How to find an SEO Agency for your Small Business in 2022?

How to find an SEO Agency for your Small Business in 2022?

Choosing the best SEO agency for your firm is similar to evaluating any investment: you’ll want to conduct a diligent investigation of historical performance, speak to references, and try to get an inside look at how the agency is run. It certainly isn’t the sort of choice that can be made quickly based on the first search result that pops up or high placement on a list. (Those, however, can be good starting places.) Ultimately your choice will come down to whether an agency you’re considering meets a few reasonably high standards. Below, I list out the standards to which you should hold every potential SEO agency you interview in 2022.

Look for an agency that . . .

Has the experience and expertise necessary to produce excellent results.

SEO is complicated because it combines good writing, psychology, and technical knowledge. Even our agency, which is now the largest in the SEO space, took ~5 years to get the SEO product exactly right. We’ve seen that there is only one correct way to do SEO, and that’s through the thought leadership approach, splitting campaign responsibilities among 7 staff members: 

Account Executive (your dedicated point of contact);Onboarding Editor (researches your industry and its most valuable keywords);Long-Term Editor(s) (developmental and copy editing);Writers(s) (subject matter experts who can write well);Graphic Designer (custom graphics when needed);SEO Analyst (continuous reporting for continuous improvement); andWeb Development Specialist (to make your site look and perform its best).

To me, an agency that’s been around for 5+ years would be a good starting point. 10 or more would make me extra comfortable, as they’re likely to have fashioned their product from successes and mistakes alike. 

An additional point about experience is that you should make sure that the agency you choose is truly an SEO agency. Firms that only offer SEO as part of a larger agency model will not have the depth or breadth of experience needed for the best results. The “purer” the agency’s focus on SEO, the more likely they are to have the resources to do SEO in a way that produces a long-term increase in revenue and visibility. 

Understanding the DNA of an agency—its essence—is important. For instance, our agency was founded specifically to provide SEO-driven thought leadership marketing.

Ask: How long have you been doing this? What is your specialty as an agency—what’s your “DNA”? What else do you do besides SEO?

Is transparent about successes and failures.

It’s not enough for an SEO agency to have a long history in the field. Their history should include more victories than defeats, and there should be evidence that they learned from their mistakes. Ask them to tell you about a failed campaign, and what they do differently now in response to that campaign and others like it. 

And there’s obviously the question of overall results. They can probably come up with a few good case studies, but are those case studies emblematic of their work with an agency like yours? In a field of 10 clients similar to you, how many end up like that shining case study, how many don’t meet their goals, and how many fall into the category of “middling”. While it would be rare for a salesperson at the SEO agency to respond with complete honesty to this question, listen to their tone of voice and level of comfort and see how it makes you feel as a potential client.

You might also ask point blank what their first year retention rate is. That is a pretty good indicator of whether clients have seen the return on investment they were looking for.

Ask: What percentage of your clients renew every year? How long have your oldest customers been with you?

Has the resources needed for campaign success.

Look for an agency that can provide you with a full team. That means writers, editors, graphic designers, technical SEOs, and reporting/analytics specialists. The opposite of this kind of team would be an individual writer + an Account Executive. It is near-impossible for 1-2 people to carry out an SEO campaign that involves a deep understanding of your agency and industry, effective keyword research, excellent content, and thoughtful reporting and analytics. And all are necessary.

Your team also needs to create content on a regular, reliable publishing schedule. Consistent publishing to the tune of two new content pages per week is necessary to receive the “Google News Website Bonus” that we’ve been observing with our clients for years. In effect, the way to outshine the massive amount of noise published in your industry is to act like a news website, publishing readable, interesting content with a frequency that makes your blog bookmarkable.

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