Search engine optimization agencies differ significantly from one another. Some are better than others, and then there are the bad actors who can burn you and harm your reputation because of ignorance, or plain black hat tactics.
The problem when choosing a business to work with is that most agencies look alike. The main difference is logos, branding, and the companies they use as testimonials. Therefore, how do you pick the ones who offer the most expertise, experience, and value for money?
In the world of search engine optimization, there isn’t one approach that you can follow to get the desired results. If you make the wrong choice, you set yourself back instead of moving forward and you lose time and money on top of it.
Here are a few tips on how to make the correct choice when finding a top-rated law firm SEO company in 2023.
Chicago SEO Scholar
When looking for top-rated companies, experience plays a major role in the mix. For example, Chicago SEO Scholar has been in the trenches for more than a decade, ensuring their clients rank higher than their competitors.
They don’t compromise on best practices and pay attention to algorithm changes, to stay on top of the trends. They communicate openly, and transparently, and keep businesses updated at all times, ensuring efficiency, and maximum results for a competitive price.
Chicago SEO Scholar
55 E Monroe St Suite 3800 Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 529-8226
Specify your objectives
Before you start looking for an SEO agency, learn the basics. You need to learn how to align your marketing, sales, and organizational goals into search engine optimization terms. Every agency will ask you about your goals and objectives. It’s up to you to specify whether that’s ranking higher, getting more organic traffic, becoming an expert for long tail keywords, getting more conversions, or another measure of success.
It’s completely reasonable to be uncertain about the outcomes that may be anticipated from improving SEO in the absence of doing any research. However, if you spend the time and learn how the entire process works, you can have an idea of the return on investment and see when you’ll start feeling the benefits.
If a bad actor notices that you don’t know anything about the topic, they’ll try to upsell you additional services. That’s just like the many jokes about going to mechanics when you’ve got no idea about how a car works. In the car scenario, a mechanic will tell you that you need to change the alternator because it stopped working. If you ask what it is, they’ll tell you that it’s better to change both (there’s only one alternator in a car).
You’d be surprised to find out how often the same scenario happens in the SEO industry. You need to be very clear about your objectives. Include benchmarks, reference points, and performance baselines before you hop on a meeting.
Analyze your team
If you’re looking for outside SEO help, it’s probably because you don’t have an internal team, the skills, or the time to do it. Well, let’s say you outsource all the work to an agency. You’d still be required to make commitments to go on meetings, evaluate their performance, listen to feedback, monitor the progress, and approve campaigns.
You need to make a plan about who from your team should be responsible for the task. It could be you, or it could be an expert from the team to talks about creating content, checking information, and improving the user experience. Mutual collaboration during the process is a must.
Check your finances
Every marketer dreams of an unlimited budget but reality is completely different. Marketers need to work with tight budgets to ensure maximum results for minimum investments. Anything else, and you’re just burning money.
Companies have financial boundaries for working, and you need to combine the goals you want to achieve with an understanding of a good return on investment. When you know how much money you have at your disposal, you can select the perfect company that’s a fit for you.
During the first fit, ask for a preliminary price to know what kind of ball game you’ll be playing. If the price is too high, you can move to another company. If it’s in your expected budget, you can continue talking with the business. Of course, you should think of SEO as an investment rather than an expense, but the returns will depend on your budget level.
Can you work together?
As people, we get a feel of each other in the first few minutes of conversation. If you have similar personalities with the people from the agency, you’ll have a great time communicating with each other. You also need to make sure that the rest of your team is on board with the decision. Teams must work together well. If there’s tension, there’ll be arguments, less consistency, and low morale.
That’s why you need to pay attention to transparency and how involved you need to be in the process. Naturally, you need to reach a consensus of the strategy you’re going to use. What’s going to be the response if there’s an immediate decline in performance after you sign the contract? What happens if that happens for the first few months?
Listen to your instincts
The renowned gut feeling can be a savior in disguise when your brain is telling you otherwise. Let’s say you go on a few meetings with an agency, and you get an off feeling. You can’t describe what it is, but something inside is telling you that the whole process seems too good to be true. Maybe you’ve noticed a few yellow flags, and you don’t know whether to think of them as red or green.
The simple choice is to listen to your instincts. Don’t proceed if the company offers guarantees, or the price is too low, or you fear that it’s only going to make matters worse. Make sure there’s transparency on both sides before you agree to sign the dotted line.
Be aware of the process
Last but not least, you should know that unrealistic expectations and poor communication are the biggest barriers when you work with any type of marketing company. Every client comes with a unique set of SEO knowledge, while the agency has a one-of-a-kind perspective on the topics. Agencies go deep on topics that most clients don’t think about, and there may be misunderstandings if you don’t ask many questions. Feel free to ask everything about the process, to make sure everything is as clear as the day before you take responsibility for your Google rankings.
