Choosing the right SEO agency to boost your business is a truly responsible step. Of course, you may feel uncertain about the results you’ll get after investing your money. Thus, you will surely have at least one question to ask an SEO agency to allay your concerns.
However, it’s better to clarify as much information as possible before you start your cooperation. How can you make sure that you won’t be disappointed with the results? We’ve prepared a list of questions to ask an SEO company to make sure you’ve found a reliable search engine optimization team for your website.
What is your approach to SEO?
This is the first and the most important question you should ask during your first consultation with an SEO agency. If you want to get truly measurable results, the company shouldn’t offer templated solutions.
Moreover, it’s better to opt for professionals who develop a digital marketing strategy for your business based on the essential information about your particular company. They should analyze your website, competitors, target audience, and niche to make sure they can offer you the right services. Plus, with a data-driven approach, they should be able to quickly handle challenging tasks like technical and on-page SEO.
How do you measure results in SEO?
This is one of the most crucial questions to ask your SEO agency. Unfortunately, different problems may occur during the implementation of your search engine optimization strategy. If an SEO company guarantees your business 100% success, you should look for another partner to optimize your website.
Meanwhile, if you work with real professionals, they’ll offer you some KPIs to measure the progress of your website. These metrics typically include:
- Percentage of a priority page’s keywords in the top 10
- Your website’s average position for major queries
- The amount of organic traffic and your conversion rate
Take into account that even the tiniest improvements in these metrics can significantly boost your business income and provide you with new clients. Plus, don’t forget about other benefits of a professional SEO campaign, such as increased online visibility and brand awareness.
What is your experience in my niche?
While choosing from among multiple SEO agencies for your project, it’s essential to make sure that your new partner has relevant experience. Unfortunately, without it, the optimization will require a lot more time and resources because they will need to figure out what exactly works for your company.
The promotion of various services and products differs based on the peculiarities of target audiences, markets, competition levels, etc. Thus, if you don’t want to play the guessing game, the agency’s experience relevant to your niche should be among the questions to ask SEO companies.
Can you provide case studies in my niche?
It’s just great if a company can provide some case studies in your niche or at least for a business related to it. Thus, you can predict the effectiveness of your future SEO strategy and decide whether you really want to work with the chosen agency. While reviewing the provided case studies, pay attention to the following important details:
- Measurable results. Check the changes in important metrics, such as website clicks, organic traffic growth, improvement of rankings, etc.
- Delivery time. Do you want to know how long it will take to see the first results? Pay attention to the duration of similar SEO campaigns to get realistic expectations.
- Other aspects. All legitimate SEO companies also provide links to independent third-party websites with reviews from their clients. There you can read not only about the efficiency of the solutions offered by your partners but also about their customer service and attitude toward work.
What reporting do you provide?
Any SEO expert knows that communication is the key to success. Thus, you should ensure that you can stay in the loop about your digital marketing campaign. A truly reliable SEO agency will offer you weekly reviews of your website’s progress and detailed plans for further steps.
Plus, it would be great to be able to discuss urgent questions with your SEO team not only via weekly online meetings but also via popular messengers. This way, you can always be up to date on any changes, achievements, or problems related to your website’s improvement.
What strategy are you going to use on my website?
This is one of the most important questions to ask an SEO marketing company because it’ll help you distinguish real professionals from amateurs. The truth is simple — if you want to achieve your business goals, your strategy should be tailored to them. That means that you should avoid companies offering you templated digital marketing campaigns.
Do you want to increase your credibility in the eyes of search engines? Then it’s a good idea to focus on building a reputable backlink profile and improving your website’s technical SEO. Do you want to overcome your competitors in a particular region or city? You’ll definitely need professional local SEO services.
In addition, when a company offers you an individual plan to improve your website, it’s a good idea to clarify a few things:
- Why did their specialists choose this strategy?
- What work is needed from your side?
- How long will it take to implement the strategy?
- What will you do after the implementation?
When will I see the first results?
Here is one of the most popular questions to ask an SEO company. Of course, every client wants to increase their website traffic and boost their sales level as soon as possible. At the same time, don’t forget that there are many factors that may affect the delivery of the first measurable results:
- Current condition of your website’s on-page and off-page SEO
- Particular business goals you want to achieve
- Unique features of your target audience, competitors, and niche
Considering these factors, improving your website may take anywhere from several months to more than a year. Luckily, if you work with a reputable SEO agency, its experts will perform an audit to come up with realistic deadlines.
What to do if there are no SEO results?
The bad news is that even implementing the most efficient techniques doesn’t guarantee you won’t get low SEO results. There is always a chance that something will go wrong, and your partners should have a foolproof plan to overcome any challenges.
For example, it may be a good idea to repeat keyword research or once again analyze your website and content. Your SEO team should do their best to come up with the right solution ASAP.
How do you deal with search engine algorithm updates?
While making the list of questions to ask your SEO agency, don’t forget to include this important one. It’s not a secret that the world of search algorithms changes from time to time. Due to this, the strategies and techniques that work perfectly today may be absolutely useless tomorrow.
Your SEO agency should keep an eye on updates and adapt to them. Furthermore, they should ensure your current digital marketing strategy sticks to the latest trends, so your website won’t lose its search rankings.
What tools are you going to use?
If you work with a reputable SEO partner, they should provide you with the list of search engine optimization software they use. It’s important to check whether there are at least some time-proven tools, such as Ahrefs, SemRush, Screaming Frog, Surfer, etc.
Also, when deciding what questions to ask an SEO company, don’t forget to ask about the agency’s in-house software. Clarify whether your potential partner has any custom tools and why they are better than traditional platforms for search engine optimization.
Can you guarantee first-page rankings?
This is probably one of the trickiest questions to ask your SEO agency. If your partner guarantees 100% results in a month or even less, you should look for another search engine optimization company. It’s better to avoid opting for guaranteed SEO services due to several reasons:
- Empty promises that will lead to big disappointment and wasted resources
- High likelihood that they implement black-hat SEO techniques
- Tricky contract terms between you and the agency
- Risks of getting penalties from search engine algorithms
What is your pricing model?
When preparing your list of questions to ask an SEO marketing company, don’t forget to include the one related to the costs of your website’s improvement. Many companies determine the final price for their services based on their client’s budget.
If they see you are ready to pay more to get higher positions on search engine results pages, they may offer you a lot of extra services you don’t need. Of course, this is a completely unacceptable approach. However, if you collaborate with a reliable partner, you’ll pay only for the SEO solutions you truly need to reach your goals.
What tasks do you outsource? Why?
Many SEO companies outsource some tasks to freelance specialists. This doesn’t mean that you’ll get poor-quality services if you work with such an agency. However, it’s best to prepare some questions to ask SEO companies to clarify the following information:
- Define the process of recruitment of outsourced SEO specialists. How does the company check their qualifications and experience?
- Does the agency guarantee top-quality and timely delivery of the outsourced tasks?
- Will you be able to communicate with your outsourced specialists?
Who will be my contact person for SEO communication?
Successful search engine optimization is impossible without proper SEO management. There must be an accurate workflow and a person responsible for controlling the delivery of the tasks necessary to reach your business goals.
Typically, a professional SEO company will provide you with a personal manager. This person will act as a bridge between you, the agency, and the team. At the same time, it’s great if the company gives you the ability to communicate directly with your SEO team. Thus, you can discuss urgent questions immediately, resulting in faster delivery of your ideal results.
Why should I choose you instead of another SEO agency?
Many SEO agencies claim to deliver outstanding results, but, in fact, less than half of them can keep their promises. If, you want to make the right choice, prepare a list of questions to ask your SEO provider about their reliability and expertise:
- What are your strengths and weaknesses in SEO?
- What makes you better than other agencies?
- How will your SEO efforts boost my business?
This way, you’ll reveal the weaknesses and strong points of the SEO agency you’ve chosen. Nonetheless, never rely only on the information provided by the company. Visit independent review websites, such as Clutch, and read the feedback from the agency’s clients.
Get answers to these questions at SeoProfy!
Now you know exactly what questions to ask when hiring an SEO company. Are you still not sure if you can find experts who are able to answer all of them? The good news is that you’ve already discovered the right specialists!
Our SeoProfy team is here to take care of your website and boost its performance. We’ll conduct a comprehensive SEO audit and use your business goals to develop an ideal strategy just for your business.
Furthermore, we guarantee you outstanding customer service and regular weekly reports related to the progress of your SEO campaign. You are welcome to contact our consultants to get the answers to all these questions and discuss your individual needs.
Andrew is the Head of SEO at SeoProfy. He has been involved in search engine optimization since 2016, gaining practical SEO experience across various niches and countries.
