Things you should definitely ask before starting with an SEO company.

With the absolute boom-chicka-boom in digital marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO) has become a pretty crucial aspect of any successful online business strategy, from service-based B2B companies to e-commerce. With the ever-increasing competition for online visibility, hiring an SEO company can significantly boost your website's rankings, organic traffic, and overall online presence - not to mention the all-important revenue. However, choosing the right SEO company requires careful consideration and thorough research - you don’t want to be dropping a considerable amount of money every month on an agency that isn’t maybe quite up to par. Before signing on the preverbal dotted line, make sure you ask at least some of the following questions to help ensure you don’t end up with a dud company (present company excluded).

1. just how do you do SEO, bro?

Before signing up for an SEO company, you’ll want to understand how they conduct their work is a must to determine if its strategies are going to work with your business goals. I’ve seen many, many poorly written strategies along the lines of ‘we’ll optimise some page titles’ and little else in the way of substance. You’ll want to know exactly what they are up to, and how they are going to go about it. FYI: a monthly report is a bare minimum. Ask about their on-page optimisation, off-page optimisation, any back link-building tactics, keyword research, and content creation strategies. An honest company will have nothing to hide and should have a clear, transparent approach that focuses on ethical, long-term results that can be measured. A decent SEO agency has nothing to hide - why would they?

2. got any refs?

Go ahead and request case studies or client references to evaluate the SEO company's track record. This will give you an insight into their ability to deliver results and their experience working with businesses similar to yours. Pay attention to metrics like organic traffic growth, keyword rankings, and improvements in conversion rates. They won’t be able to provide names, but they should be able to provide examples of how they’ve helped businesses grow. A lot of us work under NDAs, which is pretty normal. Nether the less, they should be able to present data in a ‘Company A’ style format, so don’t let that stop them.

3. whadda about changes in the force?

SEO changes daily - like by the minute. And algorithm updates happen all the time - that means there are oodles of content to learn and explore across all necks of the internet and what to do to stay ahead. You can always ask the SEO company how they stay informed about the latest trends and algorithm fiddle about. Ask them about their strategies to adapt to changes and their commitment to continuous learning and improvement. A good SEO has their ear to the ground - OK, we don’t live and breathe SEO all the time, but we are keeping a nose in, and be aware of major changes.

4. Do you do black hat stuff?

UHOH. Black-hat SEO techniques, bad SEO practices and all the bad gubbins that come with it. They can provide short-term gains but can, and will eventually harm your website's reputation and rankings. So make sure the company you are chatting with followed good practices and only follows ethical SEO practices endorsed by search engines like Google. Unethical practices such as buying links, keyword stuffing, or cloaking can result in severe penalties, and you can wave bye-bye to your website being ranked and indexed.

5. What metrics do you track, and how do you report them?

A professional SEO company (should) and will provide regular reports to track your website's progress. Make sure you ask about the key metrics they track, such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and backlink profiles. Clear reporting and analysis should be an integral part of their service, but a monthly report should be the bare minimum you get.

6. What about a content strategy?

Content is still king people and a content strategy is a must for hitting those E-E-A-T principles. High-quality, relevant content is the backbone of any successful SEO campaign. If you have the budget, hire in a professional copywriter who knows your service inside out - they are absolutely worth their weight in gold (probably). And please, don’t do a Chat GPT copy and paste job - it’s bland, generic and will more and likely get your website tanking in rankings. Plus, no one wants to read bland content. Content should serve a purpose, if it doesn’t then don’t produce it

7. How do you handle technical SEO?

Technical SEO is pretty damn essential for website optimisation, especially for websites that deal with a high volume of mobile traffic - nothing worse than a slooooow load speed when you just want to check out. Get’s users hopping off to your competition faster than you can say SCREAMING FROG ME (inside joke). Ask your SEO about their expertise in technical SEO aspects like site speed optimisation, mobile-friendliness, URL structure, and schema markup. A good understanding of these technical elements is crucial for search engine crawlability and user experience.

8. do you link?

Everyone’s favourite - Backlinks! They still play a vital role in SEO success- though admittedly I’ve ranked websites with a very low backlink profile, but that’s more to do with niche. If you are in a highly competitive market, especially in e-commerce, then your backlinking is going to be super duper important my friend. A good SEO will focus on building high-quality, relevant backlinks through ethical means - that means no spammy link farming. Its better to have one killer backlink from a relevant website, than oodles of shoddy ones.

9. How do you handle a slap on the wrist from google?

Well damn, even good SEOs can muck it up and invoke the wrath of Google sometimes. No one (no, not even you) can guarantee permanent top rankings, or indeed a page one ranking and algorithm updates can impact your website's visibility, as can competitors and their own digital marketing efforts. A proactive approach to algorithm updates and the ability to recover from penalties are signs of an experienced and adaptable team - they should be keeping you up to date on what’s going as well - if they are sweeping it under the carpet, that’s a huge red flag.

10. What are your pricing and contract terms?

OK, this is kinda a big one - talking money and terms. Some SEOs start on a rolling contract, some start on six months and some lockin for a year. Totally depends on your needs, but check that the contract has a break clause if it’s needed (stuff happens, we can’t control everything that goes on in the business.) Cost should reflect the strategy - gotta beefy site? Your SEO costs are going to be higher than someone with a five-page site. At the end of the day, SEO is an investment and a long-term one at that. For as long as you have competitors, you’ll need SEO.