There is definitely no shortage of SEO agencies that you can contact when you want some work done on your website. Unfortunately, most of these agencies are not great and will just take your money without delivering great results. Some can even hurt your website. It does not matter if you run a successful business like Fix It Right Plumbing or you just start promoting a service. At the end of the day, you want to get results. This is why you should be aware of the following things.
Hiring the SEO Agency Is Not a Business Expense
Many business owners see the process of hiring an SEO agency as an expense. This is why they opt for the lowest possible fees. Keep in mind that search engine optimization is not an expense. It is an investment that you make for the future of the business.
When you hire an employee you try to make the best possible choice. This exact same approach should be taken when you hire an SEO agency.
First Page Is Where You Want to Be
Few people ever visit Google’s second page when they search for something. Getting some rankings in search engines does not actually increase traffic as much as you might think. What you need is for your business to be on page one, preferably first three results. The top SEO agencies will guarantee first page results. Stay away from those that guarantee top ranking.
Big Keywords Are a Small Part of the Equation
Contrary to popular belief, it is much better to be on Google’s first page for numerous smaller keywords than a couple of big keywords. It is actually really difficult to rank very high on major search engines for the highly competitive keywords. The best SEO providers are capable of finding many keywords that are appropriate for your business. You can choose those that you can realistically rank for and that have a volume that is high enough.
You Need Both On-Page and Off-Page SEO
SEO is really complex and keeps evolving every single day. When you interview the SEO agency, you have to talk about both off-page and on-page work. On-page is all about your website and factors that affect search engine optimization, like page headings, usability, keywords, internal links and outbound links.
Off-page SEO includes the factors that influence rankings and that are not included on your website in a direct way. This includes citations, backlinks, social sharing and more. The SEO provider can easily do off-page work but you need to do on-page SEO too. The best agencies are going to review websites and will give you reports about on-page SEO, together with how improvements can be made.
SEO Does Not Necessarily Mean More Sales
Last but not least, it is not the job of the SEO agency to increase sales. The job is all about increasing traffic to your site. This will not guarantee that you are going to make more money in the future. You need to do other things for that to happen.