SEO is one of the most frequently used terms by digital marketing companies today. SEO, popularly knowfn as Search Engine Optimization, helps digital marketers to rank a website on search engines and bring organic traffic. Digital marketing has many important parts, but SEO is something that works best over time and needs ongoing effort to see lasting results. Since digital marketing covers many areas, there are different types of agencies that offer various kinds of digital marketing services.
In this guide, we’ll talk only about SEO companies and how they help businesses grow and succeed on the internet. We’ll understand how an SEO company works in detail. Keep reading to gain a thorough understanding of SEO agencies, the offerings of SEO companies, and more.
What Do You Understand by SEO?
SEO, broadly known as Search Engine Optimization, is a process that an SEO company follows to help businesses rank on SERPs. In general, an SEO company offers four key services: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, local SEO, and technical SEO. The different types of SEO focus on enhancing the visibility of a website, generating revenue, and bringing in traffic for organic search results.
What Does an SEO Company Do?
The main job of an SEO company is to help a business appear higher in search results when people look for related products or services online. With the help of an SEO company, businesses can grow their online presence, get higher traffic, increase their website ranking on search engines, and generate revenue. While for any business, working with an SEO company is lucrative and rewarding, they perform various tasks to achieve productive goals.
Since SEO is a long-term process, it includes various factors such as content creation, SEO audits, building the right strategy, link building, technical optimization, and more. However, for different businesses, the process of SEO varies. So, when you plan to tie up with an SEO firm, their end goal will be to make SEO work for your business in the following ways:
- They make sure the search engine bot lands on your website and crawls for indexing.
- As per the number of pages on your website, they conduct a vast range of keyword research to attract quality organic traffic.
- Making changes to SEO plans based on the latest updates from search engines helps get better results.
- Also, improving on-page SEO elements like titles, headings, and content can boost your website’s position in search results.
- Provides custom-curated recommendations based on your business type, goal, and plan to boost your SEO strategy, ideal for your business.
How Does the Concept of SEO Work?
When it comes to SEO, the same method doesn’t work for everyone; each business needs its own plan based on its goals and needs. It’s a continuous effort that should not just focus on how search engines work, but also make sure it meets what customers are looking for and helps them easily find what they need. So, when it’s about holding a quality rank on search engine result pages, there are various factors. But the points below will give you a quick and clear idea of what SEO is all about:
- Popular search engines like Google, Yandex, and Bing use tools called crawlers or bots that visit and review websites to understand what they’re about. These bots from the respective search engine, where you want your website to rank, visit your website and crawl.
- Once they have crawled your website, they index its content to make it appear and rank on search engine result pages.
- Depending on the query of the customers and how quality SEO is done on your site, it appears in relevant SERPs. The ranking of your website relies on numerous key SEO factors.
How Much Does an SEO Agency Charge?
For a detailed local SEO service, you can expect an SEO agency to charge a business around $200 to $5,000 monthly. However, since SEO yields promising results and brings both quality and quantity traffic over time, many businesses have a budget of $300 to $10,000 per month.
On average, however, if you want to avail SEO services, you can expect your business to cost $6 to $40/hour. However, if you’re a small business trying to make your way in the digital landscape, start with a monthly budget of at least $200. On average, every $1 spent on SEO services can bring back about $13 in return, making it a highly valuable investment for businesses. So, if you have a higher budget and are ready to invest more, the better ROI you can expect.
However, how much an SEO agency charges completely depends on their firm and your business. While you can always check out other cheaper SEO firms, you need to be mindful and watch out for SEO scams. So, before you invest in any SEO service, if the price against their service seems unbelievable, check out their ratings, reviews, client testimonials, and portfolio.
Some of the common firm-oriented factors that determine pricing:
- Experience
- Location
- Payment details
- Deliverables
There are a few common business-related things that help decide the final price of a service:
- Goals
- Timeline
- Project output
To get a precise answer, you can check out a bunch of SEO services and request a quotation from them. They will go through your service request, get in touch with your team, and prepare a customized pricing estimate, including the list of deliverables. This will help you understand how much SEO agencies cost on average and help you make the right call for your business.
Should You Hire an SEO Agency?
When it comes to competing in the digital world, SEO is a much-needed digital marketing tool every business requires. However, deciding whether you should hire an SEO agency or not relies on the following factors:
- Does your business have an SEO specialist?
- Do you have a sound budget to get help for SEO services?
- Is your SEO strategy relevant and market-appropriate to stand out as per your business?
- Are your SEO skills sound enough to make a mark and reach the top of the SERPs?
If you’re starting small as a business, instead of going through the hassle of hiring a team dedicated to SEO, simply outsource it. Usually, hiring an SEO firm is a smart move when:
- You’re short of the resources, time, knowledge, or skills to carry out SEO all by yourself.
- You’ve a moderate to decent budget to hire an SEO company
- You’re unable to come up with ideal SEO results or a strategy alone to compete in the digital world.
Different businesses work their way around SEO differently. While some businesses would want to hire in-house SEO experts, others would prefer to merge and hire an SEO firm. Depending upon your business type, size, and budget, plan accordingly and see what meets your needs better. However, for a quicker and hassle-free approach, considering hiring an SEO company would be ideal to kickstart your online business journey.
Why You Must Hire an SEO Agency?
What Type of Services Can You Expect from SEO Agencies?
When you hire an SEO agency, be assured of getting all your SEO jobs done from the same provider. With them, you can expect to receive services like:
- Local SEO uses GMB (Google My Business) to optimize and rank your website in local searches.
- Traditional SEO optimizes your business website for non-localized searches.
- Voice SEO helps in optimizing your brand website for voice searches on search engines.
- eCommerce SEO helps improve your online store so it shows up better in search engine results.
- Enterprise SEO, where the service provider finds high search volume keywords with relatively low competition to boost the optimization of your website.
- SEO audits, conducting and running audits of your website, to understand the health of a website, detect its performance, and identify any key areas for improvement.
- SEO consulting services are provided to businesses at the beginning of their website redesign project.
Depending on the type of SEO firm you approach, they might either provide some, all, or only one of these services. So, if you need a dedicated SEO firm that provides complete SEO services, look for comprehensive-service agencies. Such established agencies have specialized teams for different spectrums of SEO, offering full-stack professional assistance.
What Can You Expect from an SEO Company?
Now that you know why, as a business, you must hire an SEO company and the services they offer, let’s understand their key service specifications. Many businesses have a very tiny idea about SEO. As a business, it is not required for you to have a detailed understanding of SEO. However, to hire the right SEO company, knowing the key services is important.
Hence, if you’re hiring an SEO company for the growth of your business online, make sure they offer the following services:
Website Audit:
Conducting the audit for a website is a fundamental step to understanding the key areas of weakness or issues on your site. By running a complete SEO audit of your website, your concerned SEO provider can:
- Determining key issues that are affecting the performance of your website, such as indexing or crawling problems.
- Have a smooth understanding of the structure, indexing, and optimizing status of your website.
- Give importance to key focus areas of your website for better health, ranking, and performance.
- Suggest a tailored SEO strategy to achieve better results.
Some of the best tools an SEO company uses to conduct an audit are Google Search Console (GSC), Google Analytics (GA), and Screaming Frog. These are some of the most essential tools broadly used by SEO service providers to understand the performance of a website. This enables an SEO company to make ideal changes as per the updated algorithm of the search engine.
Improving On-Page, Off-Page, and Technical SEO:
When it comes to SEO, you already know that the on-page, off-page, and technical SEO play a vital role in enhancing the performance of your website.
Different aspects of SEO have numerous roles to play for the better ranking of a site, which you can see below:
Essential factors of On-Page SEO –
- Meta descriptions
- Title tag
- Internal linking
- Headings
- Keywords
- Image optimization
- Quality content
- Alt text
- External linking, and more
Essential factors of Off-Page SEO –
- Link building
- Local SEO
- Brand mentions
- Citations
Essential factors of Technical-Page SEO –
- Enriching the Robot.txt file
- Enhancing page speed
- Device friendliness
- Setting up schema markup
- Using HTTPs
- Canonical tags, and more.
If you can provide your site access to the SEO company you hire, they will be able to implement the necessary on-page and technical SEO changes. This will not only help you save a tremendous amount of time but also yield a hassle-free result.
But if your type of business doesn’t allow full access to your website, the SEO agency can still guide you by working as a consultant. They will provide recommendations to you or your team member, guiding them through the nitty-gritty they need to follow to implement the required changes.
Monitor and Report Your Progress:
With the help of SEO companies, you can also track your brand’s growth and get monthly updates on how well it’s doing. Usually, the SEO reports play a fundamental role in focusing on key attributes of a site, like:
- Traffic
- Rankings
- Conversions
As per the report and performance of SEO attributes of your website, the best SEO agencies will focus on tailored aspects as per the results of the reports. For instance, STRATEGY & ROI provides a custom report on the number of qualified leads generated through their service and leads that were converted to sales. With our SEO strategy and tailored report, we help our customers get a detailed idea about the contribution to escalating the growth of the brand online.
Which Industries Can Benefit from SEO Agencies?
When picking an SEO partner, they must understand your industry well and know what works best for your kind of business. As per the industry and niche, the approach to performing SEO for a website varies. To provide ideal results, SEO strategies vary across the diverse business sectors.
Some of the best SEO-centered industry specializations include:
- B2B services
- Manufacturing
- E-commerce
- Healthcare
Depending upon your business type and industry, finding the right SEO expert in your business sector will help them ideate the best custom strategy for your brand. They will conduct a broad level of competitor analysis, alongside targeting the right keywords, and generate relevant content.
So, while you’re looking for an SEO company to merge with, look for ideal prospects offering unique optimization procedures suitable for your business model and industry.
Tips to Choose the Best SEO Company
You already know by now what an SEO company does, how they work, and the services they provide. So, now that you want to hire them for the growth of your business online, knowing the right tips and tricks is crucial.
You see, there are various types of SEO companies. While some focus on offering industry-dedicated services, others might offer some, a few, or comprehensive SEO solutions for all business types. However, depending on your business type, going for industry-specific SEO providers is important.
When it comes to hiring the best SEO agency, it can take you up to several months. Especially if you have no prior experience or knowledge in choosing an ideal SEO company for yourself, educating yourself is the first step.
To help you understand and key the essential factors you must look for while hiring an SEO partner for your business, read below.
Figure out your key expectations:
Although the fundamental role of an SEO company is to boost the digital growth and presence of a brand, what a business may require can vary. Understanding your key requirements as per your business goal will help you plan your way out and choose the right SEO partner. Determining whether you need a company that can help you out with a specific project or
Evaluate your budget:
Before you get in touch with an SEO provider, know your ideal budget. SEO services may differ based on your kind of business, the agency you choose, and what specific help or support you need. Based on how much you’re willing to spend and invest in SEO services, choose the right type of provider accordingly.
Request recommendations from your network:
If you’re looking for an SEO service provider for the first time, it is always advised to use your network connections for recommendations. Getting ideal recommendations from those you know will ensure you can count on the service they offer.
By coordinating with your recommendations, you can have a readymade list of potential SEO companies. This will help you check out the already tried and tested agencies from your network and choose the one that fits your requirements and budget.
Go through the candidature of potential SEO firms:
When you’re checking out potential SEO firms, look at their previous services and portfolios. These are the key criteria of an SEO company, as this will help you rely on their experience, expertise, and specialty. Thereby, enabling you to choose from a wide range of options that are best for your business and industry.
While going through their candidature and interviewing them, ask how they track their SEO results, the strategies they use to achieve quality results, and client reviews. You can also ask them about their previous key projects and get a thorough understanding of their major SEO success and achievements.
Receive your custom quote:
Once you’ve shortlisted a list of potential SEO companies after interviewing, request them for a detailed estimate. Make sure their quotation consists of deliverables, pricing, proposal, and key specifications you discussed with the agencies earlier. Having a detailed quotation will help you scour and compare among the SEO firms and help you choose the best with maximum benefits.
While you look for the best SEO services for the hiring process and haven’t come across the right agency as per your needs, don’t compromise. Although the hiring process might seem hectic, instead of settling, keep grinding unless you find the right match. Go for an SEO company that you can trust. This is crucial for the stable growth of your business online in the long term.
FAQs about SEO Agencies
Still have doubts about SEO companies and have more questions? Learn more about SEO agencies in detail with the below-mentioned FAQs:
1. What metrics do SEO firms focus on improving?
SEO firms focus on essential metrics, such as:
- Organic traffic
- Organic conversions
- Ranking on search engines
- Engagement metrics
As per the needs and goals of your business, your SEO agency might focus on adding SEO metrics.
2. What are the things to watch out for while hiring an SEO agency?
While you’re looking for an SEO agency, make sure to avoid these common red flags:
- Hefty pricing range that doesn’t match the average industry rate.
- Any promise of immediate or instant growth, as with SEO, the growth process is gradual but steady and better.
- Lack of transparency about their pricing or services in detail.
- Promises success, especially within a dedicated time limit.
3. Is it possible for an SEO agency to assure a #1 ranking on Google?
A genuine SEO service provider won’t be able to promise top ranking on Google. This is because the algorithms are controlled and influenced by many factors of the search engine.
4. How to choose an ideal SEO agency?
When you’re looking for an SEO agency, look for their case studies, transparency in service and charge, proven experience, clear communication, client reviews, and customized strategies.
5. What are some of the best tools digital marketing agencies use for doing SEO?
Some of the popular SEO tools that agencies use are Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, Screaming Frog, and so on.
6. Is SEO a one-time or ongoing service?
No, SEO is an ongoing process. With time, the algorithms of the search engine change and competitors evolve, requiring other online businesses to maintain a constant competitive edge with SEO for long-term success.
7. Can my business site get penalized if SEO is done using the wrong practices?
Yes, using black-hat SEO tactics such as buying links or keyword stuffing in the content of your website can lead to penalties. Therefore, when you’re looking for an SEO firm, always choose a reputable agency.
8. Is SEO a suitable choice for a local or small business?
Yes, with local SEO, small businesses get to grow in their locality and appear in the local search results. Thereby, driving local leads and traffic.
9. What do I expect during the first month of working with an SEO agency?
While SEO yields results in the long run, it is important to be patient, especially in the first month. Usually, the first month of working with an SEO agency deals with conducting an SEO audit, planning a custom strategy, keyword research, and detecting quick fixes or opportunities.
10.Do I need to implement both paid ads and SEO?
Depending on your business goal, if you want quick results, investing in paid ads is important. However, if you want to generate long-term growth and traffic, implementing SEO is important. Usually, businesses that have a decent budget invest in both SEO and paid ads to benefit more.
Discover What an SEO Company Has to Offer!
An SEO company is your digital partner for businesses wanting to grow online, rank higher, and yield organic traffic.
With over 2 years of experience and having generated over $10.7M in revenue for clients from various industries, STRATEGY & ROI is a trusted brand to get the best comprehensive SEO services.
Irrespective of where you run your business from, we operate worldwide, providing our SEO services across every business type and industry. So, if you need a tailored SEO strategy, we’ve got you covered! With a team of diverse experts and top-tier digital marketing technology, we can help your business expand. Contact us now for a quick consultation.
