How to Choose the Right SEO Agency for Your Company

Deciding to work with an SEO agency can be an exciting step in your business journey. But, knowing how to choose the right SEO agency is crucial.

How do SEO agencies benefit businesses?

Hiring an SEO agency can support your business in completing all on-page and off-page search engine optimisation tactics. An SEO agency will optimise for the most important search results ranking signals which can increase organic traffic and conversion rates.  Which reminds us, have your red our blog, do I need an SEO agency to rank in search results?

The SEO agency you work with will take part in a variety of tasks to benefit their clients each day. These include; keyword research, website audits, optimisation, content creation, overseeing website performance, link building and reviewing backlinks.

For more on how an SEO agency can benefit your business, check out our blog, what does an SEO agency do day-to-day? 

How to choose the right SEO agency – our top tips.

Recently ROAR released a free downloadable guide called ‘Why hire an SEO agency – the ultimate guide’. We hope to make the SEO hiring process easier for businesses everywhere, you can download it here.

Define your goals

Choosing an SEO agency must start with defining your company’s business goals. What are you looking to achieve by partnering with an SEO company? Once you have established your goals, you can begin browsing agencies. 

Start by identifying which area of your business and online presence you want to work on. You can do this effectively by conducting a digital marketing analysis. At ROAR, we provide free website audits for businesses get yours here.

Look carefully at what services they offer and consider do these align with your goals. If you’re looking for an agency to create SEO-driven content, including social media, but you can’t see this on their website, they may not offer this, so ask. 

Don’t choose an agency with flashy bells and whistles, but ensure you fully understand their business. And further into your conversation, understand how this can positively contribute to your business.

Take guarantees with a pinch of salt

Now don’t get us wrong, we fully expect any SEO agency to big themselves up to you when discussing your partnership. However, SEO is everchanging and is pretty hard to predict results bang on. 

An SEO account manager should have a string of successful results to show you what they can do for businesses. However, note whether an SEO agency guarantees you specific results. If a company guarantees you the top spot on Google in a certain amount of time….RUN. Unless they have a magic future predicting crystal ball, there is no way to guarantee results like this.

Whilst an SEO agency will most likely have a good idea of how to produce the best results possible, remember Google algorithms are constantly changing. Look for an agency with a wealth of experience to see how successful they are in adapting to changes. Avoid any agencies that incorporate black hat SEO tactics into their strategy. These are tactics that can leave your business penalised by Google.

Some examples of black hat techniques are keyword stuffing, content automation, hidden texts or links, and link manipulation.

Set a budget you know is plausible

When choosing the right SEO agency, consider what you can and can’t afford. 

SEO agencies can cost anywhere between a couple of hundred pounds a month to thousands. Currently, the average monthly budget for SEO services in the UK stands at £362.83. Those business owners who invested more than £365.38 were 53.3% more likely to end up “extremely satisfied” when compared to those who invested less than that.

Ensure that you have enough budget to dedicate time to working with an SEO agency. As we discussed earlier, a successful SEO strategy can take time and results are not guaranteed. Ultimately you may need to budget well to see some results happen over time. 

You should ensure that you are enquiring straight away about SEO services that fall within your budget. But, it is vital to consider that low-cost SEO agencies come with doubts. Remember, cheap doesn’t always mean cheerful so if an SEO agency is sprouting eye-catching low costs but doesn’t follow best practices, it’s not worth investing.

Ask questions

When you choose an SEO company, you are letting an outsider into the realism of your business. This can be pretty terrifying, especially if you consider your business to be your baby.

When speaking to potential agencies, ask questions, big or small, silly or serious. You need to be fully aware of everything they will be doing with your business’s name attached to it. 

Not only will asking various questions boost your knowledge, but it will also provide you with an opportunity to weed out the agencies that are a definite no. 

For our top questions on what to ask an SEO agency, check out our blog here. 

Don’t let a prior lack of knowledge scare you from asking as many questions as you have and as you feel necessary. Ultimately an SEO agency worth hiring should be able to answer them in a simple form.

Ask to see some case studies.

Case studies can be an excellent form of personal research. They will provide you with past examples of SEO agency tactics and work. This allows you to see how successful they have been in the past but you can see what tactics they implement. You can further question what tactics they would use to develop your business’s organic search presence and support your goals. 

Case studies tend to break down the problem, the tactic and the results. This means you can see an SEO campaign effort for free, a good SEO agency should have case studies or testimonials to support their work. 

See what the vibe is like

You certainly don’t want to work in a team or alongside somebody who doesn’t quite match your company’s values or culture. You will probably know after talking with an agency briefly what vibe you get from your initial conversation. Your instinct can mean everything when deciding who will take your business to the next level.

Of course, mirror the vibes with their expertise, your budget and the above points. Hopefully, now you will end up in a long-term, successful partnership. 

ROAR specialises in driving ambitious, successful results for its clients, and we would love to support your business. Look at our SEO Management Services page to see how our specialists can skyrocket your online presence on search engines.