If you’re an owner of a small- or medium-sized business, optimising your website is one of the best ideas you could have. Perhaps you’ve heard about SEO practices and what they can do for your revenue but are still unsure how to proceed.
You might even feel inclined to rely on free SEO tools and try to optimise the website yourself. However, that rarely yields the desired results.
Undoubtedly, SEO services delivered by a professional marketing agency is the way to go. But that’s easier said than done. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of choosing the right SEO agency.
SEO Software vs. Professional SEO Services
Before we dig a little deeper into how to choose an SEO agency to help you start or revive your business, let’s take a step back. Your digital marketing strategy should be based on a fully informed decision. Investing money in SEO can be challenging for many businesses.
Therefore, exploring the possibility of using SEO software, free and paid, to conclude the task of optimisation is to be expected. There are two brands of SEO software – manual and automated. With manual SEO software, you have the control in your hands.
Sounds great, but it can be time-consuming, and it assumes you already know a lot about SEO. A cheaper version is the automated SEO which has some benefits. You can compare your website to competitors, for example.
Ultimately, this type of software is more focused on the number of consumers rather than quality. Do you want the best SEO services? London-based SEO agencies come in all shapes and sizes, and many of them can deliver everything your business needs. But SEO software can never give you valuable experience in the business or the versatility of services.
Steps to Take When Choosing the Best SEO Service
SEO agencies nowadays need to stay competitive, as more and more clients know precisely what to look for when choosing SEO services. UK firms that might appear proficient but can’t produce results do unfortunately exist. As a consequence, it’s so important to keep a few things in mind before you partner up with an SEO agency.
Word of Mouth Beats Google
Maybe not in 100% of the cases, but referrals are still incredibly important when choosing an SEO agency. If a small business owner hears about an efficient SEO company from a trustworthy source instead of reading about one, which do you think they’ll choose?
Reviews and referrals are crucial when choosing SEO services. London SEO companies can use them to show they care about long-term relationships and partnerships.
Do Your Research Anyway
Someone talking up an SEO agency is great, but the power of Google research shouldn’t be ignored, either. Checking out the past performance of a company can tell you a lot about their track record.
Look for portfolio examples, industry awards, case studies, and client testimonials. These are all things that can be verified and provide valuable insight into what the agency is all about.
Ask a Lot of Questions
Once you’ve narrowed down your search, it’s time to meet potential SEO agencies and learn more about their services. It doesn’t matter if the meeting is in-person or virtual. Face-to-face time is essential.
Having a ready list of questions will almost certainly paint a clearer picture of what you can expect. Digging into the pricing, for example, is one of the areas you can focus on. Also, pressing the question of how fast you can see the results is going to tell you a lot.
Common Mistakes When Choosing an SEO Partner
There are a few pitfalls in choosing SEO services. UK-based agencies that provide overly cheap services tend to make unrealistic promises.
A £100 per month for SEO services is not a realistic amount. You might get excited over the price but will ultimately be disappointed with the performance. Another common mistake is just looking locally. While that might have some perks, it shouldn’t be the deciding factor.
Bringing the Knowledge When Choosing SEO Services
As we established, you’re free to rely on SEO software for the optimisation of your website. It might improve your web traffic and even provide valuable insight.
These tools have their value. No matter how big or small, any serious business should stick to professional SEO services provided by an agency.
These services are highly customisable if you choose the right SEO partner. The goal is to enhance your web presence and establish tremendous long-term communication.
