The task of picking the right SEO agency is difficult. There are so many of them. It’s the Wild West. When you give them your credit card, are they buying AdWords for your business or for themselves? A good SEO agency will never have a problem sharing all of their reports:
- spending
- keywords
- target demographics
- ad phrases
Don’t let an agency confuse you with jargon or box you in with strict contract clauses.
How Can You Let If Your SEO is working?
There are some key metrics you can look to:
- Business: Are you getting bookings / business?
- Analytics: Does your web traffic show an increase?
- Mentions: Are people mentioning finding you via the Web?
- Ranking: Do a Google search in a private broswer window for an important phrase related to your company: where do you rank?
When you contemplate hiring a reliable SEO agency. Don’t be fooled by them having a Toronto office, or multiple offices. A post box can rent for $150/year– that’s a hole in a wall, not the outpost of a marketing empire. Look at their level of experience. For example, I’ve been working online since before Google came along. You need a veteran not a huckster.
How Do You Compare SEOs?
These are some key considerations:
- Are they a member of BBB? It’s an easy hoop to jump through.
- How many complaints to they have? Google, ‘[company] complaints’ — you’ll find out.
- Do they promise to get you to #1 in Google?
- Do you like who they do business with?
- Do you feel weaselly or considerate?
Whether you have a business who needs an SEO company in Vancouver or an SEO agency in Toronto, or Weyburn Sask. — it makes no difference. The web is global and they should be good. They’re not just the “best SEO in Toronto” or rank for “Reliable SEO agency” — they have to actually be good at what they do.
Some giveaways that your SEO agency is bad
These are some clues that could tell you that you need to keep working on your quest of picking a good SEO agency:
- Do they misspell the basics? (eg. they use “2017 Copy rights” instead of ©2020 Copyright.)
- Do they put phone numbers of your site, but do not hyperlink them? These are key for people who use mobile devices and want to click to call?
- Do they use the wrong photos? Eg. clipart of tropical fish on your Northern BC fishing tour website.
- Do they get work done at weird times? Eg. like all of the work could be coming from offshore?
- If you’re in Canada, how do they spell words like “colour”?
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