If you own a small business, then you may be searching for affordable search engine optimization services to handle your web page optimization and social media. While affordability might be a major factor for you, there are other considerations to keep in mind before hiring an SEO company, as these can mean the difference between success and failure for your business. As you shop around for SEO management, there are a few questions that you can ask each company before choosing a good fit for your small business.
1. How Much Experience Do the Employees Have?
Employee experience can be a vital factor in choosing any SEO company. A few questions you can ask any SEO company manager include, “What other companies have hired you in the past, and what was your success rate with them? How many years of SEO experience do your employees have? Have they ever managed social media accounts for a business in the past? These questions can be especially important if you are trying to increase website traffic and brand visibility.
2. What Kind of Progress Transparency Do You Offer?
Some SEO companies may use a cloak-and-dagger approach to web ranking and social media progress in that they do not believe the customer needs to know everything in regard to how well their ranking methods are working. When comparing companies, ask them what type of progress reports they offer in terms of increased search engine rank, followers and likes on social media and how often they offer them. As a small business owner, you cannot afford to be kept in the dark about whether the SEO services you pay for are effective.
3. How Familiar Is Your Company with Google Guidelines?
One of the reasons you may be looking for professional SEO services is because Google’s guidelines for posting content and links have become so strict and complicated that you simply do not have time to learn them all. Google has updated their algorithms several times in the past few years to target websites that practice what is called “black hat SEO,” which includes unethical ways to drive up web ranking.
Some black-hat practices include keyword stuffing of content, posting duplicate content on more than one site and including hidden links to spam or automatically generated content on any website. It is wise to ask company representatives how familiar they are with these guidelines.
4. Can You Improve My Local Results?
If you own a small brick-and-mortar business, then ranking for local results on major search engines might be a big concern for you. Any SEO company you hire should be able to optimize your page and social media posts for local SEO results. To spend less time sourcing for this service, narrow your search to SEO companies that offer a flat-rate package for local listing assistance, which includes the verification of your business on Google and the listing of important information that includes the business’ address, hours and phone number.
Finding the right kind of SEO services to suit your small business can be a challenge. However, when you know what kind of questions to ask, you can narrow down your choices more efficiently.
