It’s not hard to get a site to show up on Google. You write an article, Google indexes your content, and it goes into the search engine results. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll get any traffic.
Reports show that 67.6% of all search clicks go to the top five results. If your website isn’t there, it’s hard to get traffic from SEO. That’s where hiring an SEO company helps.
Hiring SEO service providers is an important decision, so you need every advantage you can get during your search. Follow the guide below when searching for SEO provider options to ensure you find the perfect SEO company for your needs.
Table of Contents
Understand Your Needs
There is a lot that goes into a great SEO campaign. You must pick the right keywords, create relevant content, optimize your website, and more.
However, not every SEO company will offer every service. Some companies will do keyword research and create content, while others will focus on on-site audits and help you perform technical tweaks to your website.
It’s essential to understand what you need to ensure you find a provider that can meet them. On top of that, you can also find SEO companies that offer a full-service package.
This may cost more money than smaller service packages, but you won’t have to distribute work between several SEO providers.
Compare Your Costs
There is a lot that goes into the cost to outsource SEO services. Some larger companies offer monthly retainers with a set price for everything. You won’t need to worry about add-ons like content driving up the price.
However, some companies work by offering a base price and require customers to pay extra if they want more work done. This is a great way to save money and only get the services you need.
You’ll need to compare these pricing structures when comparing SEO service costs. Your goal should be to find the most value for money you can get without skimping on service quality.
Learn About Reports
SEO takes a while to work, so you may not see immediate results from your SEO company’s efforts. However, that doesn’t mean you should hear nothing from them about what they’re doing.
You should get regular updates about what’s going on with your SEO campaign. You should know what content gets produced, technical tweaks made to your website, and what outreach a provider does to get backlinks to your website.
Ideally, you should get a regular report every few weeks or month that details this information. You should also be able to see what keywords your SEO provider targets and where they stand in the search engine.
This data will help you learn what value your SEO company provides and if it’s worth continuing to use its services.
Get Client Feedback
Established SEO companies should have established records. It shouldn’t be hard to find other companies that have worked with a company before.
Look on Google to see if you can find feedback on a service’s search page. Reading online reviews on these pages is a great way to learn more about the company.
You won’t only hear about the positives of working with a company when doing this. You’ll hear the good and bad from website owners who don’t have a stake in promoting an SEO company.
Check Out Case Studies
Case studies are a great way to learn more about how well an SEO company is at its job. SEO is data-driven, which means you can easily track the results you provide to customers.
That’s why most SEO providers produce case studies that showcase the work they’ve done in the past. They put these case studies on their website in public to make it easier for potential customers to find.
You can also see if a company has had results in an industry similar to yours. Past experience in your market can make an impact on a company’s ability to produce results.
Understand the Process
There are guidelines that Google uses to rank sites on its search engine. It does this because it wants searchers to find the correct information and not fight through spam.
However, there are ways to game the search engine to get faster rankings. While these methods may work for short-term results, they aren’t great if you want to rank on the first-page long-term.
Ask your SEO provider the methods they use to rank on Google. Compare it with the Google guidelines to ensure you don’t work with a company that will take shortcuts to generate search traffic for your website.
Ask About Outsourcing
It’s not uncommon for SEO agencies to outsource work. They handle client generation and send work to other companies. There’s nothing wrong with this practice, but it’s something you need to be aware of.
It’s not a huge problem if the company you work with finds and vets individual freelancers. This is similar to vetting a full-time employee, so there shouldn’t be big problems.
However, some companies will outsource work to other agencies. If this is the case, it makes sense to learn who these agencies are so you can vet them along with your primary SEO provider.
Don’t Accept Less When Hiring SEO Service Providers
SEO is a great way to drive relevant, affordable traffic to your website. The problem is that it takes time to work, and you may not see results for several months.
That’s why you can’t afford to work with SEO companies that don’t do the job right. All you’ll do is waste time and money and won’t get results. Remember the guide above when hiring SEO service providers to find a company that knows how to do SEO right.
Check out the blog for more tips that will help you optimize your SEO and social media results.
