Top 5 Things to Look For When Hiring an SEO Company

If you are running a business online, it is necessary that you are engaging in search engine optimization for your website. Consider that every single word you use in the copywriting that narrates your website has the power to increase your visibility and your ranking in search engine results. By using keywords that are relevant to your business and your target audience, by developing your website in an accessible way and by building links from other high quality websites to your own, you can instantaneously increase the amount of traffic to your website.  Alas, for the majority of business owners and even employees, creating good basic SEO is a challenging and often frustrating feat. As a result, the majority of companies outsource their SEO marketing to digital marketing companies. Here are are the top 5 things to look for when hiring an SEO company. 

1. Case Studies

First and foremost, ask for testimonials, portfolios or case studies from companies that they have supported with SEO in the past. You may even consider contacting some of their past clients to inquire about everything from their professionalism and to the long term impact of their work. 

2. Work Processes 

Understanding how the company works is essential. Before you sign off on any contracts, get clear about what they require from you as the client, the schedule, the anticipated results and the budget. Be sure to clarify whether they will simply make recommendations or implement their suggestions. Then, ask for all of this in writing. 

3. Success Parameters

Before you hire a SEO company it is important to clarify exactly why you are hiring them. Discuss clearly and candidly how you plan to measure the success of your SEO and how they measure that success. Only once these two success parameters align should you start working together. 

4. Additional Support

SEO is only one piece of the complicated puzzle that is digital marketing today. We typically recommend companies outsource all of their digital marketing work to one company (rather than splitting it up between multiple different ones). This makes life easier for you as the client. Now, your copywriters are also a part of your SEO team, meaning that the outsourced company can work together without having to bounce ideas back and forth with your internal marketing team or another company. This method is far more efficient in terms of cost and time.

5. Employee Structure

When you are hiring an SEO company, you need to know who exactly you will be working with, at what capacity you will be working with each person on that team and how the communication structure works. Should you be connecting via phone, email or Slack? Do you direct inquiries to the project manager or the CEO of the company. Get their names and contact information set in stone before launching into a project together. 

Once you have reviewed this list of the top 5 things to look for when hiring an SEO company, it is time to start interviewing companies and comparing results. Our team at Skyfall Blue would be happy to offer a free consultation to explain and explore how we can help improve your SEO. Contact us today to learn more.