Hiring an SEO Agency
Checklist
Hiring the Right SEO Team is an Important Decision for Your Business, Ask the Right Questions
Checklist on How to Hire the Right SEO Agency
For Your Business
There is no shortage of SEO companies looking to work with you…some local and some overseas….some good and some perhaps not so good as they lead on. How do they differ? This SEO Company checklist will help to guide you on the best questions to ask when evaluating companies, so you have the right information to help make sure you are confident about your final selection.
SEO Agency Review & Hiring Checklist
How long has your SEO company been in business?
- While not the top consideration, it’s important how long they’ve been successfully managing this type of work.
Describe your approach & process as it relates to SEO.
- An overview of their SEO process should give you a clearer understanding of the work they intend to undertake and the steps involved. If the process is unclear or doesn’t sound correct, as follow up questions until it is clear, or look for another firm.
Describe your team’s strategies for link-building efforts you intend to use for my SEO campaign.
- Link building can’t be overlooked and is an important component of any SEO project. What strategies have worked for them previously?
Do you have any successful content marketing examples that you can provide?
- Ask to see and be shown examples of successful content marketing campaigns they’ve undertaken. See for yourself and gauge the quality and writing style of their content.
Do you manage and optimize Google My Business Pages?
- Google My Business listing optimization and management is an especially core component for Local SEO campaigns. What will they do for your GMB page?
How long will it take to see results from SEO for my website?
- This can vary widely, but it’s important to gauge whether you are being given unrealistic expectations. At a minimum, a timeline for seeing results should be in months, if not years for highly competitive industries.
How do you measure your success of SEO?
- What does success look like? How is it measured and reported?
How often will I communicate with your team and who will be working on my account?
- Will the person you dealt with initially, and who likely prepared your proposal, be working on an on-going basis on your account? Or will someone else? Understand the support structure and don’t be surprised by what some refer to as a support ‘bait-and-switch.’
Can you provide examples of your SEO reporting?
- See a visual example of their reporting, and make sure it makes sense to you and isn’t too technical or information overload.
Do you rank for any keywords that you are targeting for your own website?
- Always a good initial question, how well has SEO done for their own agency website?
Do you offer any guarantees?
- This is a trick question, as no one can guarantee SEO results. If they could everyone would do it, and Google is constantly tweaking and adjusting its algorithm, so what worked yesterday may not work as well today. If they do guarantee SEO results, probably good to take that with a grain of salt. Better to have an agency be honest with you upfront rather than provide unrealistic expectations used to win your business.
Don’t rush into a decision when hiring an SEO company. Rather, ask the SEO questions from this checklist to vet the companies you’re considering, and find the best SEO company for your business. It’s worth your time as ultimately hiring the SEO agency and team that you feel is the best and who you are comfortable with, will ensure you have the best opportunity to improve your search engine visibility and accomplish your goals for the long-term.
Looking to get started and want to discuss how we can help? Request your complimentary SEO consultation session with our team today.