Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring an SEO Agency

Things to Consider When Hiring and SEO Agency

There is no denying that SEO is an absolute necessity for businesses to succeed in the modern world. With over 80% of all clicks going to the organic search results and trillions of searches being done each year SEO is highly competitive.

As an SEO consultant with over 12 years experience working at some of the top SEO agencies in the world, I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to what some agencies will do to “earn your business”.

In this article I will provide you with some ammunition and the best questions to ask SEO agencies before you hire them.

Here are the top questions to consider when picking an SEO agency.

Do they have experience in your industry?

If you’re looking to hire an SEO agency, it’s important to make sure that they have experience in your industry. This will ensure that they’re familiar with the latest trends and best practices for your particular industry, and that they can help you achieve your desired results.

Don’t be afraid to ask about their experience in your industry. Find out how long they’ve been working in it, and what kinds of results they’ve been able to achieve for their clients. This will give you a good sense of whether they’re a good fit for your needs. Most agencies will also give you a reference call from a client so you can get a better feel for how they service your industry.

Does the SEO agency practice what they preach?

This an example of keyword rankings that fluctuate over time with big drops in rankings in May 2022 and a slow climb back in the last few months of the graph.

Make sure they fix their own technical SEO issues

Here is a test you can use: The SEO agency will likely point out a few issues they discovered on your website. This is helpful. However, I recommend checking their website for the same or similar issues. Again, if they don’t optimize their own website, why would you believe they can do it for you? For example if you have an international or multi-language website they might call out issues with your hreflang which is good to know but do they have hreflang issues themselves?

Does the SEO agency have a conflict of interest?

From that same perspective, you want to make sure the SEO agency doesn’t have a conflict of interest. Another common thing that happens in the digital marketing agency world is agencies will become vertical or niche specific and when that happens they often times will have a competitor already in their portfolio.

A few questions you can ask about how they have their experience and to see if their is a conflict of interest in your space.

• Do they already have multiple businesses in your industry?
• Are they targeting the same keywords in the same markets?

Experience is great but make sure the SEO agency you pick has your website as a priority. You can also ask for a exclusivity clause although, this is typically reserved for clients who are paying for a larger SEO state of work.

Look beyond the big logos in their portfolio

First of all it is not a bad thing when agencies have really well respected or recgonized logos in their portfolio but I would advise you to not get so enarmored with the logos that you overlook other areas of concern.

Almost every digital marketing agency in the world will have some pretty recognizable logos and brands in their portfolios but be sure to ask what they did specifically for those brands.

Here are some questions to ask agencies about their client portfolios.

• What sort of SEO projects did you for that brand?
• What were the results of those SEO projects?
• Are they still a client today?

What I have seen in my career is often times SEO agencies might not have actually done SEO for those brands or organizations but did do some other sort of marketing project such as web design, paid search, CRO, analytics or even digital PR.

My best advice is to pick an SEO agency that is transparent with you!

This is a hot button topic in the SEO community: how long should SEO contracts or commitments be?

Oftentimes organizations end up signing long term SEO engagements because of the fact that they know organic search is a long-term investment and will take time to see results. However, that doesn’t mean you need to sign a 12 month agreement up front.

Do not enter into a long term commitment with an SEO agency. Yes, SEO does take time to see the results you want but too many SEO agencies end up hiding behind a contract rather than doing the work month in and month out like you’d expect them too.

An ethical SEO agency who are confident in their ability to produce results will not be afraid to work on shorter commitments and will enjoy earning your trust and therefore your business month in and month out.

If you must enter a long term agreement make sure the statement of work covers what will be done in each month and ensure the terms and conditions show that you can get out of the contract if any of those deliverables are not met.

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions