It’s high time for business leaders to accept that they can no longer manage their own company’s SEO in house. SEO is easily the most complex component of digital marketing, demanding technical skills far beyond the capabilities of most digital marketing staff. SEO strategies shift from month to month — even from week to week — and to implement them with efficacy, a business truly needs a team of trained and dedicated SEO experts.
Yet, when managing SEO in house, business leaders can maintain control over their SEO practices. Transitioning to relying upon an SEO agency can make some business leaders nervous, as they no longer know what to expect in terms of SEO services and success. Here’s a rundown of typical SEO services procured through SEO firms and how outsourcing SEO will provide high-quality results for small business leaders.
Common SEO Services From SEO Agencies
It is no understatement to call SEO the most complicated digital marketing task. Here is a short list of the most essential SEO services that every small business needs in the Digital Age:
Keyword analysis: identifying keywords used in searches by a business’s target audience, keywords targeted by competitors and keywords that can be optimized in a business’s content.
Content audit: examining a website’s existing content to understand strengths and weaknesses for the development of a more effective content marketing strategy that integrates with SEO.
SEO audit: performing a technical inspection of a website’s core web vitals and other aspects of on-page SEO to inform SEO practices and strategies.
Link audit: understanding a website’s existing backlink profile and internal linking structure to improve the accuracy of recommendations for linking strategies.
SEO tool selection: assisting with the selection of SEO tools for increasing web traffic and improving page rankings.
SEO reporting: providing clients with reports related to the performance of key metrics that can inform SEO and digital marketing strategies moving forward.
In truth, no two SEO agencies are exactly alike. Every firm will have a unique menu of services which clients need to examine before forming a partnership. Still, any reputable SEO provider will offer the essential services listed above, which all businesses need to take advantage of to remain competitive.
Signs of Experienced, High-quality SEO Providers
It isn’t enough to choose the right services for achieving SEO goals. To ensure high-quality, long-lasting results, business leaders need to seek these services from a trustworthy and effective SEO firm.
Unfortunately, not all SEO providers are created equal. Many SEO agencies use outdated practices that fail to make any difference to a webpage’s ranking — or, worse, they can decrease ranking or cause an entire website to be removed from Google’s index, temporarily or permanently. Such setbacks could cost a business years of effort to rectify, so it is imperative that business leaders know how to identify the SEO providers who know how to deliver positive results.
Here are a few hallmarks that business leaders should look for when choosing their SEO partner:
They set realistic expectations. SEO is neither fast nor easy. High-quality SEO firms won’t promise that they can deliver idealistic results, and they will work with clients to set achievable goals.
They maintain reasonable prices. Low-quality SEO is cheap, so rock-bottom prices should be a red flag that a firm is utilizing poor practices that will ultimately harm a business’s ranking.
They have a long operational history. Older SEO firms have demonstrated that they can shift their SEO strategies alongside the ever-changing Google algorithm. Thus, clients can benefit from effective SEO services into the future.
They have a positive reputation. Business leaders should read ratings and reviews, and perhaps reach out to past clients, to get a sense of the reputation of a prospective SEO partner.
Choosing an SEO partner may seem overwhelming. Business leaders who are struggling to find the right SEO provider might start with a highly regarded Phoenix SEO firm that has been in operation for roughly 20 years.
In-house SEO is too expensive, too time-consuming and not effective enough for the modern business. Fortunately, there are many SEO agencies willing and eager to help business leaders achieve the success they deserve.
