The best SEO companies – seven ways to gauge the fakers from the movers and shakers.
Choosing the best SEO companies out of the legion of numerous businesses on the market claiming to be the latest and greatest is admittedly a difficult task especially when you are literally putting your rankings and online reputation on the line. You need to do your due diligence and pick an ethical and trustworthy agency that is practising white hat SEO but how do you do this? Here are seven savvy strategies to find the top SEO consultancies.
Look at search rankings
It stands to reason that if a company is touting its own horn that it is one of the best SEO companies, then their rankings should be able to back them up. Search for SEO-related terms (both singular and plural) such as ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ ‘SEO’, ‘SEO company’, ‘SEO companies’ ‘SEO experts’ followed by your location. Ideally, you want to find an SEO agency in your region that is conversant with the locality you are targeting.
Do research via forums
Another ideal way to find out the best SEO companies is to do research via forums or discussion boards. Forums are often frequented by anonymous users who are more than happy to give you an unbiased recommendation or even sledge online marketing companies. Often there are SEO experts participating on the forums who may offer the services and packages you require that you may be able to shortlist.
Follow SEO social media groups
There are two ways to do this and both tactics are recommended; you can add yourself to a generic SEO group and ask for recommendations for the best SEO companies and/or once you have a shortlist of the SEO companies you are evaluating, you can add yourself directly to their networking accounts and monitor their online chat. The primary social media networks for this strategy are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Read SEO blogs and associated articles
An easy to way to spot a reputable SEO company is to look at the blog articles they produce or seminars they run on best SEO practice and what companies can do to improve their current SEO strategies. An established SEO firm will be happy to share their knowledge and expertise. This type of marketing strategy helps to establish credibility, trust and position an SEO agency as an authority and expert in its field.
Get references from business associates
The best SEO companies are not just evaluated on price or performance, customer service is equally important as you need feedback on your SEO campaigns. Often you don’t find how good or bad the service is until you sign a contract. An ideal way to find an agency that suits your needs is to ask for referrals from business associates and colleagues who are existing clients or have worked with these companies previously.
Google them
Once you have whittled down your list to about ten companies, Google the company and main employees like the CEO. This seems like commonsense especially when you’re searching for an SEO company but this is a step that is often neglected. You want to find out more about their reputation in the industry; read articles published about them, what is being said about the company on forums and social media and so on.
Look at client lists
Not all SEO companies will want to list their high-profile clients (this is often proprietary) but if you can find out what more about their clientele, this will give you a better indication of how they are perceived in the industry. If you need to target the local market, ideally you want to choose an SEO consultancy that is based in the same region as you and preferably has worked with other clients in the same category.
Even with the greatest SEO company, it can take anywhere from three months for a new website or pages to rank, depending on the competitiveness of your industry, and achieve strong results and traffic – the sooner you hire an SEO firm, the better. SEO Works has developed a reputation for being one of the best SEO companies with an enviable high-profile client list. Contact them to find out more about the SEO services they provide.
