By now you’ve come across the term SEO and why it’s important to your business. The value of search engine optimization has been established. However, the actual process can still seem confusing. Being a mix of common-sense, best practices, and technical know-how can make it hard to fully grasp. That’s why outsourcing SEO has become a standard business practice. Rather than wasting time and resources trying to develop the necessary skills. Hiring a company to perform these services is an expense, though. If you’re trying to decide the best route for your SEO strategy, keep reading. We’ll explain both what is an SEO company and why outsourcing your SEO needs makes sense.
So, What is SEO Anyway?
Search engine optimization sounds great, but what is, anyway? SEO is the process of increasing a website’s rank on a search engine result page (SERP.) If your business is a plumbing business in Upstate New York than you would want your business to be the first result in a search for those terms (Upstate New York and Plumbing.) An SEO agency will take the necessary actions to ensure your business ranks for the keywords that your client-base searches for. This service has become essential because, unless you’re on the first page of results, you may as well be invisible.
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines use algorithms to provide users with the best results. They factor in many different variables to evaluate the relevance of websites. Knowing what these variables are is what allows SEO agencies to increase ranking. The key attributes all center on the idea of authority. By demonstrating the site’s value to search engines, it’s rewarded with a higher ranking. Accomplishing this involves on-site, off-site and technical elements. They need to all be coordinated to ensure optimization.
What Is an SEO Company?
An SEO company will perform all the necessary duties to increase a website’s rank. Note, though, that not all SEO companies are created equal. You’ve probably seen freelance sites that offer Guaranteed Rank Increase in 30 Days for Just a Few Dollars. If that seems too good to be true, that’s because it is.
Blackhat SEO is the practice of using less-than-ideal methods for increasing ranking. This can include generating a high amount of backlinks from questionable sources. While this may have an immediate positive impact, it is actually damaging long-term. Since search engines rely on their effectiveness for business. It’s their priority to return legitimate results. That’s why they constantly refine their algorithms. They recognize what’s a legitimate authority and what’s a manufactured one. As soon as a site is tagged as being illegitimate, the search engine will bury them.
That’s why the legitimacy of the SEO company you partner with is so important. They need to take the proper actions that will establish and grow the authority of your site. SEO should be looked at as a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to build momentum, but that momentum will carry your success forward.
What a Legitimate SEO Company Should Offer
What should you look for, then, to know if an SEO company is right for you? As mentioned above, the three different areas of SEO are on-site, off-site and technical. The SEO company should offer strategies for each of these aspects.
Technical Aspects
In regards to the technical concerns, they should run a full-site audit. This includes things like how fast pages load, how they’re structured, whether or not they’re mobile friendly, and more. These factors all relate to the user’s experience. Any page errors need to be caught and fixed. Images need to be optimized. Anything that might make the site a lesser experience needs to be rectified.
On-Site Aspects
The way content is created goes a long way to determine its value. There are many practices that search engines look for to consider a site properly optimized. The SEO company should take all these under consideration when drafting a content strategy. Keyword research is an example of this. Establishing the terms that your clients use is a key tool in getting recognized by search engines.
Off-Site Aspects
Finally, the SEO company should be building your company’s off-site identity. Having a strong social media presence that links back to your site is an excellent way to do this. The more engagement that leads back to your site is of immense value. Backlinks are another key. Having legitimate sites that link back to your own proves the worth of your content. Building a strong backlink network is a massive opportunity at increasing your ranking.
In-House or Outsource
Now you understand the importance of SEO and the role of an SEO company. The question becomes about whether to perform the services in-house or outsource.
The appeal to keeping things in-house is obvious. Having a team member manage these different factors seems like it should be fairly straight-forward. The truth is that a comprehensive SEO strategy incorporates many different disciplines. Finding the time and resources to either hire or train a team is a challenge. Especially when you consider that they’ll still be unproven.
Outsourcing allows you to skip the upfront costs and avoid the uncertainty of an unproven hire. SEO companies employ strategies designed for scalability. They have the experience to take a strategy and apply to many different businesses of different sizes. You can also hire them for specific tasks, too. Contracts are usually available for different stretches of time. You can even contract out specific services. These companies already have teams performing the work. That makes it easy for them to adapt to your needs.
Most importantly, an SEO company has a proven track record of success. They know exactly what to implement and what to avoid. An unproven SEO agent may inadvertently get your company flagged as being illegitimate. The cost and time to recover from such an error can be disastrous.
Final Thoughts on SEO Companies
You already run a business. Taking on the additional responsibilities of an SEO company would distract from your day-to-day operations. Even if it doesn’t, it takes time and practice to learn all the factors that influence proper SEO.
If you want to know more about what is an SEO company and what one can do for you, let us know. We’ll help you develop a strategy that will grow your business.