A lot of what a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) company does goes on behind the scenes; the purpose of SEO being, after all, to optimise your website so it can be more easily found, understood and indexed by search engine bots/spiders.
Some things an SEO agency does are glaringly obvious, such as reworking your website to improve the layout, publishing new blogs and rewriting web content. However, with technical and on-page SEO, it’s not always obvious what they are doing to help you.
So if you’re considering working with an agency, or are working with one already, here are some signs to look out for that they’re doing a good job:
1) They Hit The Ground Running
SEO is a long-term endeavour. Nevertheless, there are foundations an agency can put in place quickly to ensure your campaign starts delivering results as soon as possible. Within the first one to three months these could include:
- A full inbound marketing and SEO audit on your website, identifying areas for improvement.
- Bespoke keyword research
- Revised and updated web content, optimised for your chosen keywords
2) They Agree Realistic, Measurable Criteria For Success
A good SEO company will show you what they’re doing by setting measurable and deliverable targets from the outset. Regular updates should follow.
3) They Are Open About The Techniques They Use
Be wary of an SEO company that is reticent to share information about what they are doing on your behalf or are deliberately vague. At best, this is a patronising attitude, and at worst, it could indicate potential techniques are being used that do not fall within Google’s best practice guidelines for SEO, which could cause you to lose rankings rather than gain them.
4) They Provide Professional Advice
A good partner will actively offer recommendations for improvement, tailored to your goals. They will also ask plenty of questions, which is a good sign. An SEO company may request access to your social media accounts, Google Webmaster tools, Google Analytics, and your CMS. Once trust is established, grant this access and help in whatever way you can because a company can only help you insofar as you help them first.
5) Your Search Rank Improves
Over time, you should start seeing steady improvement in your website traffic figures. This means that more people are finding you and making their way to your website. This is a good indication that your SEO company is doing a good job, as traffic will increase as your visibility increases.
6) Your Overall Web Traffic Goes Down, But Your Revenue Goes Up!
Don’t panic if your web traffic dips during an SEO campaign. Remember you are at the mercy of Google’s algorithm and, as such, you will see movement in rankings and traffic on an ongoing basis. A good SEO company will also be tracking goal conversions to measure the success of a campaign. So as long as, overall, your revenue and number of leads continue to go up, you can take that as a signal that the visitors coming to your website are more qualified and targeted than previously, and efforts are being made to attract visitors interested in your services.
How To Monitor Your SEO Partner
Transparency is the most important ingredient of any supplier/service provider relationship. The biggest sign that your SEO company is helping you is that they actively tell you what’s going on. Whether this is through face-to-face meetings, regular phone calls or reports sent by email, a good agency will discuss a communication plan that gives you the information you need, while fitting in with your work commitments.
There are also objective metrics you can monitor that indicate the progress made on your SEO campaign:
- Search engine page rank for target keywords
- The average number of webpages viewed by visitor per visit
- Volume of organic traffic
- Your bounce rate (a bounce is a visitor who views a single page of your website or blog before leaving)
- Volume of inbound links
- Your page authority, page rank, and domain authority
These metrics can all be measured using a marketing automation platform, or through Google analytics.
Start Improving Your Google Search Rankings Today
The key to achieving higher volumes of web traffic – and inbound leads – is through greater visibility on Google. The best way to achieve this is by working with an SEO web marketing company as part of a broad marketing strategy.
JDR Group is a Derby SEO agency offering a full range of marketing services. To request a quote that works for you, or to find out more about the tactics we use, why not give us a call today on 01332 982198?
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