In the present scenario, your online reputation plays a major part in your business future and only the right SEO company can help you achieve both high search engine rankings and your desired ROI. The SEO company you choose should be a long term partner with the ability to understand your goals and turn them into reality. While the selection process can be a little tricky, listed below are some of the most important criteria that have to be kept in mind to help you narrow down your search for the right SEO provider.
- Consider diverse options: Never settle for a SEO company simply because a friend or a business client suggested it, as what worked for them may not always work for you. Consider several options including searching online, asking in forums and visiting companies personally, before zeroing on a prospective service provider.
- Check out their testimonials: Request case studies and testimonials from similar industries/websites to gauge their capabilities in handling similar kind of work. Some SEO companies don’t publish testimonials/case studies on their websites due to NDA’s signed with the client, but will oblige you with client portfolios if asked.
- Investigate their online presence: Be sure to Google the SEO company and check out their online reputation. Look at how the site is written and watch for warning signs such big guarantees or language that sounds too good to be true. It is also of vital importance to check for the site’s own rankings, community engagement, industry visibility and domain authority in order to determine whether to choose the company or not.
- Ask for their methods: Many SEO companies use spurious black hat SEO tricks to ensure that you get high rankings. While this may work on a temporary basis, it can result in your site being penalized by the search engines. Also, ensure that the sources of their backlinks are not from link farms or other bogus sites.
- Examine their pricing options: It is vital to remember that high price does not necessarily guarantee high quality. At the same time, you cannot expect a professional SEO campaign to come at a cheap rate. Choose a SEO company with a realistic price structure that offers the best plans that can be customized to increase your search engine rankings and total ROI.
- Consider their communication plan: Having a good communication plan in place is central to a successful SEO campaign. Decide upon a defined communication plan that determines accountability in points of contact, frequency of contact, length of contact, monthly analytics reports, etc.
- Question their analytics abilities: The idea of SEO and web analytics being somewhat abstract and intangible can cause problems in customer satisfaction. While analytics will give you the data, is up to the SEO company to draw the right insights from analyzing the data. So opt for a company with the ability to make the right decisions in your online marketing strategy.
