6 Questions To Ask A Potential Seo Firm – Avvo Blog
February 3rd, 2010 by Nick
Hiring an SEO (search engine optimization) firm can be a daunting experience. Thousands of dollars are at stake, there is no regulation in the industry, and there is certainly no shortage of people promising amazing results. Read on to find six questions that will help you sort out the pros from the con men.
1) How well does the SEO firms own website rank in Google?
If an SEO firms own website doesnt rank well in Google for keywords important to its business, that puts a big dent in its credibility. To quickly find out for yourself a few keywords an SEO firm ranks well for, enter its website into SEM Rush. You can then ask for elaboration on how the firm uses SEO to acquire clients.
2) What percent of the SEO firms clients stick around for more than 2 years?
Unfortunately some SEO firms have a churn and burn business model. They exploit the fact that SEO can take time, so they essentially do nothing for months, saying they need more time, until the client eventually gets fed up and leaves. Ask how many clients stick around for more than 2 years, and ask for a handful that you can contact for references.
3) What specific tactics does the SEO firm use to build links?
Link building is the most difficult and the most important part of SEO. You can play with the code of your website all day, but without link building, youre not going to rank well for competitive terms. Therefore, its critical your SEO firm be skilled at acquiring links to your website.
Ask for the specific places (or types of places) you can expect to get links from, and then make sure you keep an eye on this if you become a client. Be sure the links are coming from reputable, relevant sites, not just junky directories no one has ever heard of.
4) How will the SEO firm measure its own performance and be accountable to you?
What do you want from the SEO firm? Do you have specific keywords you want to rank better for? Or do you just want more clients via your website?
Be honest with yourself and the SEO firm about what you want, set benchmarks and agree on metrics that you will regularly monitor. If not, bad SEO firms can string you along for months showing you complex numbers and pretty charts that arent getting you closer to your goal.
5) How many different clients is the SEO firm juggling at the same time?
SEO, particularly as time goes on, is not something that you can do on an assembly line. Scalability is a big problem. SEO requires time-consuming, custom solutions for each clients unique situation, and its impossible to do a good job if youre juggling too many clients at a time. Ensure the people working on your SEO are not stretched too thin.
6) What is the background and experience of key management?
SEO is a relatively new industry and lacks any real regulation or accreditation. In other words, anyone can call himself an SEO expert. Closely scrutinize the background and experience of key management to ensure they have solid SEO experience and a clean record. Also find out if the SEO firm has ever operated under a different name.
Source: avvoblog.com