The dawn of the “digital age” has brought many things. From the rise of social media to the change in our consumption of traditional media, each of us has inevitably felt the impact of this shift. One field that’s been majorly affected by the trend toward digital is marketing. In fact, according to the 2017/18 Global Digital Outlook Study, 50% of marketers worldwide are currently spending half or more of their entire marketing budget on digital.
More specifically, businesses have been forced to consider the internet as another avenue through which to market their products and services. Thanks to the power and ubiquity of search engines like Google, customers are no longer limit their business searches to the yellow pages or word of mouth. Rather, anyone can now simply google what they need and immediately have hundreds of thousands of results appear.
Thankfully, businesses can capitalize on this trend through a process called search engine optimization (SEO). This refers to the effort to “optimize” a web page with the aim of ranking higher in Google search results. By showing up higher in the information that Google pulls back, businesses’ web pages are more likely to be visited. In fact, according to Business2Community, 60% of all “organic” clicks go to the organic top 3 search results.
With these digital opportunities in mind, it’s wise for businesses to incorporate marketing, specifically geared toward SEO into their marketing plan. And rather than putting forth their own time and effort toward this process, businesses often outsource to more skilled experts and agencies. According to socialmediaseo.net 4 Surefire Signs of a Good SEO Company, there are roughly four foolproof signs of a good seo agency.
- Transparency
- Authoritative Position in the Field
- Realistic Expectations
- Comprehensive Strategy
First and foremost, an seo agency should always be clear on how they plan their optimize your web pages with you. Considering that Google updates its algorithm 500 to 600 times a year, seo agencies should have a thorough understanding and clear strategy to be able to keep up with such updates and should most importantly, be able to convey this to you, their customer.
Moreover, though the world of seo may seem confusing, it’s fairly easy to get and track results. Any good seo agency should be able to give you a timeline of such methods and when you can expect to begin seeing a return on your investment with them.
Though seo is a relatively young field, a good seo agency should also have a solid reputation within the market. Before settling on an agency, be sure to ask for references. If possible, talk to a past customer in-person or on the phone to fully understand their experience with the agency.
Likewise, utilize Google to research the agency. be sure you’re able to easily find their own website and ideally an accompanying blog. Remember, if their own web pages aren’t optimized enough for you to find them, they likely aren’t qualified to optimize yours!
A strong SEO plan can be extremely effective. It does, however, take time. SEO strategy is built yon capturing “keywords,” or top words/phrases that you identify as ones your customers search. Being able to rank highly for these words/phrases can ensure a steady rise in site traffic and/or conversion, but capturing them can be a slow process.
With this in mind, you should never trust an seo agency that promises overnight results, as that is simply unrealistic. A reasonable seo plan may include a month-by-month timeline with goals by year even, perhaps. When done right, SEO is a longterm investment.
Perhaps most telling of an seo agency’s quality is how comprehensive of a plan they present to you. many amateurs mistankely focus on only one area when seo done correctly, in fact, requires a comprehensive approach.
A good seo agency should present a multi-layer plan that includes relevant content (72% of glocal marketers say this is the most effective seo tactic), keyword capturing, email marketing, and social media marketing, to name a few.
All in all, be sure to do your research before hiring any new seo agency. In order to best take advantage of all the field of seo, it’s important for the company to provide you with a clear, organized, and comprehensive seo plan.
