As someone belonging to the B2B space, you must be aware of the importance of organic search. The share of organic search is 53% of the total website traffic. As it dominates the traffic to your website, you want your brand to appear on the first page of search engines. However, SEO may not be your area of expertise.
So, you’ve decided that you need to hire an agency to help your business grow its online presence. Hiring an agency is a great way to improve your visibility and draw more traffic to your website. But how do you find out the right SEO agency for your business?
This blog post will answer those questions and give you some tips on what to look out for when hiring a B2B SEO agency.
Why do you need SEO for your B2B business?
To answer this question, let’s break it down into basic bullets:
- SEO makes your website more visible to prospective customers who are using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
- When people are searching for products or services like yours, you need to make sure your business website appears as high as possible in the search results.
- Your business’s monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is directly impacted by the number of leads that come through your website. The higher you rank in search results, the more traffic you’re likely to get, and the more leads you’re likely to generate.
- Product qualified lead (PQL) and marketing qualified lead (MQL) growth are essential for any business, but they’re especially important for B2Bs.
What to look out for when hiring an SEO agency?
There are a lot of different factors that go into choosing an agency. Let’s analyze some of the important factors:
Their website
What good is an SEO agency that can’t rank its own website on the first page, right? Well, that shouldn’t be your only criteria for selecting one, especially if you’re looking for a B2B SEO agency in the UK. But searching for an agency on Google and having a look at their website is one way to start your research.
By looking at their website, you’ll understand:
- If the SEO agency has experience working within your niche. If that’s the case, they will know about the competition and are likely to perform better.
- Check out their case studies and testimonials from past clients. These will give you a good idea of the types of results they’ve been able to achieve for other businesses.
- A good agency will have a blog that is updated regularly with helpful, informative articles. This shows that they are keeping up with the latest trends in SEO and are committed to helping their clients succeed.
Their reviews
Make sure the agency has a good reputation. Check out review websites to read what other people are saying about the agency. You can also ask around and see if other businesses have used them and if they were happy with the results.
Pay attention to your gut feeling; if something feels off, it probably is.
Ask for referrals from people you trust; word-of-mouth is still the best way to find a good SEO service provider.
Their services
Make sure the agency offers a complete package of services. SEO is a complex process, and you want an agency that can handle everything from keyword research to link building.
An agency will help you with all of the following things:
- Keyword research to find the right keywords for your business (on-page SEO.)
- Create compelling content that will rank highly in the search results (on-page SEO.)
- Build links to your website from other high-quality websites (off-page SEO.)
- Help you with Schema markup – a code that you can add to your website to help Google understand your content better (technical SEO.)
In addition, make sure the agency is using white hat techniques. If they’re not, you could end up getting penalized by Google. The last thing you want is to lower your existing rankings.
Their communication
It is a good thing if the agency is being realistic with you upfront about what can be achieved and how long it will take. During your communication with them, judge whether the agency provides you with vanity metrics or will be able to produce actual results.
Many SEO agencies make false promises during the pitch to attract clients.
With their pitch, you will also learn if they understand your business. Gauge if they know what it takes to rank highly for the keywords that are important to you. Ensure the agency is transparent about its prices and what you’re getting for your money. They should be able to give you a detailed breakdown of their services and how much they cost.
Discuss the mode of communication once they start working. The best way to do this is to set up regular meetings with your account manager and review the progress of your SEO campaign together.
Set clear expectations from the start; this will help prevent misunderstandings down the road.
Your account manager should be able to show you the progress they’ve made on your campaign and how it’s performing. They should also be able to answer any questions you have about the campaign or the results you’re seeing.
Their knowledge
SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, which makes it difficult for businesses to keep up with the latest trends and best practices. That’s also what makes an exceptional SEO agency stand out.
A good SEO agency will have a team of experts who are up-to-date on all the latest trends and who know how to implement them in a way that will benefit your business.
They will be aware of the latest changes in Google’s algorithms and how those changes will affect your website. If you want to test their knowledge, read the latest articles from Search Engine Journal. It has all the latest updates on what’s new in the field of SEO. If you have a good discussion with them on the latest trends, that’s one of the signs that you’ve found the right one.
Their LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn is a great place to find agencies that specialize in B2B SEO. You can read their reviews, and see what other businesses are saying about them. Have a look at the team members and see their experience. This will give you an idea of how knowledgeable they are about SEO.
Don’t underestimate the power of LinkedIn.
Look at the founder’s profile, too. See how long they’ve been in business and what their experience is. Sending a connection request to the founder(s) is the best way to go about it if you have a couple of questions that you want to be answered right away.
Their flexibility
When you’re ready to hire an agency, check if they’re up to work for a few months on a trial basis. This will help you understand whether they are the right one for your business. It will also protect you and ensure that both parties are clear about the scope of work and the expectations for results.
Don’t get into a long-term contract that you might regret later on.
They should be able to give you a detailed proposal that outlines what they will do during the trial period and also include their cost of services. In this way, if you’re not happy with the progress of your campaign, you can speak up. If they are flexible and easy to work with, you can hire them for the long run.
Wrapping up
Hiring an SEO agency is a great way to improve your online presence and draw more traffic to your website — but only if you hire the right one! Don’t be afraid to ask questions; a good agency will be happy to answer any questions you have about their services or about SEO in general.
Remember, it’s important to have open communication with your agency so you can make sure they’re doing everything they can to help you grow your business.
Following these tips, you should be able to find a great B2B SEO agency that will help you improve your online presence, draw more traffic to your website and help you achieve your targets. Good luck with your research!
Author Bio:
Osama Zahid is a technology content strategist who is passionate about content marketing and all things SEO. He has helped various companies rank their content on the first page of search engines. In his free time, Osama loves to play football and travel.