SEO industry is a competitive one, and it’s getting more and more difficult to outrank your competition. Due to the constant algorithmic changes, optimizing your website is followed by frustration and constant anticipation. Therefore, when hiring an SEO agency, you need to make sure they are on the same page with you and that they’re being transparent.
Since most agencies sell packages that require 6-12 months of investment, you need to make sure that your investment will pay off. Therefore, we advise you to ask your SEO agency the right questions to reduce the possibilities of wasted money.
Top questions to ask your SEO agency
Here are the top 10 questions you should ask your SEO agency before deciding to hire them for your business. With these questions, you will know if you can expect some real SEO results, or if they are just working through trial and error.
How do you approach your SEO strategy?
In an ideal case, a reliable SEO agency will create a custom SEO strategy based on the client’s industry, niche, and level of competitiveness. As SEO is constantly evolving, a successful SEO agency needs to integrate the latest SEO techniques and best practices. For example, keyword stuffing is a long-time gone SEO tactic and it’s not working any more. SEO agencies that are trying to sell that approach are obviously not updated with the latest best practices when it comes to SEO. Also, a good SEO strategy consists of three pillars of SEO: content, technical SEO and backlinks.
How will you adapt your strategy to my business and niche?
For a successful SEO strategy, an SEO specialist doesn’t have to be an expert in your industry. However, he has to have some basic knowledge about your services or products and to understand who are your ideal customers. Without that, when the best SEO strategy will not hit the mark. Therefore, some level of understanding of your business model and target audience is required since it will help with the content creation, content strategy and on-page SEO efforts.
Who is in charge of our content creating?
Since you probably know that content is king, you also know that if you want good rankings, you need high-quality content. Content that is well-written and informative also helps with conversions. Therefore, an important question would also be who is going to write your content. It’s helpful if the person has at least some industry experience, and knows how to write converting articles.
What tools do you use?
There are numerous SEO tools on the market. Some of them are considered industry standards, while others are not that popular. There are no right and wrong answers here. However, knowing what tools your SEO agency use will define what kind of reports you can receive at the end of the month, and how they track the SEO results.
Do you have any case studies?
This is the question to ask if you want to make sure if the agency had some relevant SEO experience and successful projects before offering their SEO services to you. You can also check their Testimonials page to see if they have satisfied clients they can showcase on their website. If the SEO agency has some case studies in your industry, it is a huge plus, as they probably already know lots about your industry and SEO challenges.
How long until we see results?
Unfortunately, it’s a question that no one can answer accurately, but some general time frame is around 6 months, depending on the industry and the level of competitiveness. If your SEO agency gives promises about quick overnight ranking, you should know that it’s too good to be true. Some positive changes can be made from the 1st month, but for more impactful results, it takes around 3 to 6 months. Ideally, your SEO agency should explain to you what you can expect and in what time frame.
How do you measure success?
We’ve seen that some general metrics are the organic traffic, rankings, and Click-through rates. While we generally agree with them as an important KPI, we would like to emphasise that it really depends on the industry. In some industries, a number of sign-ups will be much more valuable than traffic or rankings. Therefore, we believe conversions are equally significant as traffic and rankings, if not even more influential. Also, for local businesses, KPI might also be the position in the local pack in Google Maps, and positions for some local keywords.
How do you communicate with clients?
There are different ways of communicating, and some agencies may prefer communication via emails, while others prefer video calls. This is a matter of preference, but it can be valuable to know if you’re on the same page with your SEO agency. No matter what communication method they use, they should be responsive and transparent with you. You shouldn’t be confused after receiving their responses and hesitate to ask questions. A good relationship between you and your SEO agency will be crucial for long-term success.
What do you need from us to get to work?
A reliable SEO agency will always have different questions, such as what are your products or services, who your ideal audience, what type of industry is, your content marketing goals and most important KPIs. They will also request the access to your Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts to get valuable data.
How much time you can dedicate to my business every month?
Usually, the amount of time is defined with your monthly retainer. The time agreed upon should match your budget, but also be convenient enough for your SEO agency to complete all urgent and priority SEO tasks without a rush. Usually, you get what you pay for, and cheaper monthly retainers mean fewer hours of availability for you.
Who to contact for monthly SEO services?
DesignQ has been in digital marketing and SEO for more than 15 years. We’ve been offering white-hat and effective search engine optimisation services to businesses in different industries. With our expertise, we managed to help them rank for their essential keywords that helped them generate more leads and sales. Contact us now to discuss your business needs.
