It’s a minefield of the good, the bad and the untrustworthy when you’re looking for an SEO service; it’s easy to end up with an SEO service that sounded like it would be great and is actually mediocre. Choosing the right service means taking into account a number of factors. These top tips will support you in selecting the best SEO consultant or SEO agency to do the job for you. Here are some things that can help you in the process.
1) Review the agencies portfolio
If the agency or consultant doesn’t have a portfolio, think about walking away. Having a portfolio shows they’re serious about proving their worth to you. A portfolio also shows you what the agency or consultant is like, in business as well as practical proof of their SEO service and prowess. Remember to assess what they have to offer, if the agency has what you need, and if you think it’s a good fit for your business.
2) Ask about the agency’s ethics
Unfortunately, SEO services can sometimes be a bit like muddy water. You want your agency to be good and fair and ethical, and to trust that there won’t be any plagiarism too. In this regard, their company ethos and how they interact with people inside and outside of their firm is a good tell. It’s usually a pretty fair estimate of the kind of relationship you’ll have based on their response to their ethics – any good SEO service will be happy to share.
3) Ensure they are not over guaranteeing results
Big promises are exciting and engaging, it can be very tempting to believe it because who wouldn’t want those big results? They’re a very good marketing strategy, and the agency is marketing to you just as you’re hoping they will for you, so take that into account.
Realistic figures and product representation are vital because the setbacks from false or overenthusiastic projections can really set you back and put you off. A good agency won’t need to over promise the results of their SEO services to prove themselves to you, they should sell themselves on their merits and through evidence of their past successes.
4) Cheap, Fast and Easy does not exist in SEO
A venn diagram circulates the business world at regular intervals, and it’s especially relevant to SEO services. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s worth committing it to memory, both for your own brand and whoever you’re looking to hire.
Good, fast and cheap are all desirable, but the reality is that it’s just not possible. In a perfect world, good and fast are the perfect combination, but of course, this depends on your budget. You can’t have it all, which means you need to assess your priorities, and understand what you’re getting yourself into.
5) Ensure you understand how they will report back
A good feedback system is utterly imperative. You have to know how well, or not, the work your SEO service does is going. They should have a good strategy in place for reporting back; be cautious if they don’t, because it should be standard practice for any SEO service.
Another good tip is to clarify how they will quantify change – establish figures at the beginning so you have a clear, numerical value for how you’ll quantify it. Additionally, look out for which ways specifically they’re quantifying the change, because there are better factors to monitor success in line with various goals and methods. You can even ask why it’s those specific values they’re monitoring in this instance for clarification.
6) Ask for what levels of transparency they provide
There’s not really much of a good reason for limited transparency. Whilst an agency is likely not hiding anything, there’s few secrets in the field of SEO services. As a result, this means that they can afford to be transparent, so why wouldn’t you be?
You want transparency because it fosters trust, and this needs to be an honest and trusting relationship. You’re placing a fairly significant amount of trust in them, which means they need to make sure they deserve it and do what they can to set your mind at rest. If any agency tries to justify limited transparency, assess their reasoning carefully and shop around for comparisons.
Conclusion
There are many options and bearing these factors in mind will help you to find the right SEO services for you. The key is that there are many SEO services available, and you want to find the one that will be best, but also best to work with, change with and analyse with.
Remember, you need to have a good relationship, and they need to be reliable, honest and thorough to provide good work for you. Finally, don’t forget to establish measurement of progress and how to quantify it.
