With countless SEO agencies emerging left, right and centre in Singapore and around the world, choosing the right one for your business can be a stressful task. And especially considering the cost of engaging a SEO agency, you don’t want to end up partnering with the wrong SEO company. With so many options ranging from budget-friendly providers to premium agencies, how do you separate the experts from the ones that overpromise and underdeliver?
To help you with this, we will walk you through key factors to consider when selecting an SEO agency. From understanding their approach to evaluating past results, you’ll know exactly what to look for to make sure that you choose the best agency for your business.
Step 1) Understand SEO Fundamentals
Before being able to compare and select the best, you need to understand SEO yourself first. Effective SEO will help you rank on search engines organically – for keywords related to your niche that your target audience is searching for.
As such,the first step of SEO involves keyword research. In other words, selecting the right keywords that you will like to rank for. After keyword research, you need to create content around the keyword and make tweaks on your website (on page optimization) to help your content rank better. The final step involves backlink building or attracting high quality referrals from other websites to your website.
Step 2) Know What Sets SEO Agencies Apart
While anyone can write relevant content to a keyword, only the best SEO agencies will be able to help you create SEO optimized content that differentiates itself from the crowd. The content has to appeal to your target audience at the same time.
Another differentiating factor among SEO agencies is the quality of backlinks and referrals that they are able to help you attract. While a cheap SEO company may cut costs by providing you with low quality backlinks, you need to identify agencies that can provide you with quality over quantity.
The higher quality of content and backlinks will help you rank for competitive keywords in your niche on Google Page 1.
Step 3) Note Down What Is Important To You
Every business will have different needs and goals that they want to achieve with SEO.
Do you need help with creating amazing content on your website?
Or do you just want to make tweaks to your already appealing content?
Do you want to prioritise higher quality backlinks?
Or are any sort of referral links to your website more than sufficient for you?
What is your monthly SEO budget?
Also some SEO agencies offer Google ranking guarantees for the price you pay. And some don’t. You need to be certain which you prefer. The infographic by SEO With Senthil below highlights important questions that you can ask when selecting an SEO agency.
While one business may need help with creating outstanding content on their website, another business may already have great content appealing to their customers.
Step 4) Search For SEO Agencies On Google
Why should you trust a SEO agency that cannot rank its own website for competitive keywords?
Simply perform a Google search with the keywords “SEO Agency” or “Best SEO Agency” in the location you are in. You can add your country or city inside your search string.
For example, if you are based in Singapore, you can search on Google for
“SEO Agency Singapore” or “Best SEO Agency Singapore”.
Make sure to check out the reviews, testimonials and case studies of SEO agencies that you shortlist.
Step 5) Get On A Call & Choose
Now that you have shortlisted a few agencies, it is time for you to get on a call. This call will allow you to ask the SEO agency these 11 questions below:
This call will also help you make sure that your values are aligned with that of the SEO agency.
- Are they transparent in their approach to SEO?
- Do they seem confident to help you get the best SEO results that you want?
- Do they fit your budget?
Make sure to select the SEO agency that feels most aligned with you and your company!