Table of Contents
Overview: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the most cost effective way to generate more traffic, more enquiries, sales and revenue but only if done by a skilled and experienced SEO. In today’s article, Vikas identifies common pitfalls to avoid and advice to take when it comes to selecting an agency or consultant to optimise your site for search engines.
Many of the new clients share with me their past experiences basically bad experiences with some inexperienced SEO consultant. So, I decided to write few tips on finding a genuine SEO consultant or SEO company. Below are some of the tips you can follow to make sure you are going with the quality SEO service-
1. Know your SEO
Firstly, you should know who is going to perform SEO on your site and what influenced your decision.
Are you planning to go with an SEO company because you were impressed with their amazing office, attractive building and their big name in the industry? Did you talk to the SEO consultant or did you make your decision based on your conversation with the sales consultant?
Think about this – A company with huge sales and marketing staff also means they usually have huge number of clients usually more than 200-300 clients.
Do you think SEOs taking care of these huge number of clients can give personal care to each of them? I’ll let you answer these questions.
My point is that in many cases it is very hard for client to personally know or talk to the SEO. You’ll most probably be talking to the sales consultant rather than SEO consultant which makes it very hard for you to know who will be working on your business website. Hence, it is much better to KNOW YOUR SEO.
2. Research your SEO consultant online
Best way to do this is to check the LinkedIn Profile. Many small businesses fall in the hands of in-experienced SEOs and end up getting shady SEO which hurts their site in long run. Looking at the past experience of SEO should also give you an idea about the work he/she has done in the past. An experienced SEO is of course much better then someone who just learnt SEO few days back by reading online. There are many developers, graphics professionals, or other media professionals who ALSO do SEO but they may not be specialist and may not be experienced purely in SEO.
What to Look for in LinkedIn profile: Look for past experience in Search Engine Optimisation, clients/companies he worked for etc.
3. Talk to the SEO consultant
In many cases, businesses talk to the sales consultants at SEO companies and assume they will get great results based on the conversation with the sales person. How do you know the SEO consultant who will be working on your business website is a skilled and experienced SEO by talking to the sales person? Think about it.
It is best to talk to your SEO consultant at least once on phone or face to face to get better understanding of who is going to work on your website.
4. Check for clues on the website
Whether it’s a company or independent SEO consultant, it is important to look for a few things in their website such as evidence of past work examples, case studies, testimonials, Reviews and quality blogs on the site. The overall look and feel of the site should also give you an idea of the overall service quality.
Also check if their site is ranking anywhere in Google for any keyword? If that SEO cannot get his/her own site on page 1 for any keyword, how can they help you rank better?
For Instance, At WebsiteFix we are ranking on page 1 for two biggest keywords in the industry “SEO Brisbane” and “SEO Services Brisbane” In fact we’re ranking 1 on first page of Google for “SEO services Brisbane” consistently for last one year. If we can beat our competitors in such a competitive industry then it shows we can do the same for you.
We have also included “Google reviews” on our website. Things like this help users make informed decision.
5. Check for Reviews
Rather than relying on the reviews provided on the SEO’s website, you should also check the reviews on independent review sites. For example, Google reviews are the best place to start. Type the name of the brand in Google to see the reviews. For example, if you type “WebsiteFix” in Google then you’ll see the reviews on right hand side.
Cross Check those reviews: Another concern that you may have is whether those reviews are genuine or fake? To make sure they’re genuine, what you can do is to Google search those who have given reviews. If say John from xyz company has given reviews then you can Google search “John xyz” and this should give you the online profile of those people. This helps you cross check the reviews and make sure those reviews are authentic.
In the end, remember that the attractive company building, awe-inspiring offices with attractive receptionists and amazing sales staff will not get you SEO results. It’s the SEO consultant himself who matters the most compared to all the above factors. In fact, the cost of keeping up with that sales staff and expensive office may be passed on to you. So, focus on the service and consultant himself rather than being mesmerised with non-important factors.
“Better Safe than Sorry”
AUTHOR: Vikas Rana (Snr SEO Consultant, WebsiteFix)
Vikas Rana
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