Top 10 Tips On Hiring An SEO Agency

Our Top 10 Tips On Hiring The #1 SEO Agency
If you’ve stumbled across this article then you might currently be in the process of hiring an seo agency. SEO is forever changing and hiring an Agency to grow traffic, leads or revenue through your website can be difficult whether you are running a small business or a large brand. There is a lot of advice from SEO companies around this topic so we thought we’d put together some top tips to help you through that process and make sure that you get the right SEO Agency that can deliver your desired results. After all… you need the #1 SEO agency that can help you to achieve your business goals, let’s not mess about!

1. We’ve all seen it, Spam emails.
As an SEO Agency ourselves, we get lots of spammy emails! Be sure to avoid contact with companies sending spammy emails offering SEO or any digital services. This is a given, however, if you’re a small business and don’t know much about marketing yourself online or the technicalities behind Googles forever changing algorithms then you don’t want to get tricked out by this type of sale. Most companies doing this are not always genuine and you’re most likely to identify this type of activity because of the generic approach that they use when contacting you. Throw them back in the trash can.

2. There is no magic wand to get you ranking #1 in search engines for all your key terms.
Make sure that you avoid companies that clearly state that they have a special relationship with Google or can guarantee you that top spot. Getting your website ranking is a natural process through a range of different techniques and none of these are guaranteed to get you there so just remember that.

3. Avoid non-transparent Agencies.
The online marketing world has some dark players and you need to watch out for these. Make sure that when you choose your SEO Agency you understand the strategy and the techniques being used to achieve your online growth.

4. Research, Research, Research.
Spend time understanding the approach that the SEO Agency takes when attempting to gain you natural links through to your website or optimising the content itself. Make sure that any links gained are not manipulated in any way or you might find a nasty penalty coming your way. Even the big brands have been caught out from recent changes to algorithms so stay well clear of unnatural approaches to SEO or any marketing tactic for that matter.

5. Ask for their approach.
Make sure that the potential SEO Agency understands your business and can work with you openly in order to achieve your desired results. Asking them to pitch how they would approach your campaign will help you to see if they are the right Agency for your business!

6. Digital Street Cred.
Spend time researching the SEO Agency, the clients that they already work with and the types of employees working at the company. There are many skills required that are essential to your success and you need to make sure that the Agency can facilitate your needs.

7. It’s a two-way thing.
Make sure that you fully understand what you are looking for from an SEO Agency and what your ideal picture of success looks like for the campaign. Providing an Agency with a detailed specification of your objectives for the campaign will not just help you to find the right Agency but this will allow them to co-ordinate the perfect pitch and understand your end goals.

8. Understand where your money is being spent.
Make sure that you get a detailed deliverable checklist for what is to be achieved from the campaign and how your money is going to be spent on the campaign. A good Agency will plan this out for you and work towards your target KPI’s in order to deliver your desired results. We have our deliverables here for your reference.

9. Ask for examples of Reporting.
Every agency has a different method of reporting success. Whilst most Agencies may use the same tools it’s good to know what you can expect from each monthly report.

10. Google Best Practice Guidelines.
The Google Best Practice Guidelines are accessible to anyone online. Make sure that you understand the Best Practices before approaching any Agencies as this will help you to learn the do’s and don’ts and essentially how Google works.