SEO Goals and Make Sure the Company Understands them

You need to know what your SEO goals are. What and how many keywords do you want to rank for? How long it will achieve? Once you know your goals, make sure the SEO company understands them. 

A good SEO company will take the time to understand your goals and create a plan to help you achieve them. They should also be able to give you an estimate of how long it will take to reach your goals.

8. See if They Willing to Understand Your Industry & Target Customer

Then you need to check if they’re willing to understand your industry and target customer. A good digital marketing agency will take the time to learn about your business before trying to sell you their services.

You can tell if an agency is truly interested in your business by the questions they ask you. If they’re only interested in your budget and how much you’re willing to spend, that’s a red flag. A good agency will want to learn about your goals, target customers, and what you’re currently doing to reach them.

The questions they ask you will also give you a good idea of their level of experience. If they’re asking basic questions about your business, that’s a sign they don’t have much experience working with businesses in your industry.

9. Ask the Company to Keep Communication with You in the Process of Optimization

A good SEO company will keep you updated on their progress and communicate with you regularly. You should have regular meetings or calls with your account manager to discuss the progress of your campaign. The company should also send you monthly reports that show the progress of your campaign.

10. Ask How They will Optimize Your Website and Increase Your Keywords Ranking

The agency should also have a clear understanding of how they will optimize your website and increase your keywords ranking. The approach the agency takes will be different for every business, but there are some common methods they may use.

One method is on-page optimization, which includes optimizing your website’s content depth, H1, H2, H3 tags, readability and etc. The agency should also make sure your website is mobile-friendly and load quickly.

Another method is off-page optimization, which includes building quality links to your website from other websites. 

The agency should also be using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your website’s traffic and keyword ranking. They should be able to show you reports that prove the results they’ve been able to achieve.

Get a Detailed Proposal

Once you’ve found an agency you’re interested in working with, the next step is to get a detailed proposal. The proposal should outline the services they offer, how much they charge, what they’ll do, and what results you can expect.

A good agency will be able to provide you with a proposal that is tailored to your specific needs. They should take the time to understand your business and goals before putting together a plan.

Keywords Research

Keywords Research is the first and most important part of SEO. If you want to rank for a certain keyword, your SEO company needs to do Keywords Research deeply. They need to know the search intention, search volume, and ranking difficulty of a keyword. 

If they want to have a good result for your SEO, they need to pick the right keywords for your business, especially considering search intention and competition. 

Search intention lets you know you need to create a commercial page or blog page for that main keyword, and the competition tells you the money and time you need to rank that keyword.

There are many tools you can use for Keywords Research, such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, and SEMrush.

Analysis Competitors

After they’ve done your Keywords Research, the next step is to analyze your competitors. You need to know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Analyzing your competitors will help you create a better SEO strategy for your business.

You can see where your competitors are doing right, and learn that to your own website, while improving the place where they’re doing not good.

11. Ask How They Create the Content

One of the most important things to consider when choosing an SEO company is how they create content. The content is the king in SEO. If your content is good, you will have a high chance to rank on Google.

A good company should be able to create high-quality, original, and keyword-optimized content.

12. Ask How They Do Link Building

The quality links are next to the content. If you want to rank on Google, you need high-quality links pointing to your website. A good SEO linking agency should be able to earn link building manually. They should also have their own database of quality websites where they can get links. 

They should get links with white hat methods, such as creating infographics, conducting surveys, and writing guest posts, instead of grey or black hat methods, such as link farms or links to websites with no traffic, which will do bad to your website, some may not recover even if you disavow and improve them later.

13. Watch Out for SEO Guarantees

A good SEO company will never guarantee you certain results, such as “we guarantee you the first page on Google”. No one can control or guarantee that, not even Google.

The SEO company may say they will do their best to get your website to rank on the first page of Google, but they cannot 100% control or guarantee that.

SEO is an ongoing process, and it takes time to see results. The agency should be able to give you a general timeline of when you can expect to see results, but they shouldn’t make any promises they can’t keep.

14. Pricing

You need to know how much the SEO company charges for their services. This can vary depending on the size of your website, the competition, and the services they’re providing.

Some agencies charge a flat rate, while others charge an hourly rate. The average cost of SEO services is $500-$10,000/month.

You should also find out if the agency has any hidden fees or charges. Some agencies charge a set-up fee, while others charge for additional services such as monthly reporting or keyword research.

15. Make Sure They’re Transparent

A good digital marketing agency will be upfront about their prices, services, and results.

You should never have to guess what an agency is going to charge you. They should have a pricing page on their website that outlines their services and how much they cost.

A good agency will also be transparent about the results they’ve been able to achieve for their clients. They should have case studies or testimonials from happy clients that you can read.

Transparency is important because it allows you to make an informed decision about whether or not an agency is a good fit for your business.

16. Talk and Compare Different SEO Agencies

You should talk with different SEO agencies before making a decision. This will help you get a better idea of the services they offer, their prices, and what they can do for your business.

Comparing different agencies will also help you make a more informed decision about which one is right for you.

17. Find an Agency That Fits Your Budget

Not all agencies are the same, and neither are their prices. You need to find an agency that fits your budget and your needs.

You may be tempted to go with the cheapest agency, but that may not be the best decision. The most expensive agency is not always the best either.

Find an agency that provides a good value for the price. They should offer quality services at a fair price.

18. Get a Written Agreement

When you’ve decided on an agency, make sure you get a written agreement. This agreement should include the services they will provide, their prices, and the timeline for results.

Make sure you read and understand the agreement before signing it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or have someone else look at it.

Final Thought

By following these tips, hope you can find a good SEO agency that will help your website rank higher in search engines. Remember, it takes time to see SEO results, so be patient and choose an agency you can trust.