Because some B2B marketers see search engine optimisation (SEO) as a ‘black art’, it’s no surprise they are more likely to outsource this service than try to do it themselves. But how do you choose the right supplier? What questions should you be asking to make sure you choose the specialist, which is the right fit for your company? How do you distinguish between a good SEO campaign and a bad one?
If you don’t know much about SEO, I would highly recommend doing some research. Appropriately enough, you can start with Google. Just type in ‘SEO beginners guide’ and you’ll find some useful resources such as SEOmoz’s beginners’ guide to get you started.
Beware of wide-brimmed hats
One of the first things you need to find out is whether the agency specialises in SEO or whether it primarily offers paid search services? Is SEO something it takes seriously or offers as an additional service? Sometimes it’s difficult to see past the jargon, which is often a deliberate attempt to confuse. If the agency can’t explain what it does in simple terms, I’d be less inclined to trust it.
Every agency that is serious about SEO should offer a search marketing strategy, outlining how it would optimise your website for search engines. It is imperative to work closely with it. If a search agency doesn’t ask questions about your service or product or – most importantly – ask what your goals are for doing search engine optimisation, I would hesitate to work with it. For SEO to be successful it is crucial the agency understands your website; SEO is not a packaged service you buy off-the-shelf and anyone telling you otherwise does not understand SEO. Ask the agency what its approach to keyword and competitor research and analysis is, make sure you are happy with its process and that you will have the opportunity to be involved. After all, you have valuable knowledge about your product and service that should be taken into consideration.
Linked in?
Another important factor of SEO is off-page optimisation. What is the agency’s approach to link building? Does it have staff in-house to do it or does it outsource? Does it buy links or does it source relevant content websites and request links manually? This can be a determining factor in whether the SEO is successful: if all it does is submit it to a vast amount of directories, it doesn’t know what it is doing.
Also, if the agency tells you it needs extra cash to buy you thousands of links, run for the hills: buying incoming links to your site can get flagged by the search engines, and even get your site penalised. A successful link building campaign should be based on generating incoming links from websites that have relevant content to your website; it’s not necessarily about the quantity, but quality of links.
Don’t work blind
Having SEO done on your website without web analytics tracking is a waste of money. Make sure you find out what the agency’s process is on reporting. Does it fit what you are looking for? What analytics package does it use? Does it offer detailed reports including conversion tracking? Also make sure it includes a search engine ranking report on how your rankings for the targeted keywords are progressing and what the traffic impact of this is. SEO isn’t a one-off effort, and using web analytics can give you valuable information on what keywords are converting traffic and which aren’t. Continuous improvements and tweaking is imperative.
Ask for references
It’s only fair to ask the agency for proven results of previous SEO work, such as case studies or white papers. You should look out for results, not only in the form of good rankings but also in terms of actual traffic and ultimately, conversions. A good SEO agency will be increasing conversions as well as search engine rankings. If its case studies just say “Number one position in Google for 50 keywords”, it isn’t enough. Ask what the keywords were and whether they generated traffic and conversions. Asking for data is not unreasonable, and a good SEO agency would be more than happy to share this with you.
To sum up, the most important thing in any type of marketing, including search, is communication. Make sure your SEO agency includes you in the planning and research stage and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Or if you’re still in doubt, ask me.
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