How to pick the right SEO Agency
Hiring the right SEO agency is an important step toward the success of your SEO goals. While hiring the right SEO agency may appear to be simple, it is a critical task that can make or break your business.
Most SEO companies will claim to be the best. They will seem to portray the best SEO practices. They will promise you first-page rankings on Google. Yet, this isn’t the case sometimes.
Is your SEO partner the right fit for your business?
As a web and digital marketing agency, we have the relevant SEO skills and experience. As such, we know a thing or two about what to look out for, when choosing the right SEO agency for your business.
Here are some pointers to guide you forward.
1. Do they have an understanding of your business and product?
The very first thing an SEO agency should do is to understand a client’s business. This gives one direction and strategy to effectively work on their SEO goals. They should know your business, your competitors, your audience, and your business goals.
Without a clear, in-depth understanding of a business and brand, how are you able to map out a strategy for a client’s SEO goals?
2. Have they requested access to your platforms?
An SEO service provider should ask for access to your different platform accounts. Your CMS admin access, access to your Google Analytics, Google search console. Including Google’s business profile, social media accounts, and any past SEO audits.
This access enables the SEO agency to go over the current analytics of your platform and website SEO. And, create a case study for the way forward.
3. Has an SEO Audit been done?
An SEO audit is a process that evaluates how well your website is performing in search engines.
Before the implementation of any SEO plan, an SEO audit should be carried out. The results then give you an actionable plan to improve your site performance. Otherwise, how will the SEO agency successfully carry out its SEO goals? Especially without knowing your current standings?
4. Has your content been optimized?
SEO is ever-changing. But, one thing remains constant. The importance of content to SEO. These two go hand in hand. Great content is the backbone of SEO success.
Optimizing your content for SEO improves your rankings and content marketing goals.
Additionally, the quality of your content also improves your website’s relevance and authority. Which also greatly contributes to your SEO.
5. Is your SEO consultant pursuing vanity metrics?
In simple terms, vanity metrics are data points that appear impressive on the surface. But, they don’t give the true performance of your digital asset. These may include followers on social media, subscribers, high-rated keywords, or page views.
You can not clearly analyze your business performance based on these metrics. And as such cannot create actionable goals for improvement.
6. Do they have an SEO strategy?
Last but not least, the right SEO agency should have a well-laid-out and actionable SEO plan. It includes SEO Analysis, SEO Audits, points of action based on audit results, and defined lines of communication.
These assessments will give you a clear understanding of what to expect if you decide to invest in SEO services.
Recommended Steps for Good SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the process of using different techniques to grow your online presence. This is so your website ranks higher in search engines.
Manual Google Search
Google is a great way to see how well your website ranks on the search engine.
A manual Google Search can be used as an initial step in performing technical SEO audits. This will give you more information about what needs improvement for higher rankings. And, less time spent fixing things that may not actually contribute toward increased traffic or revenue!
Website Audits
A site audit is a process of analyzing and evaluating the search engine friendliness of a site. It provides a broad view of your entire website content and capabilities.
An audit will unveil common site issues. See the image below.
At MRK, we use tools like Semrush that do complete website scans. Semrush provides comprehensive reports to guide you on issues to rectify. This enables you to optimize and improve your site rankings and user experience.
We also use Yoast to optimize our site content to rank higher on search engine results pages.
Keyword Strategy
Keywords are a crucial part of any successful SEO strategy. Keyword research helps you get target keywords. Incorporating these keywords will help search engines better understand your web content. It can help you identify which keywords will have the biggest impact on your business.
There are many different tools that offer this service. Some are better than others depending upon their specific features (ease of use vs compatibility).
Content Optimisation
Trying to do SEO without content, is like trying to fly without the wings to do it.
The best way to get ahead in search engine rankings is by creating high-quality content. And, blog posts that will be useful for users. This includes adding internal links between pages that are relevant. And, using targeted key phrases or topics covered on your website with keywords. It’s an effortful process but definitely worth it!
Link Building
Link building is the process of earning citations from relevant, credible sources. These are sources that are experts in their field, authoritative, and trustworthy. This strategy can help boost your business’s online visibility and search engine rankings.
Link building is also termed off-page SEO. In other words, these links may refer to other pages on your site or external web pages.
- Some are links to websites with more authority.
- Others are links to websites that are relevant to your content
- Anchor text links
- And links to sites that already rank high in SERPs for certain keywords.
Local SEO
To boost your business in search engine rankings, you need to optimise for it. Local SEO means optimizing online visibility in specific locations. This increases the chances of people finding out more from their searches done locally based on location.
There are a number of steps that can be done to improve your local SEO:
- Dedicated contact pages
- Having valid structured data
- Doing a citation audit
- Claiming your Google business listing
- Connect your site to Google search consoles.
Social Media Marketing
A good social media strategy does contribute to SEO rankings even though indirectly.
Sharing links across social media platforms increases brand exposure, and online visibility, and builds organic traffic.
It is, therefore, worthwhile to put in the effort to develop a good social media presence for your business.
Client Onboarding at MRK WP
Here are some steps that we undertake when onboarding a new client. These help us have a clearer understanding and perspective of the client and their needs.
It is important before starting any planning or execution with a proposed partner, that you are clear about exactly what you want your proposed project to achieve. We want to understand what your business is, what you are trying to achieve with your project and what your requirements are.
Our Three-Step Process
At MRK we have a three-step strategy for our discovery. We look at the needs of our clients and how to get them right. This process allows us to focus on the end result so that we’re not slowed down with paperwork and other bureaucracy.
1. Identification
We need to know what drives your business. We look at your business activity, what do you want to do with your proposed project? What are your long-term visions for communication? Once we know more about you and your business, we can make sure we are all heading in the same direction.
2. Analysis
Once our findings have been documented, we set about to review key aspects and provide critical functional and technical analysis. We really look to understand the interrelationships between proposed elements and define options based on our technical experience. During Analysis, we develop an objective vision of what components are required to support a technical solution that will see your project capable of meeting the requirements of your business and your audience.
3. Recommendation
During the discovery, multiple options may arise from the Analysis based on cost, time to implement, and other factors. MRK Development will provide recommendations based on the customer-defined criticality of function and priority. Our recommendations can also identify areas for future enhancements, things that may not be required immediately, but we should keep in mind.
Key Outcomes
As part of the discovery process, we have 3 key outcomes or outputs that MRK WP will produce. (This outcome is based on a website rebuild).
- A site map for your website. This is a top-level map of the required pages needed to make your website a lead funnel.
- Basic SEO Research – Complete SEO research and analysis will ensure we target the right phrases and information. This will also cover what types of content need to be created to make your website great.
- Consolidated Branding Information – Having a strong branding outline makes the building of a website fast and reduces overheads. We want to make sure we know how developed your brand guide is.
With these three parts of information, we will then do a first phase website build proposal for the business. This will give us a clear way forward. for the first website build for introspectus.com.au
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, therefore, do your research and ask lots of questions to find the right SEO agency partner fit for your business. Never be afraid to make the necessary changes if things aren’t going as expected for your SEO goals.
We hope this tutorial was helpful in providing some guidance on what to look for when partnering with the right SEO agency.
If you have any further questions or need help with your SEO needs, please reach out to us – we would be happy to assist you with your SEO goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does SEO work?
Search engine optimization is all about helping Google to better understand your website. Then, increase its authority so that you start appearing when people type specific terms related to what it’s about. In simple terms, this process is done in two main ways;
- Authority – This is how reputable your website ranks according to Google and other search engines.
- Relevancy – This helps Google understand what your website is about, to enable it to send the right traffic.
Do I really need SEO?
The short answer is Yes. SEO aims to draw attention and traffic to your website. As more people discover your site, traffic is channeled to your other content or products. This converts to increased revenue.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is a form of search engine optimization that aims to increase awareness about your physical business. It’s done by increasing traffic from local searches. It allows potential customers to locate info about your brick-and-mortar store in search results. As such, they can come to visit in person.
How do I improve the relevancy of my website?
The information outlined in this article should give you good guidance to increase your site’s relevancy.
To recap, start with keyword research for phrases and words customers in your industry are searching for. Install them on your site. We use Semrush for keyword research, audits, competitive analysis, and backlink opportunities.
Do I need to hire someone to handle my SEO?
This comes down to your marketing budget. You may not be at a level where you can afford to hire a good SEO consultant that will meet your SEO goals. In this case, you’re better off doing it yourself. Besides, trying to go for cheap alternatives for your SEO, may cost you more in the long run.
If you’re able to hire a professional SEO consultant or Agency, the guidelines above can help you get the right SEO services.
What exactly are keywords in SEO?
When someone uses the search engine to find a product, service, or information they will often type in keywords. Keywords are words that people use when looking for something online. They can be anything from specific words like “shoes” down to generic phrases of products such as “Nike basketball shoes”.
With keywords for SEO, it is important to target relevant keywords that your target audience is using. Additionally ensure to rank in Google and other search engines, for those keywords.
