In an online world jam-packed with changing technology and increased social media usage, just about any Tom, Dick, and Harry has access to the tools and resources needed to support a business’s SEO efforts. For instance, instructional resources come in the form of blogs, videos, forums, websites, eBooks, and white papers. Paradoxically, these numerous options merely scratch the surface of tools available to anyone with an Internet connection.
But just because someone possesses an elementary understanding of SEO doesn’t mean they can take charge of a company’s SEO efforts. As a top SEO agency in New Jersey, the experts at Premiere Creative offer a variety of red flags your business can keep a lookout for when searching for a competent SEO agency. Discover what a top-tier SEO agency should know to help see your search rank soar.
1) A Good SEO Agency Asks About Your Goals
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but any competent SEO agency will meet with a client to discuss both long and short-term goals. Regardless of your industry, goals create a basis for all future achievement. Without a definitive endgame, your brand merely spins its wheels with little direction. Understanding what a company hopes to achieve, whether in the next three months or three years, helps an SEO agency better create a customized SEO strategy to help transform those goals into a reality. If a “reputable” SEO agency does not pay attention to what your brand wants to achieve, they fail to understand your company as a whole, and will ultimately fail in delivering the results your brand can gain from launching an SEO campaign.
2) A Good SEO Agency Helps Specify Your Goals
More importantly, an SEO agency will ask you to be as specific as possible when listing your goals. By taking the time to meet with representatives from your company, they can weed out “bad goals” from your list. But what exactly constitutes as a bad goal? At Premiere Creative, we’ve heard a wide array of goals that were odd, eccentric, or simply unobtainable. The most generic of all SEO goals, “I want to appear first on Google and I want it to happen quickly” may lead you to choose the wrong agency. If your SEO agency promises a quick fix to skyrocket your rank, we recommend getting as far away from them as possible. If an SEO agency promises to get your website to the first page of Google overnight, there’s an almost definite chance they’re utilizing black hat SEO techniques that will hurt you in the long run. Any seasoned SEO strategist knows that climbing the ranks on Google requires time and a lot of hard work.
3) A Good SEO Agency Keeps Your Goals On Track
SEO strategists should provide your business with reports comprising quantitative data. These reports should overview the progress they’ve achieved using a site tracker like Google Analytics. They should offer insights that include a breakdown of both organic and paid web traffic, a list of keywords that your company currently ranks well in, and any successful conversions occurring on your website. These reports allow you to synthesize whether or not you’re receiving your money’s worth from an agency’s services.
4) A Good SEO Agency Has A Tailored, Up-to-Date Strategy
Google updates its algorithm an estimated 500 times per year. While most of those updates won’t affect the big picture of your business’s website, they still impact it in smaller ways. If your SEO agency uses the same strategy they pitched five years ago, then it’s time to kick them to the curb. A reputable SEO agency understands that SEO is a dynamic practice. The techniques they used a few months ago may be obsolete today. Thus, an SEO agency should consistently pitch new tactics to add to an existing strategy.
Furthermore, the best SEO companies never use the same strategy for each client, as no two businesses are alike. Your SEO agency should be proactive rather than reactive in identifying any potential opportunities where your brand can grow, while diagnosing threats that can hinder you achieving your desired goals.
Competent SEO companies should periodically check in with you for your continued input regarding your goals. Whenever Google rolls out a major update that might impede SEO efforts, a good SEO agency will likely inform you about the situation, as well their strategies to overcome this obstacle.
5) A Good SEO Company Understands All Financial Implications
Finally, an SEO agency should understand your budget, and available manpower. In initial interactions and discussions, SEO companies should work hard to understand the financial framework in which your business operates. Failure to communicate a budget ends up hurting your business in the long run. Thus, clarity and honesty between both parties remains a necessity for a long-lasting and fruitful relationship.
Bringing It All Together
Any good SEO agency candidate will address the questions and topics relating to your business. Businesses can use these factors as a baseline to identify if you’re working with a quality SEO agency instead of wasting precious dollars on one that uses manipulative black hat techniques.
Are you looking to improve your ranking on search engines? Contact the SEO experts at Premiere Creative and give us a call at (973) 346-8100 to start building search rank today!