Important Questions To Ask An SEO Agency Before Hiring Them
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long-term endeavor that should keep on going throughout your brand’s lifespan. There is never a one-and-done solution, therefore, your relationship with your SEO agency needs to be a strong one. You’re going to be spending a lot of time working with them over the years.
With this in mind, we’ve put together some important questions to ask an SEO agency in the initial stages before you commit to a contract with them:
What Is The Expected Timeline For Seeing Results?
SEO is not a quick-fix job. If an agency is promising results fast, they are probably using techniques that are slightly suspect. Legitimate techniques should start to show results from about 6 months on. Of course, some smaller onsite fixes could show quick jumps in the right direction, but the main improvements will take a few months to come to fruition.
Is A One-Size Fits All Solution Offered?
Each business and website are unique. This means that an SEO agency that offers a one-size-fits-all solution isn’t considering your precise needs or niche.
The agency doing your SEO must have an open dialogue with you and use your website or brand’s metrics and data to ascertain how best to create a customized SEO solution. The keywords used, the external or backlinking strategy, the navigation or structure of the website, and so much more will differ for every business and brand. A solution that’s not tailor-made won’t yield the best results from a campaign.
What Do Your Monthly Reports Look Like?
Reporting on SEO is very important. You and your agency need to set expected results and KPIs before starting and ensure that each month, the SEO efforts are working towards those goals. If an agency is not keen to be specific about goals, then you need to be wary of them. It’s quite common for an agency to provide a monthly report for ongoing SEO work, and to also take you through what those figures on the report mean for your website.
Do You Incorporate SEO With The Overall Digital Marketing Plan?
SEO is not a standalone project. It needs to coincide with all digital marketing efforts done for the website and brand. This includes aspects such as blogging, newsletters, PPC advertising, display advertising, social media marketing, digital PR, and influencer marketing. All these elements are connected and should be working towards the same goal of boosting traffic to the website and ensuring that leads convert into sales.
SEO combines with these because a lot of paid digital advertising relies on keywords, which should be the same keywords that are focused on with the organic SEO. Additionally, social media and online PR provide amazing backlinks for the website, which help to boost your rankings and SEO.
What Is Your Approach To Off-Site SEO?
Off-site SEO is a big area where you could get hit pretty hard if the tactics used are not completely above board. It’s often called link building or backlinking. It’s where other websites link to your website, boosting the traffic to your website. If the backlinks are coming from websites that aren’t high quality or don’t have a logical connection to your brand, you can get penalized by the search engines. It’s so important for the SEO agency you use to be open about how they approach off-site elements of SEO.
Make Sure You Feel Comfortable Before Hiring
Think of this initial process of hiring an SEO agency like an interview. You wouldn’t hire a new employee without interviewing them, so why should you partner with an agency without doing the same?
Ready to “interview” Let’s Go Media? Our team of SEO experts would love to talk to you. It could be the start of a long-term relationship with excellent ROI. Just ask our other clients!
Get in touch: hello@letsgomedia.io or Whatsapp us on +27 83 9555 891!