SEO Agencies: Finding the Right One
Finding the right SEO agency can be similar to finding the right job, the right food for your body, the right person to call your spouse, etc… It’s all about weighing your options and comparing it to what’s already out there. In this insight, we’ll be discussing the red flags, the good signs, why this matters, and why you should contact us to begin seeing results, today!
Red Flags
Red flags can come up at the very beginning of your relationship with an SEO agency or they can slowly appear over time throughout the coming months working together. Either way, you’ll want to know what to look out for in an SEO agency. Below is a list of some of the most egregious red flags and how you can identify them:
Slow Response Time
Nothing says “we don’t care about you” more than a slow response time to your initial inquiry. The SEO Agency should be frothing at the mouth for new business, regardless of whether or not they’re already well established. This is due to the simple fact that all new inquiries could potentially lead to tons of new business through referrals, word-of-mouth, and reviews. It would be foolish for an SEO agency to respond several months later and expect the inquirer to happily respond as if no time had passed. This not only says that the agency doesn’t regard you as important, it also sets the stage for future correspondence and completion times to be extremely delayed. This can prove to be a fatal blow to a business when time constraints need to be met.
Extremely Divided Reviews
Yes, there may be the one or two customers who for whatever reason were never happy. As a business owner, you’ve most likely experienced those types of individuals yourself. Yet if the reviews on an SEO agency’s Facebook page, Yelp page, or GoogleMyBusiness page are basically split 50/50 amongst people who hate their services and people who glowingly love their services; it may be worth it to look into the positive reviewers’ history and see if they’ve only reviewed this specific agency. These reviewers may be paid bots, friends/family of the agency owners, or just fake accounts created by the agency owners themselves. It’s important to vet the reviews and ensure they can be trusted. If this scenario appears in the reviews of the agency you’re speaking with, question them about it. If they provide a canned response or are taken aback by your question, cease contact with them immediately. They’re not worth your time or effort and eliminating further discussions will reduce you from having to deal with a hysterical mess in the future.
Offering Everything Under the Sun
Yes, several agencies offer more than one thing, but when an agency offers every single service you could imagine, you may want to inquire why they don’t specifically focus on one to three services and be great at those instead of spreading themselves too thin and offering everything under the sun to their clients. This is either an agency which is outsourcing the majority of their work or they are so desperate for clients, they’ll take any work they can find. Either way, it’s most likely an agency you don’t want to become too involved with.
They Use PPC to Gain New Clients
Any credible SEO agency doesn’t have to use pay-per-click advertising due to the simple fact that they should be able to practice what they preach and achieve high rankings for desirable keywords with their own web site before offering services of their own to potential clients. Any company you discover through an ad on Google or any other search engine should be avoided as they most likely have zero organic traffic and are solely relying on paid measures to bring in new clients. This is not the type of group you want to be relying on to see you to the top of rankings for competitive keywords.
Their Own SEO is Awful
Why work with someone who has no organic rankings, poor on-site SEO, and little to no backlinks of their own? It’s the equivalent of taking your car to an auto-shop and the auto-shop doesn’t even have a garage to examine your car. It’s best to avoid any SEO agency who does not have their own SEO in order. Some ways to test this are examining the activity of their site, their level of fresh content updated on a weekly basis, their user-experience, the structure of their site, their page speed, etc… All of these things, and more, are something you’ll want to examine prior to signing a contract which locks you in to potentially wasting thousands of dollars per month on an agency which doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Good Signs
Now that we have the bad signs out of the way, let’s examine some of the good signs you can look forward to when working with a credible SEO agency:
High Rankings of Their Own
When an SEO agency shows up in search results when searching for “SEO agency near me” or just “SEO agency”, you can bet they’re most likely quite competent in SEO as those specific search queries take some excellent skill to rank for. This is one of the first steps you can take to ensure the SEO agency you’re going to work with knows their stuff.
Great User Experience
When browsing their site, do you notice everything seems to flow smoothly and the site has a clean design, structure, and easy to use navigation throughout? This is a great sign as it will indicate what you can most likely expect to receive when working with an agency of this magnitude.
Positive Reviews from Real People
When verifying the authenticity of their reviews on their various social networks or GoogleMyBusiness, you’ll want to look for reviewers which give off a “real person” vibe. This can be anything from the reviewers being “local guides” under GoogleMyBusiness’ platform or the reviewers having reviewed other businesses in the area as well. These factors show the reviewers are not bots or “one-and-done” reviewers, and that the SEO agency has actually worked with these reviewers in the past or present.
Relevant, Recent Case Studies
Several SEO agencies reference case studies from many years ago. You’ll want to ensure the case studies are recent and the client’s case study website is live. To verify this, simply Google the client’s name and see if their site is still active. If it’s not and the SEO agency is still showcasing the case study as if it were just last month, you’ll want to avoid them. Go for SEO agencies which have timely and relative case studies. Inquire about these case studies when speaking with the agency and have a list of questions ready to go. This will prove whether or not the SEO agency actually knows what they’re doing.
Their Own SEO is Excellent
This is the bottom line. Is their own SEO excellent? If not, do not do business with them. It’s as simple as that. Focus on finding quality SEO agencies in your area and you’ll be pleased with the results. Don’t go cheap/budget either. Think of SEO as healthcare for your website. You wouldn’t spend the least amount of money possible on a facial reconstruction surgery, would you? The same principle applies to quality SEO. Choose an agency which offers excellent SEO at an acceptable price and you can expect great results.
Why All of This Matters?
All of this matters due to the fact your website is an extension of your business, especially in our modern, digital age. Without an excellently optimized website, you will most likely fall behind your competition and potentially go out of business. Be proactive with your digital presence and you’ll begin to see great results all in due time.
Contact Us to See Results!
If you’ve been having trouble locating a quality SEO agency in your city, contact us to begin seeing excellent results! We’ll have your site soaring above and beyond the competition and have you ranking for fantastic keywords in no time! Feel free to fill out the form below for a complimentary SEO audit of your website and we’ll have said audit back to you within 24 hours. We look forward to hearing from you soon!