Search engine optimization, or SEO, is how you make your brand and business more visible. People are constantly searching online for what they need, whether that’s a product, a service, ways to solve a problem they’re dealing with, or just information.
When your site is well-optimized for search engines, it can bring tremendous business benefits. This is especially true in competitive industries. For example, you might need SEO for a personal injury law firm because you’re fighting to be visible with so many other competitors.
Most entrepreneurs don’t necessarily have the time to dedicate managing their own SEO, plus it’s a constantly changing landscape, and it’s time-consuming just to keep up with that.
That leaves them with the question of whether or not they need an SEO agency to help them.
The following are things to consider if this is something you’re asking yourself, or if you’re contemplating hiring a Leading SEO Consultant to guide your strategy.
What SEO Agencies/Managers Do
If you aren’t sure exactly what value an SEO company could bring to your business, they create custom SEO strategies with the goal of helping you rank well.
If you can get a first-page ranking, it’s going to mean more organic traffic to your site, and you’ll generate more leads.
SEO strategies are complex, however. They include on and off-page SEO, link building, and SEO.
An SEO manager also has to diagnose declines in organic traffic, do site audits, create and supervise content initiatives, know how technical SEO works, and more. There are a lot of hats that an SEO professional is going to wear, all of which are going to facilitate the elevation of your business.
Are You Using Other Digital Marketing Strategies?
A question to consider is if you’re using other digital marketing strategies. When you take a complete approach to digital marketing, it’s going to be what most effectively allows you to improve your online success. Along with SEO, digital marketing strategies tend to work hand-in-hand with one another, including pay-per-click advertising, video marketing, and voice search optimization.
When you work with an SEO company, they can make sure all of these efforts are coordinated with one another.
An SEO agency will create a cohesive plan with consideration for all of your digital marketing efforts and strategies.
Can You Do It Yourself?
Most business owners struggle with managing SEO in-house because they don’t have the time or the specific talent. If you don’t have a dedicated marketing team, you might have to do it on your own, and if you’re already running a business, it’s not likely you realistically have time for this.
Even when you do have dedicated resources for online marketing, managing SEO in-house can still feel burdensome because it’s competitive, and you may not have the specialized team members you really need.
An SEO agency is going to bring all of the resources needed to the table, including specialized talent.
Is SEO Important In Your Industry?
Not every industry necessarily has to focus on SEO, although it’s hard to envision one that shouldn’t care about it at all. With that being said, SEO is more important in some industries than others.
Above, we talked about lawyers and how SEO is so important in that industry.
That’s because attorneys are in a competitive industry, and it’s important that they have viable strategies for being at the top of their game. SEO is a differentiator in saturated or competitive markets.
Do You Need an Expert?
You might know a little about SEO, or you could have someone on your marketing team who does, but if you don’t have a high level of expertise, then you’re not going to achieve the results you want and need.
In an SEO agency, everyone has a dedicated area of specialization that’s going to help them give you the best results.
Google is constantly rolling out new updates—sometimes, there are hundreds of updates a year being introduced, so without expertise, it’s going to be tough for you to keep up.
Are You Harnessing the Power of Data and Analytics?
If you don’t feel like you’re using the availability of data and analytics as much as you should, this might indicate that you should bring in an SEO professional. SEO can grow your traffic and drive sales, but in the process, you’re also getting data and insights that you can ultimately use to grow all aspects of your business.
Brands use data and statistical information to gain a better understanding of their customers, so they can expand and grow.
An SEO company is going to be able to collect and then present data to you that’s going to help you improve your online strategy but also make sure that you’re meeting other needs of your customers.
Working with a digital marketing team can help you identify your targeted customers and then make sure that your keyword research is in alignment with your audience. You can identify the channels that are helping your business the most and gain an understanding of search intent so you can target those people who are conversion-ready.
You can monitor your campaigns to see which ones perform well and which ones underperform, allowing you to adjust your approach and strategy.
Do You Want More Sales and Revenue?
It sounds like a silly question—of course, you want more sales and revenue, but do you realize that one of the best ways to achieve that is through hiring SEO professionals?
You might feel like there’s a missing element to your business and its potential, and it’s possible that working with a team of SEO professionals could bring you to the next level.
Around 40% of online revenue comes through search engines, generating more than 53% of all online traffic. SEO leads are eight times more likely to close than leads from outbound strategies. If you can appear on the top spot of the first page of search results, you can expect to get more than 1/3 of all the clicks.
Overall, SEO is too important to ignore, and you may not have the time, resources, or expertise to implement an effective strategy, in which case it could be something you consider outsourcing.
