SEO is no joke in 2021. There are several new rules & trends which have changed the search spectrum. With implementation of AI, machine learning, changes in core principles of search, etc. it might be a little overwhelming to keep up while managing your business at the same time. Don’t worry though, we’ll answer your questions & help you with the process. As a person who landed on this page, you (most likely) would be in one of these stages.

• You don’t know how SEO works and you want to hire an agency to help you with that. (If yes?)
•  You know how SEO works but you want to channel your time on other operational tasks.
•  You have hired an SEO agency before but did not see a ton of success with it.

Well, whatever stage or situation you might be in. We can help you answer some questions and provide you a clear picture & a process to identify the right agency for you.

The following factors are important while choosing your SEO agency: 

Business Goals

As a business you must have various goals. These goals can be overall business goals, sales goals marketing goals & other goals depending on the industry and sector of the business. Your primary business goals derive the vision & mission of your operations.

For e.g., ‘Providing customers with the best coffee experience.’

Now to achieve your primary business goals you must have underlying marketing, sales & other departmental goals. These goals have high value to you; therefore, you should work with partners and sponsors who can supplement your efforts to achieve these goals efficiently while equally believing in them.

Setting goals first will help set clear expectations of what you wish to achieve. Once set, you can start your hunt for an effective SEO agency who can add significant value to your marketing & primary business goals.

Aligning Values for a better future.

Embodiment of values in the company’s infrastructure can help a business to create positive impact & also help grow the business. (American Express). Values can be powerful; it gives your business an operational direction. Although, some businesses believe in values and follow them to the core, others don’t believe in it. Neither of those scenarios are wrong.

But if you’re a business who has strong core values, you would also want your prospect partner or the SEO agency you wish to work with, to have aligning values or at least not opposing values, which can turn out to be bad for business.

For e.g., XYZ business believes in simplicity. Their aim should be to look for an SEO agency who believes in a simplistic approach as well. If otherwise, you will face further problems with their recommendations, creative & other aspects as well, no matter how their work has been.

Strategies & techniques used

Successful businesses usually have a pattern and/or framework they operate on. This helps a business to gain a direction to use in (almost) any set situation. When you’re in search of your SEO agency, you can gauge a company’s pattern by analyzing their previous work or merely just communicating with them and asking directly.

You should look back at your goals and analyze the agency’s performance & framework, if it fits into your requirements, goals & values or not.

As an example, let’s see Caiden Media’s framework. This process helps our team tackle challenges for our respective clients.

Previous performance analysis.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden

Decisions regarding your valued business should not be rushed into, ‘take your time’. By now, you will have shortlisted SEO agencies you want to work with. It’s time to see what they’re capable of, for that your next step is to analyze their potential by looking through their recent work with all clients. An SEO agency will have a page dedicated to previous work done, which acts as a portfolio. You must look for solutions they have provided for those clients and whether they were able to solve their problems. These problems can be.

1. Overall SEO strategy
2. Routine SEO
3. Blog writing
4. Backlinks
5. Search ranking improvement
6. Keywords research & selection
7. Leads & sales.
8. Bounce rate
9. Website optimization
10. Improving click through rate

And there can be more, depending on your goals. If your pertaining goals seem attainable by the SEO agency, you’re golden!

Budget

Depending on the size of your company, reach goal, marketing goals & willingness to spend on your marketing, you might have a budget in place. Your budget is a factor your agency should know about, acknowledge it & create a plan based on it. Budget can also help you decide which SEO agency fits the best. Talking to an agency about your budget and how they can serve you within that budget will help you get a clear picture on which agency to choose for your betterment.

Teams Involved

Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller

By this time, you have had a conversation with the SEO agency on a phone call. It’s time to meet the team and take the final decision. Having a conversation on call is something which cannot be compared with meeting & knowing the team in person. Which is always better for business relations. Even though you hire an agency to do the work for you, partnering up and working as a team is always a good option. The team working on your account should know the business to serve the purpose better.

But 2021 is different, we don’t know when we can actually meet people in person or should we even? To be successful, we must adapt and make the best of what we have. Instead of meeting in person, conducting video meetings and talking to the team will help you be more involved. There are a few tools like Zoom, Microsoft teams, etc. which can help you do that.

Is SEO Enough?

You might be in the search of an SEO agency, thinking about short run needs. But isn’t it better to be future proof? Try to aim for an agency who provides SEO services as one of their strong offerings instead of it being the only offering. There are tons of things to do when you want a digital footprint in the market and SEO is just a part of it. Other aspects such as website design, graphic design, social media marketing, PPC, photography, etc. also play an important role. While choosing your agency, you should also think about the future of your business and will your new partner be able to provide, when you ask for it.