As the owner of a business website, you know strong professional search engine optimization agency (SEO) is key to reaching customers online.
If not done correctly, hiring the wrong website optimization company to help can lead to lost traffic, penalties on search results, and at the extreme end - complete deindexation from key search engines like Google.
Having an SEO agency take down your business with risky, ineffective tactics through spammy backlinks, hidden text, and other black hat tricks can be outright harmful to your company's operations. This is frustrating and directly impacts your bottom-line revenue.
Step 1: Ensure the SEO Provider Clearly Explains Their Process
A trustworthy SEO company should clearly explain upfront the specifics of how they intend to ethically improve your organic rankings.
Optimizing search visibility relies on many complex, moving parts - so you want an agency that can break things down into understandable language.
Ask them to walk you through the:
● Technical audit - How they analyze site speed, mobile friendliness, indexing issues, and more
● Keyword research & targeting - Discovering the terms and questions your potential customers are asking
● Content optimization - Improving existing pages to rank for valuable keywords
● Link building - Ethically gaining backlinks from other sites to signal authority
● Local SEO - Optimizing online visibility for customers searching in specific areas
A quality SEO partner should demonstrate expertise in all of these areas critical for driving search traffic.
Lack of knowledge is a possible red flag the agency relies on shady tricks like keyword stuffing instead of proven organic growth strategies.
Step 2: Review Examples of Actual Client Results
Any first-rate search optimization firm should be able to provide real examples of success stories and client results.
A quality agency tracks important key performance indicators (KPIs) like:
● Increase in organic traffic
● Higher keyword rankings
● Boost in conversion rates
● Improved website authority metrics
Ask to see specific case studies and before/after data for online businesses similar to yours so you know what to reasonably expect.
Also, request references from some of their clients for further validation.
Step 3: Verify Experience Optimizing Websites Like Yours
An SEO agency may be highly effective for an e-commerce store but lack expertise in local lead generation.
It’s crucial to find a search optimization firm with proven experience handling websites in your specific niche. This might include:
● National B2B company
● Regional small business
● Online retailers
● Personal websites or blogs
● Events or conferences
Check what verticals the agency lists as specialties on their website and ask pointed questions about ranking similar sites during the discovery call.
Lack of niche experience could indicate they won’t move the needle or may inadvertently cause harm by optimizing for the wrong keywords.
Step 4: Review Their Link Building & Content Practices
Unfortunately, some agencies focused solely on results engage in manipulative tactics like blog networks, spam backlinking, and keyword stuffing content that can seriously damage your organic rankings.
Ethical agencies rely on white hat tactics like valuable business guest posts, earned PR backlinks, and optimizing existing on-site content.
During your meeting, ask detailed questions like:
● What strategies do you use for building quality backlinks?
● How will you optimize our existing website content more effectively?
● Do you create any guest blog posts or outside content as part of your campaigns?
Their willingness to answer tough questions proves they aren’t hiding shady techniques that could devastate your SEO long-term.
Step 5: Make Sure They Conduct On-Page Optimization
Many low-quality agencies focus solely on building backlinks from third-party sites to manipulate search ranking algorithms.
However, this ignores the crucial foundation of on-site on-page optimization like web usability enhancements and improving existing content.
During your meeting, ask the SEO provider:
● How will you optimize target landing pages for conversion rate?
● What technical site enhancements will you address with development?
● How do you optimize metadata, URLs, headings & image tags?
This allows you to assess how much attention they give your actual website visitors when balancing links/content meant solely to attract search bots.
Step 6: Ask About Site Speed and Crawling Impacts
Hacking together volumes of new pages and site sections hastily can cause major structural problems like:
● Broken page links and formatting errors
● Duplicate or thin content
● Crawl budget limitation issues
● Indexing errors and pages not appearing in the search
Responsible agencies carefully enhance infrastructure hosting, site architecture, and internal linking to support additional pages.
Key questions include:
● How will you optimize our website to handle more visitors?
● What tools do you use to identify crawl errors and duplication issues?
● How do you ensure new pages are indexed properly by search engines?
If they admit their tactics could cause substantial technical difficulties or traffic loss - walk away!
Step 7: Review Contracts Carefully for Guarantees
Some shady SEO vendors make outrageously unrealistic ranking promises to win your business that fall apart quickly after signing lengthy contracts and non-refundable retainers.
Watch out for guarantees like:
● “#1 ranking for all your keywords”
● “First page results in Google guaranteed”
● “500% more traffic in 30 days or less”
Legitimate SEO practitioners understand results depend on many shifting factors like competition in your space.
Ask for documentation explaining the process if targets aren’t achieved and be wary of being pressured into contracts seeming designed to only benefit them.
Step 8: Request a Complete Proposal Outlining Scope of Work
A dependable SEO company should provide a clearly written scope of work highlighting all crucial elements covered over your campaign period.
This allows you to align on expected project phases and targeted completion timelines for major milestones.
Common sections might include:
● Keyword Research
● Content Optimization
● Technical Auditing
● Link Development
Having an official SOW reduces confusion on what work will be done so you can hold them accountable.
Step 9: Ask About SEO Specialists on Your Account
Unfortunately, some agencies claim to provide premium services initially but hand off your crucial organic rankings growth to inexperienced junior staff after securing the sale.
Before signing any contract, get clear commitments on what level team members will be actively optimizing your website month-to-month.
Questions to ask:
● Who exactly will be managing our ongoing SEO campaign?
● How many years of experience does this person have in improving organic visibility?
● What monthly time commitment do you guarantee for our website?
Locking down point persons early prevents bait and switch maneuvers once they already have your money.
Step 10: Ask for Client References and Testimonials
The most crucial final check is speaking to real business owners about their experiences partnering with the search optimization firm.
Quality agencies should readily provide past customer contacts for discovery calls or offer introductions to referral partners willing to give candid assessments.
Request at least three owner references and pay attention when:
● Website visibility, conversions, and revenues increased
● Ethical standards were maintained
● Satisfaction scores would warrant additional engagements
Getting insider perspectives from fellow business leaders puts your mind fully at ease about potential agency effectiveness.
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