How to Choose the Best SEO Agency

Posted on January 4, 2022 in Blog

Finding the right SEO agency can have a tremendous impact on your business. With the right SEO partner, you can expect a measurable improvement in website traffic, lead quality, and conversions.

The right agency offers so much more than keywords. Today’s SEO environment requires a holistic approach that combines technical SEO, on-page SEO, and link building to stay competitive:

Technical SEO tactics rev up site speed, fix barriers to crawlability and ranking, and improve user experience.
On-page SEO is page content based on rigorous keyword research. It’s the shiny paint job and flashy rims of your high-powered, juiced-up website.
Backlinks! You need them. Some SEO agencies take a “build it, and they will come” approach to link building. This can be effective if the content being created is backlink worthy. Other agencies may provide extra support to help you build backlinks.

It’s important to work with an agency that can tackle everything in-house. How do you find that perfect partner?

Buckle up! Here’s what you need to know.

What to Ask an SEO Agency Before Hiring Them

Treat your first meeting with a prospective SEO agency like a date you’re especially nervous about. It’s okay to show up with prepared questions.

How do you determine strategy?
Do you practice what you preach?
Do you hold yourself accountable?

Note: We do not recommend using these questions on an actual first date.

How Do They Determine Strategy?

Effective SEO agencies know SEO strategy isn’t one-size-fits-all. The ideal vendor develops a personalized strategy for your business that evaluates how you’re performing today and how to grow your digital presence consistently in the future.

These are some of the tools an agency uses to develop strategy:

Technical site audit. A technical audit identifies clear ways to improve website structure, speed, crawlability, and ranking power. Problems that may be uncovered include broken links, missing alt text, improper meta tags, unoptimized multimedia, orphaned pages, and more.
Content gap analysis. Comparing your domain’s existing keyword rankings with the competition can highlight new content and optimizations your site needs to rank better for valuable keywords.
Existing content evaluation. A good SEO agency knows how to evaluate all existing blog posts, service pages, product pages, and other content and develop a strategy for improving it. This will help you compete for important keywords, improve conversions, and give users the information they need to fall in love with what you do or sell.
User experience evaluation. Why do you lose customers at checkout? Why do users spend only a few seconds on product pages but several minutes on blog posts? Quality user experience is the difference between delighting potential customers and watching them bounce. A truly great SEO agency should be able to offer thoughtful UX recommendations along with their keyword-based and technical strategies.

Do They Practice What They Preach?

Never buy a hat from a man with a bare head. If an SEO agency doesn’t create interesting, well-optimized content themselves, they must not believe in what they do. Do your research to see if the agency maintains an excellent library of blog posts or topic-specific information that illustrates their expertise.

You might also consider checking their industry street cred on platforms like LinkedIn to ensure they own an established identity as leaders within the SEO marketing world. Just a thought.

Do They Hold Themselves Accountable?

What does a “win” look like, anyway? A professional SEO agency will offer regular reporting that is built around several key performance indicators (KPIs) that you’ve established together. These KPIs can look very different for different kinds of businesses. Ecommerce businesses may focus on sales metrics and tracking the customer journey. Sites that offer information or business services may focus on a balance of traffic volume, engagement, and contact inquiries.

If performance takes a turn for the worst, an SEO vendor should clearly respond by adjusting strategy based on performance data.

How to Pick an SEO Agency: We Think You Just Did

At Oneupweb, we combine technical SEO and on-page SEO, mix in 20+ years of industry experience, and top it all off with high-touch, personal customer service. Want to learn more? Get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today to see what our SEO services can do for you.