Do you think your business needs a helping hand with managing your SEO efforts? Well, before you go and hire the first company you find, here are some important questions to ask the shortlisted SEO company before making any decision.
Search engine optimization is the backbone of online business and when you have the right experts by your side. You can be sure of success. Make sure to ask these key questions during your hunt for the best:
- How Long Will It Take To Rank on Google (on Top or at least the first page)?
Tricky but important, any SEO company that tells you it would bring your business on the top of Google within a month or two is a big No-No. It may sound rude, yet no one can do that LEGALLY within a short time span. And these are the same companies that have earned a bad name for the entire SEO industry.
There are surely some ways, for example, on-site adjustments, that can be done to a site with solid DA and backlink profile and bring it to the top of Google. Yet there’s no surety and a company that gives a quote without doing research is better to stay away from.
A decent, reliable SEO company will research your business/site first and then offer you a rough estimate. This estimated timeframe is based on the competition and strategy, but again, they won’t guarantee first page results in an unrealistic amount of time.
- Backlinks Strategy
If an SEO agency doesn’t have a solid backlink strategy – say bye-bye! Backlinks are the backbone of Google’s algorithm, and if you don’t have enough (quality) backlinks to your site, you’d be at last on the rank. Ask the shortlisted SEO company if they can build quality backlinks for your site. Also, ask for the backlink profile to see the links they have built in the past are legitimate and working.
- Need for On-Site Optimization
Your website user is a crucial factor for Google. If visitors stay for long on your website and have a good experience, it will affect your ranking positively. However, if not, you may suffer a high bounce rate, as a result – low ranking. A good SEO company will recommend on-site adjustments to improve the user experience and reduce the bounce rate.
It will try to optimize all pages on your website for better results.
- What About the Local SEO Strategy?
Is your business more local? If the majority or a considerable percentage of your clients/services are based in the local market, your site should be optimized for the same.
Ask them whether they have submitted your business to any local directory, or your title tags are optimized for the local market. Also, inquire if your NAP is consistent across your website and local directories. Whether your business is listed among the ‘best of’ directories in your local market is also a matter of concern. You may need to pay additionally to get this done, yet it’s worth it.
- What’s their Keyword and Content Strategy?
If your business is about selling flowers, you wouldn’t want it to rank unnecessarily for cars, right! Your selected SEO company should be able to find the most relevant keywords for your homepage, services, brand, interior pages, and more to drive maximum (relevant) traffic to your website.
See if they conduct detailed keyword research and use specific tools to do this or just everything manual. Apart from the keywords, content is another BIG and important factor for SEO. Discuss their content strategy and how they will use it for your betterment. Content creation and marketing is another good standpoint of a decent SEO agency. Blogs are also great, make sure it isn’t skipped in their plan.
These are the 5 main queries that you should make while discussing your plans with the selected SEO company. See what they’ve got and made your decision accordingly.
