Outsourcing SEO

Does your SEO firm do it for you?

Here’s what you need to ask before outsourcing.

Know your needs, and know the reality.

SEO firms are all over the place, promising the moon if you just hire them. Finding the right outside SEO firm is imperative to getting reliable results. Don’t go with some ‘guru’ you met on LinkedIn. Choose a reputable SEO firm with measurable results and a high number of prominent, happy customers.

Ask a prospective consultant what ranking guarantees they provide. They should be able to say confidently ‘None”, and explain that rankings depend on search engine algorithms – and all they can guarantee is that steps known to have worked in the past will be taken to attempt the highest rankings possible.

Inquire if they will be making drastic changes to your website. A good SEO firm will proceed with caution so as not to wreck any ranking your site has already. In some cases a complete revamp may be needed, and they should be upfront with you about recovery time after major surgery on your site.

Find out what approach to linking the firm uses. Outdated techniques are still being peddled. The firm should be transparent in their plans for linking, heavy on generating one way high PageRank links with do-follow attributes, not reciprocal linking or linking to sites that exist only for that purpose. Links should be targeted and relevant to your niche.

Communications with a professional SEO firm will flow and there will never be any delay in getting back to you with answers to your questions. You should receive reports at least weekly, detailing what has been done and what future plans are.

The pricing model should be clear and easy to understand regarding upfront payment by you and delivery as well as timetable. A milestone arrangement keeps you from paying thousands upfront with no guarantee of results. Pay for each portion of the job as completed – SEO content, linking package, social media work, etc.

Realize your PageRank may take time to build. A new site or a recent domain shift can take six months or more to really gear up. That said, you should be seeing reports showing strong links being connected to your site.

Ask for references, testimonials, and direct ways to contact past clients. A good SEO firms should have no problem getting a few past clients give permission to be contacted. Ask if the client was happy with the service, if they have a good ranking and conversion rate, and if they are still a client or would use the firm again.

Expect to pay for quality work. If all you want is some slapped together articles posted on marketing sites and the occasional tweet, that’s going to be cheaper than a strategic effort to boost your rankings, traffic and conversions with highly effective sales copy, quality content, and powerful linking tactics coupled with an effective social media campaign. You get what you pay for.

If you know what your needs are, have a basic comprehension of what goes into good SEO, and are prepared to interview SEO consultants on a level playing field, you have a better chance of  getting your needs met in a timely and cost effective fashion.