7 tips on finding the right SEO company for your business

Finding the right SEO company to handle your internet marketing and get you ranking on Google can be a difficult process.

If you are at the stage of looking for an SEO provider, then you have probably done a bit of homework, looked around, learned a little bit over your very brief phone conversations with them.

But, really, how do you know who are good SEO agencies and who are the bad ones and how on earth are you going to find the right one that will help your business grow.

Following are some tips to help those businesses struggling in their search for the best SEO company.

1) Get them to have a look at your websites current URL structure and offer some advice.

Get them to point out 2 or 3 things that are wrong with your ‘on page’ SEO and what they would do to fix this. This will sort out the salespeople from the techies. If they cannot give you an answer, then obviously they are going to be hopeless – give them the flick. Any decent SEO company should be able to glance at your website and offer constructive advice on how to improve your Google compliance. Most websites do need some sort of amends to make them more Google-friendly – if these guys cannot point them out then it’s a real danger sign of things to come. They should be looking at your sites: content, titles, meta descriptions and URL structure, just to start with.

2) What kind of link building are you going to be doing and what strategy do you have in mind?

Make sure you hear the two key phrases: ‘ quality links’ and ‘balanced link profile’. Why? Because these two combinations are going to be the driving force behind your rankings. You are going to want to have high-value quality links ( not a free directory or ‘spammy’ blog comment links – which most SEO agencies will pass off as their work), and this needs to be evenly balanced throughout your website. This can get quite technical, but just keep your ears open for these phrases. If they do not mention this when you pose the question, they are probably going to outsource everything to a third party and this is NOT an IDEAL path to follow – believe me when I tell you that most of the calls we get are from businesses who have been penalised due to really bad and dodgy SEO practices. BE WARNED!

3) Can you provide real-life examples of how you have been able to rank a company?

Forget testimonials that you are going to read on their website. You want to see what they have been able to achieve for existing companies. You are going to want to see past rankings and current rankings to see how much they have improved. New start-up SEO companies will not be able to show you this so watch out here. At SEO SYDNEY EXPERTS we can show you dozens of actual companies that are sitting on page 1 of Google for their core main ‘hard to get’ keywords, like machinery hire – and not machinery hire Sydney for right-footed operators.

Remember we are able to rank your high volume, high traffic keywords and do not claim victory when we get low volume, pointless keywords on Google. Many agencies will scream and shout hallelujah when they get any keyword on page 1 – this is an unfortunate situation because these words are worthless and will NOT BRING in revenue. Don’t fall victim to these scams. You want to be on Google for the ‘money keywords’ and if they can’t show you proof of these, then back away fast! Also if they mention ranking guarantees or pay nothing till they get you to page 1 of Google, move on as these are sales tactics that are even banned by Google.

4) What increase in traffic number can you expect?

The answer should be around a 6-8% increase in website visits per month and this needs to be backed up by going into your Analytics and viewing the actual numbers. If they never mention analytics then these guys are not real SEO companies. Your rankings and traffic numbers should each and every month be climbing; both for main keywords and your long-tail ones (that will still have a certain amount of decent traffic). You will be able to measure accurately the percentage increase in traffic using analytics as a tool. If they can maintain this steady increase in traffic then they are doing SEO properly.

5) What set of keywords will you initially target?

Any normal local SEO company should be able to come up with at least 5 keywords. More than this can be hard in the initial meeting as you will need to look at the keywords that have the highest traffic to target. Make sure they show you the keywords that have the highest amount of web traffic as these are the ones you ideally want to target. – THERE IS NO POINT ranking for keywords that have only a minimal search per month.

Also read: 12 Local SEO Statistics for 2021

6) Are you based locally and do you outsource your work?

If you are in Sydney, it’s best to use a local company. It’s just easier and there are enough of them to pick from. If they are honest and tell you that they outsource their work – RUN A MILE – you want all your search engine optimisation work and internet marketing to be done by a firm that has the in house capabilities. Sending offshore is a way to save money and they just end up cutting corners and nothing good ever comes of this. If they are a 1- man show and they do not have an office and they tell you they do all the SEO work themselves they are lying. This is a common ploy used by these guys to trip you up into thinking you are going to get a personalised SEO service – what a sham!

7) How old is your SEO company?

Again a tough one to call. If they are freelancers they will tell you they have been doing it for over 10 years and there is no way to prove them wrong – in any case, walk away from these guys. My call is to go with a team/company that has been doing it for more than 5 years. This is enough time to establish a strong track record of clients with credible trading history.

Some questions only the very Best SEO Agencies Should be asking you.

Let’s flip this around and see what any decent SEO company should be asking you – if they just sit there and say nothing without any question then they are order takers – see if they pose any of these to you:

1. Can you think of any keywords you would like to be on Google for? Tell them that you want at least 10 great keywords.
2. Who is your competition and where are they ranking online? This is a no brainer – they should be able to tell you who they want to go after online.
3. What is the age of your website? The theory behind this is the older the URL, the better.
4. How much do you know about SEO and have you ever engaged an SEO company in the past? Has anyone ever worked on your website or are we the first company that will be doing your SEO?
5. What CMS system is your website built on? Is it open source so we can get in there and make changes or is it proprietary and owned by a web agency? The latter can be problematic.
6. Have you ever been penalised by Google? If so, when and are you still in the penalty?
7. Have you got a realistic SEO budget? Or are you just after the cheapest SEO quote you can find?
8. Do you have any idea how long a proper SEO campaign takes and how long it will take to rank you organically?

We would always ask these kinds of questions which makes us the best SEO company for your business – call us now on 02 9360 8514 to get your online rankings moving.