Things to Consider When Hiring an SEO Agency

Posted by Jacob Kehler on November 16th, 2020

When it comes to digital marketing disciplines, search engine optimization (SEO) is arguably one of the most if not the most important. As we continue to move into an increasingy modern business landscape, more and more consumers turn to search engines such as Google and Yahoo to find the products and services they need. If a business does not rank competetively in search engines for industry queries or keywords, they will be missing out on hundreds, if not thousands of potential customers every month. Many small businesses can handle small SEO jobs internally while larger businesses or businesses in competetive industries often turn to SEO agencies to ensure their success in search engine rankings. 

There are a few things you should consider when hiring an SEO agency to help your business rank higher in search engines. Below are some of the top things that should be considered when partnering with an SEO agency. 

SEO agency reputation

So called "SEO experts" area dime a dozen these days. Every digital marketing agency claims to offer some sort of SEO product that they claim will help improve rankings. When talking to an agency that offers SEO, be sure to ask them for examples of their work and proof of results. Many SEO companies are unproven or have been unable to get desireable results for their clients. Ask for some examples of websites that they have worked with and data that shows an increase in impressions, an increase in visits and an increase in rankings. If they cannot prove that their SEO process is effective, it is likely the case that they do very little to actually help their clients succeed in search. 

SEO agency transparency 

When paying for SEO, one of the most important KPIs is a higher ranking in search engines such as Google. Even when working with the most successful and proven SEO experts in the country, substantial improvment in rankings can take many months to be realized. If you are in the talks with an SEO agency, make sure that they are going to be transparent with you. Ask them what they are going to do to help your ranking improve. Follow up that question by asking if they will provide any proof that work is being done. For example, will they provide you a list of landing page URLs that have been created? Will they provide monthly reports that show increases in impressions/ visitors from organic search? If your SEO agency is working hard to help your business succeed, these are things that should be provided to you on a regular basis to show that quality work is being done. 

There are a lot of SEO companies out there that will do as little work as possible to get by. Be sure to find an SEO company that does not only claim to do SEO, but can also demonstrate the success of their other clients and provide reports that reflect improvment in your website's SEO. There are a number of great companies that offer SEO in Columbia who do just this. Make sure that you do your research and work with a company that will truly help your business succeed in search engine result pages.