More than ever, marketing relies on SEO for true momentum. That highly sought movement up the search engine result ladder has more and more stakes, giving ever-coveted competitive edge. In-house marketing teams—or maybe more accurately, people, if not person—rarely have the time to specifically shore up solely SEO benchmarks and standings. And, in the long run, that’s to a business’ detriment.
SEO has become much more than hitting key keyword marks: SEO involves dedicated research, extensive planning and execution, and wordsmithery to the max. With all that goes into it, SEO nigh on demands an in-house department or SEO agency. However, marketing resources may not have the budget to staff a full SEO department, let alone a single specialist. That leaves options down to an SEO agency, but how do you go about judging the right fit? Let’s hit some key questions you should ask going in.
How Will SEO Mesh With Other Marketing?
As any mainstay marketing MO would suggest, a multitude of moving parts make up strategy. A solid SEO plan takes other communication and marketing channels into account, leveraging assets to streamline strategies. For instance, a fine-tuned SEO framework could bolster pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and vice versa. To see how this works in full, reach out to us at Uptick Marketing, where marketing and SEO merge from the beginning…all the way to where your business wants to be, digitally.
How Do You Go About Keyword Research?
How an SEO agency handles its keyword research sets them apart from the competition. Dumping keywords into your web pages will likely not land you the progress you’re looking to see. An agency who knows their stuff will put in the effort, take the time to get to know your intended audience, and tweak things as necessary.
What’s the Results Timeline Look Like?
As with other marketing avenues, you’ll likely want to know when the dollars spent start to pay dividends. Many link SEO ROIs with search engine result pages (SERPs) shake ups. But this doesn’t happen overnight; think of SEO as less of a quick match (like PPC), and more of a long game. An SEO agency that answers honestly will estimate result time as roughly six months down the road, with maybe a few upticks in the interim. They’ll also be pretty up front about how your response time will influence the results you’re looking for; it’s best to remain as responsive as possible with the parties involved.
How Does Your Agency Route Link Building?
This question will also be revealing: a reliable SEO agency will emphasize the value of quality content, gradual outreach, and informed partnership in building links to your site. Other, less-than-savory ways have left Google’s good graces for some time, which is good news for companies who still stake themselves on quality and reputation. Simply put, extensive amounts of energy and time is required to build both trust and links back to your website.
How Do You Modify Your Practices?
Any SEO squad worth their salt will constantly keep an eye on the ever-changing trend of the almighty Google algorithm, along with other SEO best practices across the board. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be overly hasty with changes to compensate. An above-average agency will strike a healthy balance, keep trends in mind, and look for new ways to oust the competition from their once-snug SERP standings.
Do You Have Proof Of Your SEO Prowess?
An SEO agency that’s been around will likely want to prove their worth to you. Ask about case studies, testimonials, and check up on the agency’s Google reviews yourself. It’s good to go right to the source for credibility—but it’s also not a bad idea to let Google do a bit of the work for you too. You may want to search out past clientele as well for a truly unblemished review of the agency’s process, punctuality, production, and overall prowess.
How Uptick Marketing Measures Up
Since we’re on the topic of prowess, it’s a good time as any to bring up ours at Uptick Marketing. Our MO at Uptick? To live for your ROI. To do this, we employ not only the latest in digital marketing strategy: we also pulse out extensive SEO planning on the regular, so your search engine results, website hits, and business continue to trend north. Contact us today to start seeing your website traffic hit new milestones, witness your results shoot up, and notice a nice uptick in business.
