After doing your research, you\u2019ve decided that it\u2019s time to\nengage with an SEO firm to help bring the online leads that are currently going\nto your competitors who have rankings on the first pages of Google for key\nsearch terms your prospective clients are searching for. While doing your\nhomework on which firm to hire, it can be difficult and frustrating to know\nwhat to look for to make sure it\u2019s a great fit for your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being informed and having all of the knowledge helps you\nmake an informed decision for your business. This article is going to cover what\nkey questions you can ask and items to bring up (and making sure they are in\nany contract that you\u2019re signing before making that important decision for your\nbusiness. Let\u2019s start with the basics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Transparency is EVERYTHING <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Operating a Scottsdale SEO company for years means that we\u2019ve\nseen all of the horror stories that business owners have dealt with when\nengaging with other SEO companies. The biggest component is that for almost\nevery single bad experience these business owners have, it always revolves\naround the lack of transparency that the SEO company is providing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Question to Ask<\/span>: Besides providing keyword rankings and other metrics, will you be sharing EXACTLY what work you will be completing on a monthly and\/or weekly basis? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some keywords to look for to tell you that it\u2019s time to run away\nas fast as possible is if the business is saying they have a \u201csecret system\u201d or\na \u201csecret tool\u201d that they can\u2019t reveal to you for how they achieve their SEO rankings.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n From our past experience, what this usually corresponds to\nis either: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Save yourself the future headaches and be sure to ask very\nclearly what they will be providing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. How Are They Going to do Their Link Building (AKA\nOff-Page SEO) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A huge component of monthly SEO work revolves around getting\nother outside websites to link back to your website to show Google that your\nsite is high-value content and should be promoted. However, this isn\u2019t as simple\nas just spamming a bunch of sites and getting as many links as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Google\u2019s algorithm works extremely well at picking up any easy\nor spammy ways to get backlinks to your website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Question to Ask:<\/span> What is your plan to get backlinks to my website? Do you have an idea of how many we\u2019ll be getting per month and will they be relevant to my website\/industry? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Backlinks can not only be useless if they aren\u2019t relevant\n(for example, if you run a financial services business and your SEO company is\ngetting backlinks with bakery website\u2019s blogs), but they can actually hurt your\nSEO rankings as Google punishes spam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, some SEO companies can severely hurt your website\u2019s\nSEO by using easy and spammy tools that can get you 1000 backlinks in one day\nor one month. The BEST way to do link building is to get high-value and\nhighly-relevant websites to link back to you in an ORGANIC way. Basically, what\nthis means is not in a spammy way but in a consistent way (maybe 3-10 per\nmonth) vs. getting 1000 in one month and 0 after that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Key Question<\/span>: Will you be targeting specific domain authority ranked websites? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Domain Authority (DA) is a metric that is assigned to each\nwebsite URL on a scale of 0-100. This is on a logarithmic scale, so getting a\nbacklink from a site with a DA of 40 is exponentially better than one with a\nranking of DA 20. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t settle for bad backlinks to your website, ask the\nright questions and ensure that you\u2019re only getting the highest quality links. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Read the Fine Print \u2013 Don\u2019t Sign a Bad Contract<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lengthy contracts can be confusing but are often necessary\nto clearly define terms and protect both sides when an SEO campaign is started.\nHowever, we\u2019ve seen numerous business owners quickly sign a contract and then\nhave absolutely no idea what it entails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, business owners will get so confused\/frustrated\nwith the terms that they will just accept whatever is in there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One case sticks out where a business owner that runs a video\nproduction company rechecked his contract in January and it turned out it would\nbe plausible if he gave written notice to get out of the monthly contract by July.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Question to Ask<\/span>: What are the terms after our SEO contract is up (for ex. after the 12-month term ends)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n More often than not, there will be language in place for the\ncontract to keep continuing and it could include increases in prices, different\nterms, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Norba Design, we are always completely upfront with our SEO\ncontracts and we clearly explain that after a 12-month contract, for example,\nthe project will go month to month but they can cancel at any time to make it\nas flexible and easy as possible for the business owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing your homework before making the decision of choosing a\nScottsdale SEO company will save you future headaches and frustration \u2013 make sure\nto use this basic overview guide to make the informed decisions required for yourself\nand your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Any follow-up questions about this article? We\u2019re always\nmore than happy to help out other business owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can reach out to us here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n