Reading this information about how to find the best SEO consultant for your brand means you have joined the league of enlightened businesses who understand why SEO matters.
So much about a business’ growth depends on its visibility online. Ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs) is one of the ways to measure a brand’s visibility to its target audience. If you have been tracking your organic traffic, you would know whether or not your site ranks well on Google. And if it’s not, finding the right SEO consultant could pose some serious challenge for your business if you do not know how to find the best one for your brand.
When it comes to making decisions about your brand’s visibility, you want to get it right. Signing with the wrong consultant could frustrate your business in the long run; leave you with wasted time and actual revenue loss. You really do not want any of that to happen.
If you stay on this page a little longer, you’re going to learn how to find the best SEO consultant for your brand.
How to Choose an SEO Company
Here are 3 trusted steps to find yourself an SEO consultant that meets your needs.
- Investigate Past Performance
- Inquire from Past or Current Clients
- Ask the SEO Consultant Some Questions
1. Investigate Past Performance
It is very easy for Company A to claim to have made so and so business rank #1 on Google. While that can be true, do not take their word for it. Always carry out your own independent investigation. Yes, become a private investigator if you have to. There’s no telling what is true in SEO claims if you do not investigate.
An SEO company that is what it claims to be would most likely have one or two independent records to support their claims. Most often, companies with impressive portfolios would have a number of independently verifiable industry awards to their name.
Here’s what Trevin Shirley, an SEO expert and Director of Business Development at WebFX has to say:
Past and proven performance is the most important factor, in my mind, when somebody is looking to find an SEO partner. Especially with the Internet nowadays, it’s easy to say a lot of nice things about yourself or to look like a really reputable agency that knows what they’re doing at a surface level, but SEO agencies that are truly successful are going to have a lot of specific, proven, and verifiable results available for potential clients.
So, to make an informed decision about your potential SEO consultant’s claim, painstakingly go through their past performances. In doing that, you can ask for portfolio examples and case studies.
Independent client review on trustworthy third party sites is another great way to verify the veracity of any company’s claim. In doing this, you should be wary of black hat networks who give each other positive reviews here and there.
2. Inquire from Past or Current Clients
After you have seen some portfolio of your potential SEO consultant, it would make a lot of sense to also inquire from 3 to 4 past or current clients.
There are two reasons you would want to do that. The first is to verify that they actually did the work they claim credit for. Second would be to learn about their client relationship and other intrinsic matters about the company.
It could be very helpful to ask from clients who have had dealings with the company to rate their service and results obtained.
3. Ask the SEO Consultant Some Questions
We figured it is worthy to mention that SEO expertise can sometimes be peculiar to niches and industries. It is not just enough that an SEO company’s portfolio checked out, you still need to make sure they are the right fit for your industry and ultimately your brand.
It is important to have a list of relevant questions to ask your SEO Company when you meet. Whether it is physical meeting or e-meeting, you should be able to communicate the needs of your brand and what you expect them to do for you in scalable terms.
Few examples of questions you should ask include:
- What past experience do you have with our industry/niche?
- How soon should we expect to see results?
- What numbers should we expect?
- What is the cost of your service?
Having gotten a hang on how to find the best SEO consultant for your brand, it is important that you also learn of some mistakes you should avoid when choosing an SEO company.
Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing an SEO Company
Listingly, here are some mistakes you want to avoid in your quest for the right SEO consultant.
- Basing your judgment on price or location
- Relying on Google Search Result
- Hiring a Black Hat SEO Company
1. Basing Your Judgment on Price or Location
Sometimes cheap don’t mean bad and expensive don’t necessarily mean good either.
It is a mistake to choose an SEO consultant based on the cost of service only. Also, it is better to choose an experienced consultant miles away than an inexperienced one around the block. After all, the whole essence of SEO is to reach people online who you ordinarily would not have met.
To be more specific, your judgment of the best SEO consultant for you should be based on their verified knowledge of your industry and brand.
2. Relying on Google Search Result
Relying on Google search to find the right SEO Company for you is not such a great idea. You might wonder why we think so. Well, there have been stories. Some compilers of such lists tend to sell spots on their list of allegedly best SEO companies to hire. So, that it is listed as the best (even if it actually is) might not be the best for you.
Here’s what Rand Fishkin, co-founder of Moz.com has to say about this:
Back when Moz was a consulting company many, many years ago, they’d call us up and they’d say, “Hey, do you want to be number 3, we can make you number 3 on the best SEO companies list for $20,000 a year. Or we can make you number 1, but you’re going to have to pay $75,000 a year.
Your consultant’s knowledge of your industry is very important when choosing an ideal SEO company for your business. It is best to work with the 3 points already discussed above on how to choose the best SEO Company for your brand.
3. Hiring a Black Hat SEO Company
These are the bad guys of SEO. They can get you almost any result you need with your SEO in the shortest possible time but the longevity of such results are mostly nonexistent. Also black hat SEO practices can earn your website an outright ban on Google. You really would not like for that to happen.
Although white hat SEO takes quite some time to produce any result, its results can last a lifetime if properly managed. How Long SEO Takes should not be a problem if you want to do it the right way.
It’s very important that while hiring an SEO consultant for your firm, you hire a reputable white hat company.