If you hear something that sounds to good to be true, the chances are that it…well, is. This never holds up better than when considering SEO companies (or “link building” companies masquerading as SEO outsourcers) who promise you the world on a Google-shaped platter. It seems to be a natural habit of many people who outsource SEO to recoil when told by their agency that they need to do some work, but get overexcited when the agency sits back and tells them not to worry. So if you are outsourcing your SEO and other online marketing, when should you listen to your agency and when should you start questioning their decisions?
Listen if they tell you to make more linkable content. While SEO agencies that also offer copywriting, web design or other content provision can seem like they are upselling their other services, in fact it is incredibly important to have good, high quality content in order to build up links. Remember Google now frowns on paid link building so that means you need to provide something useful which is worthy of being linked to. This doesn’t mean you have to produce oodles of videos and complicated infographics (although if you can make sure you do, because these are excellent!), just put up some well-written and thought provoking blog posts or articles. Tie in your social media and you’ve immediately got something linkable which will get other webmasters interested.
Ask questions when your agency starts talking about automatically generated content as a way to build up links. Auto-generation should always sound some alarm bells as what it usually means is “spun” articles – this is where a single decent article is put through a software tool which turns it into multiple articles of much lower quality, which are then submitted to article directories. First, remember that since the famous Google Panda Update many article directories have been drastically lowered in value, so if submitting en masse this often produces only low quality links which have a minimal (or even negative) effect on your site. Additionally, if a real user happens across one of these trashy articles which has your name on it they are probably going to end up with a negative perception of your company, as spun articles are almost never friendly to human readers.
Listen if your agency starts talking about giving you help with your onsite optimisation. This is just as important (arguably more so) than your external links. You can spend thousands of pounds having someone build keyword anchored links into your site but if the site itself isn’t properly optimised for those keywords it is entirely wasted effort. Get your site properly optimised before you think about external link building. Your agency will be able to advise you but at the very minimum make sure you keyword optimise your title tags, meta descriptions, header text and image alt text and titles.
Ask questions and if possible run a mile when your agency offers you a “guaranteed result” within a specific timeframe. The only thing that can absolutely guarantee a search engine ranking is something like Google Adwords or similar advertising. A good SEO will have sensible goals on how to optimise your website for sensible, relevant keywords to increase traffic and encourage search engines to consider your site favourably. If anyone starts talking about a “guaranteed number 1 rank in 30 days” or something similar, they are either going to spam you to the top with tricky tactics which will damage your site in the long run…or they’ll just take your money and vanish!
By contrast, listen carefully when your SEO agency says they can’t guarantee you a top result for anything. Honesty really is the best policy, and don’t blame your SEO for slipping rankings if you insist on focusing on ridiculous keywords or content which your site is not optimised for, especially if they have already suggested that you add additional linkworthy content or take onsite optimisation measures and you have ignored them.
Ask questions when your SEO tells you they will build links with blog comments and forum posting. If the term “bulk posting” is used then ask louder. This often means the work will be outsourced to cheap freelancers or overseas agencies which almost always results in poor quality which will damage your brand image. If the offer is for a small amount of high quality posting to promote your brand authority then you’re on the right track, but anything to do with posts made purely for link building is a bad idea.
Listen when they tell you to set up Google Analytics. This measure is not just an SEO agency benefit, contrary to popular belief. It is a totally free way for you to see how your online marketing investment is paying off. Is traffic going up for those principle keywords you selected, or do you need to put more effort in?
Remember working with an SEO agency should be a partnership! Be wary of any agency that takes your money and then goes quiet while claiming to be doing “ongoing work.” At the very least you should get regular updates on activity and progress, and if your SEO isn’t willing to have even a quick catchup phonecall with you to discuss their work then it is time to start asking the most important question of all: what exactly are they doing with your money?