Lately, I've answered several questions about how to select a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vendor like this one from Ernest on LinkedIn. That's always a good cue to write about the topic.
SEO is a very broad topic, and many companies are better at one aspect than another. Here are the steps I recommend:
- Define your business goals. I know you want traffic, but why and what kind of traffic? If this isn't clear, you can end up with pages ranked high on Google, but little new revenues. Your SEO suppliers did ask these questions -- Right?
Search Engine Optimization results come over time, and you want to create a long-term relationship with a trusted advisor. - Go to WebsiteGrader and run a report on your website and some of your key competitors. It's free and it will make recommendations on where your problems are.
Here's a trick. Run a Website Grader on your SEO vendor candidates to see if they have room for improvement! - Do you mostly need to expand your keywords, create more content, optimize existing content, or build inbound links? Are these the strengths of your SEO suppliers?
- Pick a good framework for your website. This is often missed and it can put a drag on your efforts.
Personally, I use Hubspot because it save me time and helps me get quick results.
And, avoid the tricky SEO guys -- You know the ones who focus on gimmicks and other ways to make pages rank highly. Effective SEO isn't complex, but it takes real work! There are a lot of details to get right.
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