SEO – Search Engine Optimisation is a world cloaked in secrecy with experts playing their cards close to their chest giving very little away regarding the work they do in order to get you to number one in Google. As you can see from our SEO Ethics page there are a variety of methods agencies/experts can use and not all of them will result in long term benefits for your site.
StrawberryDigital have compiled a list of 5 key questions to ask your SEO provider with explanations as to why they are important.
1. Is link building part of the SEO service you provide for me?
Search engines use algorithms in order to analyse the quality of websites and provide a suitable position on a Search Engine Result Page (SERP). An important element of most search engines is Back Links, obtaining quality and related links for your site is a time consuming yet extremely beneficial element of SEO.
StrawberryDigital will allocate an amount of time to Link Building within your SEO campaign. The amount of time allocated to Link Building will depend upon SEO package you subscribe to and amount of time required for other elements of your campaign. (This service requires SEO and Report package)
2. What is the objective of your campaign traffic or conversation?
It is easy to generate lots of traffic for your website however it is important to ensure that visitors are targeted and fulfil your required call to action. Informing you of a search position is not enough, neither is providing information relating to visitor numbers.
StrawberryDigital will work in partnership with each client in order to identify relevant objectives that will allow a true reflection of a websites performance. (This service requires SEO and Report package)
3. Will your agency help you to calculate your return on investment?
Agencies will approach you are sell the idea of obtaining high ranks within key search engines such as Google, not many will sit down with you and attempt to calculate return on investment. SEO may not work for all organisations and therefore effective reporting on the campaigns performance is imperative.
StrawberryDigital understand that calculating return on investment pre SEO is a difficult process and may not be accurate, however post SEO clear objectives and ROI calculations should be provided in order to provide a clear indication of SEO contribution to your organisation. (This service requires SEO and Report package)
4. Does your campaign use Black or White Hat techniques?
Black Hat methods of SEO is equivalent to sending SPAM to the search engines, once you have been discovered your site is likely to be black listed and will not appear on the search engine. Agencies will not admit to using Black Hat techniques however, you can ask them questions regarding their SEO methods and look for Black Hat techniques on their site or client sites.
StrawberryDigital only use White Hat techniques ensuring the long term sustainability of your search engine position. White hat techniques can be used to provide a user and search engine friendly website as we can demonstrate.
5. Keyword restrictions?
Some agencies will restrict the number of keyword you may use and some even restrict the use of highly competitive keywords within your industry. This tactic will enable them to ensure you have a high presence on SERP’s for keywords that may not provide the amount of traffic or conversations that would make the campaign profitable.
StrawberryDigital will not restrict the number of keyword you can use or calculate the performance of your campaign in terms of position of keywords within SERP’s. Predefined objectives and calculated return on investment will provide an indication of SEO and StrawberryDigital performance. (This service requires SEO and Report package)
If you would like some independent advice on your current SEO campaign why not register for a StrawberryDigital Free Web Report? The report will be written in plan English and highlight the campaigns strengths and weaknesses along with recommendations for improvement.
