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Let me warn you, if you’re looking for the best SEO company for optimizing your website, you should be careful of the traps that may be in store for you.
Do not be enticed by the promises of top rankings within weeks or days. These agencies could be confidence-tricksters who are eager to seize your opportunity and take your money for nothing.
SEO is still vital if you want organic traffic, leads and sales to your site.
I can confidently say that there is no better strategy for long-term success, at least not right now.
SEO can help you market your business.
Business owners may be familiar with the basics of SEO, such as keyword search and link building.
You might also be doing your own SEO. There is nothing stopping you from doing this, but you will eventually need professional help to streamline the process.
Once you have seen the initial traction of your website through basic SEO, an expert is needed to take it to the next level.
You can stop organic growth from your website.
This is when your competitors take off and outpace you, literally taking your customers and leads.
It’s not something I want to do.
What if I said there was another threat?
You can think of an agency that you hired to do the jaw-dropping recurring payments, and make your website break.
Although I understand that it will be painful, my decade-long experience can confirm that such situations are not uncommon.
How do you choose an SEO agency you can trust? How can you avoid being swindled by such agencies before they get your card details? This is what the checklist below will discuss.
Let’s get started by identifying genuine SEO agencies that can help your business.
15 Questions You Need to Ask Before Selecting a Right SEO Agency
Are you thinking of hiring an SEO consultant or agency to improve your website’s rankings? These 15 questions will help you determine if they are able to drive your website to the top of Google search.
- Excellent SEO Companies Have Great Experience
Before you hire an SEO company in auckland, it is important to verify their experience with providing SEO services.
Many SEO service providers claim to be experts, but are they able to prove their claims?
Before you make a commitment to a call, this is something you should check.
Google’s Penguin update was launched in 2012 to target SEO companies that use black hat methods. However, that hasn’t stopped some from doing the blackout job.
You need to ensure that your company is knowledgeable about SEO and not just a shady link building strategy that could ruin your website’s rankings forever.
The job of an SEO agency goes beyond the simple tasks of setting up a company or providing basic SEO services.
It’s all about helping clients to implement strategies that will stand the test of time.
It is also about helping websites navigate through updates to search engine algorithms and difficult competitors.
Only an experienced agency can guide you to the finish line, where you will see all your goals.
Stan Ventures has been in this industry for 13 years. We have witnessed Panda and Penguin up-close.
This means that we’ve been through two of the most devastating near-extinction events, but have survived them like the Arthropods. We have clients who continue to be loyal to us even after they achieve their goals.
They are confident that we can support them.
- The Best SEO Companies Provide Results and Services That Delight Their Clients
An SEO company can easily talk about the SEO services they offer for your site. It is quite different when they tell you about their work for other clients.
A good SEO company will provide you with case studies and portfolios of their work. You may be able to see a list of their clients along with the services they provided. This will give you an idea of the efficiency of SEO marketing agencies.
Although you can’t expect search engine optimization companies to be successful with all of their projects, it is important to ensure that they have completed a reasonable number of projects.
You can also get in touch directly with clients to inquire about the effectiveness of the provider in reaching its SEO goals.
Don’t trust every claim made by SEO companies. Instead, verify their authenticity and check their references. This will ensure that you find the best SEO service provider for your requirements.
- A good SEO company will have a high level of understanding.
SEO can be about ranking higher on search engines or increasing traffic to your site.
SEO covers many things. It can help you get traffic, rank on search engines, promote your brand, and boost conversions by running a campaign. You should test the understanding of an SEO company before you hire them.
Although many SEO service companies claim to offer all kinds of SEO services it is important to know what you can expect from them.
An SEO campaign can include on-page SEO optimization and off-page SEO optimization. There are also technical aspects.
On-page SEO includes SEO measures taken within the website such as meta tags, HTML and hyperlinks. The off-page SEO factors include building quality backlinks and link-building.
It is important to ensure that the SEO company you are hiring for your SEO needs knows all about your needs. This will allow you to find the best SEO service provider for your needs and help you achieve your SEO goals.
- You should ensure that the SEO company has a plan that meets all your expectations
You can’t guarantee success when you hire an SEO service provider or expert for your business needs.
It can be difficult to tell if an SEO plan is going to work based on its appearance. But, it is important to understand the details of the plan the SEO provider or expert will provide you.
Before you sign up for any SEO company, it is important to define your goals and objectives.
After you have shared your goals and needs, potential SEO experts or service providers should create a plan to help you achieve your goals.
You shouldn’t believe anyone who says they can guarantee you more traffic in five to six months. A metric like a 10-12% increase in traffic each month is what you need. This is the best way for SEO experts to plan.
- SEO companies that are successful adhere to the best practices in SEO
Your website will likely spiral downward no matter how experienced an SEO expert may be.
Although it is true that SEO experts cannot control the updates and new guidelines for search engines, they must be proactive enough in anticipating and adapting to any changes.
Do not be lured by SEO companies promising quick traffic. You might find them using blackhat SEO techniques to gain quick traffic.
Search engines will eventually penalize your website. You should be careful and ensure that the SEO professional you hire follows the guidelines, not taking shortcuts.
- Top SEO Companies Send Consistent Reports
You must make sure you receive regular SEO reports about the success and progress of your campaigns before you hire an SEO company.
A good SEO company will send you a white label SEO report that contains all details every month.
You may find SEO companies that will only give you reports on the website’s performance if you ask.
We advise against choosing them. Instead, look for an SEO company which will provide regular and consistent reports with all relevant data regarding your campaign and the SEO strategy.
Communication is also important when choosing an SEO company. It is important to ensure that your SEO company has SEO professionals who are able to communicate effectively and make you fully understand the SEO plan.
You can always try other options if the SEO company is unable to deliver regular reports.
Questions to ask before choosing the right SEO partner
How do you determine if someone is the right SEO partner for you?
To find out, ask the following questions.
Let’s delve in.
What SEO services are you offering?
SEO encompasses many facets. These include link building, blogger outreach and guest posting. Content writing & Marketing is just one example. Some SEO companies may not offer all of these services.
If you are looking for link building services, it is not a good idea to choose an agency that offers content writing and marketing services. Check to see if they offer the specific SEO services your company requires.
It is best to find an agency that provides all of your SEO services under one roof if you expect your needs to change from time to another. You can avoid the hassle of finding a different agency to handle a new requirement in SEO.
How long have been you in the SEO industry for?
Scammers in SEO are unlikely to have a strong presence or a consistent business record.
Ask your SEO partner how many years they have been in business. Also, do a background check to verify the same.
Make it a point that you choose an SEO agency with proven expertise and experience over random startups with little to no experience.
Most likely, established SEO agencies have worked with businesses similar to yours. They will be able address your SEO challenges effectively and find a solution as soon as possible. Budding SEO agencies cannot do the same.
Could you please share the names of your clients and the results you achieved for them?
You can learn a lot from the reviews of past clients and previous clients.
An SEO company that is reputable will gladly share the names of clients they have worked with, and what they did to help them reach their goals. That’s how they win your trust.
It is not necessary to check all clients. It is a good indicator that the agency has helped at least two or three large brands.
If an SEO agency cannot show any depth, they may not have been able to get results for well-respected brands, or have not worked with them.
How can you improve my SEO ranking
Without knowing the root cause of your website’s problems, no SEO agency can give you a definitive answer.
This query will however give you insight into their process.
An excellent SEO company will conduct a technical SEO audit to determine the root cause of a client’s site not ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs) or not ranking at all. After determining the root cause of the site’s poor ranking, the company will develop an SEO strategy that is often focused on keyword and link building to improve the site’s search engine rankings.
Alert If link building is something your site requires, ensure that the SEO agency creates high-quality links from trusted sites. Your website’s SEO can be hurt by low-quality links.
You can trust your SEO partner if their answer revolves around this context. If they do not give you convincing answers, it is a red flag.
Is it possible to guarantee #1 Google ranking on my site?
This is the best way to avoid SEOs that are too sales-focused.
Google is constantly updating its algorithms in order to provide a better user experience. SEO agencies can keep track of algorithm changes and optimize websites accordingly. However, it’s not possible to claim that they are experts on all aspects of the Google algorithm. SEO can take time and effort.
However, they cannot guarantee that your website will be ranked #1 for a specific search term or within a certain timeframe. They can only use their knowledge and experience in the field to help you rank high on Google.
If someone promises #1 Google ranking for your website, they may be looking to make a sale.
Are you up-to-date with algorithm updates?
Google and other search engines update their algorithms regularly, as mentioned. Your site will not be improved if you stick to old algorithms. They are likely to negatively impact your website’s search engine optimization (SEO)
To ensure that your SEO partner is up-to-date on algorithm changes, they should also be able to craft SEO strategies for you site around those changes. Make sure that your SEO agency is up-to-date with algorithm changes before you hire them.
This is a huge step for both your website and business.
How will I be kept informed about any changes made to my website?
You should give an SEO agency access to your website when you hire them.
An authentic SEO company will keep you informed about any changes made to your website in order to optimize it for search engine optimization. You will receive reports every week or month. On request, they can send you consolidated reports.
It’s not a good sign if an agency claims they monitor changes but refuses to provide transparency on what they do to your website.
What if they stop responding to you or cause damage to your website while handling it unknowingly? Do not hire such agencies.
What will your reports contain and how often will you send them?
People prefer to have an SEO partner who sends regular reports than those who don’t.
It is a good idea to receive month-end reports. However, you can request them to send bi-weekly and weekly reports depending on your preferences. Companies that want to keep their clients informed will not hesitate to provide regular reports.
These are the essential elements of a comprehensive report.
Activities The number of links that were built and the number of active outreach campaign content created.
Web Traffic The web traffic status. This shows the percentage increase/decrease in traffic relative to previous months.
Rankings. Seach engine ranking status of keywords targeted.
Conversions The number of website visitors has been reduced to different stages of the sales funnel.
How can you measure SEO success?
Although the growth in search engine rankings, social engagement and web traffic are all positive indicators, the true success of SEO campaigns can only be measured by the number of conversions.
Only when your visitors become customers can you generate more revenue. That’s the ultimate goal for any business. Business is money. It is the increase of ROI that matters most.
SEO agencies that calculate success in other ways than this are not worth your money and time. You should remove them from your list without second thoughts.
Are you using black hat SEO methods?
You will want to get a huge NO on that question.
Black-hat techniques are practices that violate Google Webmaster Guidelines. These tricks trick search engine algorithms to temporarily boost your website’s rank.
Google doesn’t like being tricked into giving up on higher web traffic or rankings. Google will punish your site and bury it in search engine results pages if it discovers that you are using unfair SEO practices.
It may even remove your website from search results, so potential customers will not find you online.
It’s a nightmare!
Do not encourage black-hat SEO practices on a site.
Have you fixed penalized sites?
Websites can face a search engine penalty. It could be intentional or accidental, but the main reason for the hype is that it can be difficult (but not impossible!) to get back a penalty.
Google’s violation of its webmaster guidelines results in search engine penalties. There are two types: algorithmic penalties and manual actions.
When an algorithm update is made, algorithms can often result in algorithmic penalties. Sites that do not meet the requirements of the algorithm updates are subject to this type penalty.
When the Google webspam team detects that a website is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines, it takes manual actions and signals it to be removed.
What if your website is subject to a penalty?
You should check to see if your SEO partner is experienced in fixing penalized websites. If necessary, they should be able to exempt your site from a penalty.
Are you looking to outsource SEO projects
Many SEO agencies are able to handle more projects than they can handle. They outsource tasks to freelancers or other third parties when they are unable to complete the projects themselves.
This is a big compromise, especially when it comes to quality.
What is the result?
It will affect the final result.
Don’t trust agencies that outsource your projects. Instead, choose a company with the resources and expertise to manage your SEO project.
How do you price your products?
Different pricing models are offered by different SEO agencies. Pricing also depends on what SEO services you need.
If person A only needs link building services and person B needs content writing services and blogger outreach services then the pricing will be different.
There are many differences, but most SEO agencies charge project-based fees. Some companies also offer hourly pricing.
No matter what pricing model you choose, ensure there are no hidden fees and the pricing is within your budget. Look for an agency that is 100% transparent when it comes pricing.
How do I contact you?
It is unlikely that you and your team will need to communicate more than once a month due to the nature of SEO. You should ensure they are available via multiple channels such as email, voice, chat, and live chat.
Your SEO partner should always be available to help you in an emergency, such as a sudden drop or change in search traffic to your website.
It is still a perk to hire an SEO agency with teams that work in different time zones. This will allow you to get technical support as and when it is needed.
What if I’m not satisfied?
Every SEO agency has clients who are unhappy with their work. This is not a common occurrence.
But what if you’re one of them?
Find out what your SEO partner does to satisfy their clients.
Good SEO companies listen to their clients to find out what part of their service is not satisfying them. After they have identified the problem, they make sincere efforts to restore their client’s smile.
Some agencies go one step further and create dedicated policies that include a money back guarantee for clients who are not satisfied. These companies are committed to client satisfaction above all else. Such companies are your best choice.
You need to be careful when hiring an SEO company. You must be aware of the potential risks associated with choosing the wrong service for your SEO needs.
Follow the above checklist and make sure to ask your potential SEO service provider or expert for the details you need.
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