If you’re reading this it’s likely you are thinking about taking your business to the next level through search. You’ve probably had a few referrals. You may have talked to an agency or two. You might be experiencing sticker shock as well. So the question is “do you need help from a professional agency?” Here’s a few things you should be thinking about to help you make the decision.
- How valuable would organic traffic be to your business?
This seems like a silly question but truthfully it’s worth understanding. I’ve encountered many businesses that sold products or services that just didn’t have a great pathway to organic search traffic. Sometimes a product is something that doesn’t make sense in search. Don’t let an agency tell you that you can have big returns in SEO just because it wants to sell you a service. The truth is there are some businesses that should do better in search than others. If you can’t see a pathway to SEO growth for your business then hiring an SEO agency doesn’t make much sense.
Here’s a simple exercise: what would you need to search to get to your business? If it’s “digital marketing service for e-comm business” then sure, maybe you have a way to grow search. If it’s “b2b video platform for fortune 500 companies” what are the odds someone is finding you on search? I’d guess it’s not very good. - How Competitive is the market?
Let’s say you have a company that sells shoes to men and women. All searches related to shoes are dominated by Google ads. The rest are likely going to legacy sellers, department stores and affiliate publishers. If your shoe has some unique value prop (made with 100% recycled parts) then maybe there’s a way to create content and pages that allow you to be seen in smaller more targeted queries but the idea that you’ll rank highly for “men’s shoes” is pretty unrealistic. If you have money to burn then maybe it’s worth a shot but otherwise I’d suggest putting your time and effort into other areas that might get you ROI faster. - Does the SEO agency have experience in your niche?
Now, this doesn’t always have to be the case. You could go with an agency that doesn’t have experience but in my opinion it’s better. An SEO that deals with publishers will have experience with the unique challenges that business face (ex. Dealing with ad placement and google best practices for intrusive ads). Local SEO experts will be able to deal with your SEO issues there better than someone who has never done it before. SEO agencies who have worked with medical content will understand better what works in their experience to build trust. It’s important that you find an agency that knows your business and challenges. - What am I getting for my money?
Seems obvious but there’s so many questions people don’t ask when interviewing these agencies. For instance, a technical audit is great but what does that mean for you? What are they going to tell? Will they prioritize the issues for you? Will they work with your devs to help fix the issues? Will they provide documentation of their analysis to verify it’s legitimacy?
You can’t ask enough questions about what are you getting for your money. No SEO agency can guarantee you better SEO by any magnitude but you can at least know what the deliverables will be, how they will be laid out and how they will help you. - Do they have references?
This is one that I believe needs to be asked more often. They can tell you they worked with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft but is there anyone there that can speak to the quality of their work. Of course references are designed by the candidate to make themselves look great but in the world of SEO, producing happy clients is such a big win that if they can show you even a few clients who can speak to the quality of their work you should feel good.
Do you have patience?
This might be the most important. A good SEO agency has a high expected value. The problem is you won’t see that value for months, maybe over a year. Of course they can help you immediately with creating good content, fixing issues on the site and even link building services, but to see your SEO grow it can take a while.
Can you be comfortable spending 10,20,50 thousand dollars on an SEO agency and wait it out?
In my opinion it’s similar to investing. People know that putting $100 a month into a mutual fund will give you much better returns in 40 years but many people don’t have the patience to think that long term. Of course I’m biased but I think it’s worth it. The rate of return on a great piece of content or an optimized site can be worth way more than you spend on the agency. You just have to have the patience to do it.
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