Identifying the Right SEO Outsourcing Partner!

Businesses today have observed a shift from traditional, offline marketing methods to internet and social media marketing. It has become critical for businesses to have a unique and professional website, good search engine rankings and excellent social media presence in order to market their brand. Ranking well on search engines automatically strengthens brand image and helps them stay ahead of their competitors. However, it requires the expertise and knowledge of professional SEO companies to help you ethically rank high on search engines.

Choosing the right SEO outsourcing partner is of paramount importance as your brand’s reputation and its success is at stake. Whilst there are so many SEO companies in the UK and in India luring businesses by promising the impossible, it becomes difficult for businesses to recognise the right SEO company that will boost their search engine rankings, traffic and sales. Here are few factors that you should keep in mind while selecting a SEO partner for your firm:

1. Unrealistic and Quick Fix Promises:

Every business wants to rank on the first position of the first page of all the major search engines. However, getting to the top rank on popular search engines isn’t exactly quick or easy. It requires expertise, dedicated time and effort. There are many SEO companies that promise overnight results and guarantee first position rankings. Businesses need to be aware that such claims are derived from companies who use unethical methods to achieve rankings in a short time span. In fact such companies will make your current ranking lower by getting severely penalized by search engines for such techniques, thus damaging the overall reputation of the brand. With changing search engine algorithms and stringent guidelines, no one can guarantee top spot ranking in a specific timeframe. All they can do is supply fresh content, follow all the search engine guidelines ethically, and boost the search engine rankings.

2. Work Portfolio:

A client’s current and previous portfolio is always a good measure of success. Check the work the company has done for their clients. Go through the client’s testimonials on their website and see if you can speak to existing customers Check the number of clients the SEO company has worked for and also the diversity of the industries that that have worked on. Additionally, check the SEO company’s social media sites to see how active they are and if they engage with customers. Lastly check their blogs and articles and see whether they are providing important value added blogs (like this one) to demonstrate their expertise.

3. Reports and Communication:

You should ask if the SEO company would send out weekly/monthly reports to demonstrate their work and the effects of their work on search engines. This would help you monitor the work being done and measure the results on a monthly basis. The company should be transparent and provide an entire report of the sites that they are submitting your content to. This would also help you check if they are using only white-hat SEO techniques - a more ethical approach. You should even consider how well the SEO Company helps you to understand the SEO process - after all it’s not a secret. A good partner should always offer valuable recommendations and content ideas and of course respond to your queries/mails quickly. Good customer service shows that the client really values you and is serious about your online marketing success.

To summarize, partnering with the right SEO firm decides the success and failure of your online business. Hence, make sure you conduct some thorough research and check for above mentioned factors whilst choosing one.

Bal Rai is an Internet Marketing Consultant at eTrack Media, a leading SEO company in Redditch, UK.