What is SEO and why hire an SEO agency?
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” In simple terms, it is the process of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid results when people search for products or services related to a business. And an SEO agency offers search engine optimization services to businesses to help them improve their visibility online.
These days among the most popular marketing strategies, SEO is comparatively low cost, but has the potential for huge returns over time. Since you’re here, you’ve likely heard about these and might even be considering hiring an SEO agency for your business. In this blog we’re going to take you on a short tour to explore how an SEO agency can help your business rank high on search engines and what pitfalls to watch out for.
How SEO works
Everyday billions of searches take place on Google. Each search magically replies with a long list of links to web pages that could potentially answer your question.
So how does Google determine which pages to return in response to what people search for?
Here’s how it works:
Google uses some extremely complex algorithms to do the job. It has a ‘crawler’ (or reader) that goes out and gathers information about pages that contain high-quality, relevant information about the searcher’s query. They determine relevance by crawling your website’s content and evaluating (algorithmically) whether that content is relevant to what the searcher is looking for, mostly based on the keywords it contains. Pretty cool, right?
And this is essentially what SEO works with- to bring forth your site or content from the sea of a million other similar search results.
Now, if you’re looking for Digital Marketing, especially SEO services you might’ve come across a number of companies and although they explain their services on their websites, we know it can be a bit overwhelming with all that SEO jargon. It’s even more difficult to understand how exactly it can benefit your business if you don’t have an SEO expert on your team.
So, to put it in simple terms the key effects SEO can have on your websites are –
- Increased traffic
- Improved ranking
- More leads / sales
- Brand credibility
- Exposure
SEO professionals provide a range of services including:
- Developing a tailored SEO strategy : keywords research and targeting, on-page optimization ( title tags, meta description, body content, alt attributes, URL structure), off-page optimization, blogging service, content marketing, PPC, link building campaign etc.
- Using tactics such as – integrating Google Tag Manager with Facebook pixel,using tools like Adroll, HubSpot Website Grader, Google Analytics and so on for tracking and monitoring result to help your business reach its goals
- Auditing your site to evaluate numerous factors that impact your SERP
Search engines like Google often modify their search algorithms leaving many companies frustrated by the seemingly arbitrary shifts in traffic and loss of keyword rankings. The most experienced SEO agencies stay up-to-date with the latest changes in search engine optimization.
How do you know if your SEO agency is beneficial or not?
Good SEO firms can help you gain quality organic traffic to your website but they take time to produce measurable and lasting outcomes. Most businesses can expect to see the results by 4-6 months. But bear in mind, SEO results grow over time. Whatever results you’re getting at 6 months should be considerably less compared to what you’re getting at 12 months.
However, if you’ve hired an SEO service or plan to hire one, you should be careful because not everyone can deliver good results. A good SEO agency will get you seeing results in a couple of months.
But more importantly, you should get a regular report as to what has been done, as well as what strategies are in play. Specific milestone points will depend upon budget, level of competition and starting point.
Legitimate SEO agencies will deliver measurable results mainly based on their – on-page, off-page & technical SEO strategies for your business.
However, you can judge how well your SEO consultant is doing by three simple metrics:
- Are you getting more traffic?
- Is that increased traffic resulting in more sales or other goals?
- Are you moving up in the rankings?
Warning signs of a bad SEO agency
There are certain things your SEO agency might be doing wrong, which can lead to penalties and some major damage to your website and business. So beware of these three telltale signs of bad agencies.
- They Guarantee #1 Rankings or Top Results in 3-6 months.
As good as it might look, when you see an SEO agency promising this, do yourself a favor and – run! Because according to Google, no SEO company can guarantee you a number one rank on Google. When it comes to ranking top on Google, various factors come into play which requires you to implement continuous SEO efforts in addition to complying to the guidelines of Google’s. The results, you’ll see with time.
- They Tell Their Story, Not Yours.
Your SEO agency should be able to give you a regular report as to what has been done and what strategies are in play. When it comes to reporting on those metrics they are always highlighting what they did that was awesome, and why you should pay them more at the upcoming renewal. Agencies/consultants in this mindset are always afraid to tell you exactly what they are doing either because-
- They have nothing to show you about their actual SEO practice, significant results or deliverables
- The approach of not wanting to give away their “secret formula” that is making everything which often involves black hat techniques in such cases
Also read: Every business is unique, it has a body and set of minds
- They DON’T fulfill their promise of higher traffic on your site.
Ranking and traffic may drop for a number of reasons. And it may or may not be your SEO’s fault. The cautious response is to be suspicious and start asking questions.
Importance of a proper audit from your sales and marketing team
A thorough audit from your sales and marketing team provides a benchmark for monitoring future marketing activity and highlights recommendations to improve the efficiency and performance of your company’s SEO activity. That and an SEO audit helps you identify mistakes that are keeping your website from getting the traffic it deserves and from ranking high in the search engine results page (SERPs).
The SEO services that are valuable for your company depend on your SEO needs and the competition in your industry.While you can try to do your own SEO, keep in mind that it is a highly technical process that is continuously changing.
Here at Contentguyz we provide you just the right balance of SEO services without any fancy gimmicks and full transparency.
Starting from keyword strategies to SEO optimization of previously written content, link building for blogs,on page and off page optimization, reporting and analytics using proven SEO tools and processes.
However, keep in mind that SEO can’t promise quick or guaranteed success but rather it’s a continuous process.
Contact us to learn more about how SEO might help grow your business and to get more information about our strategic SEO services. Because no matter how small or big your business is, SEO is a must to increase the visibility of your business online.