Things to expect from your SEO agency

When it comes to the things to expect from your SEO agency, the line between the client and contractor is often like a battlefield, and sometimes even ends up in court. Why? There are still agencies that take advantage of clients’ ignorance and use tricky elements in contracts. On the other hand, some clients expect unrealistic guarantees and want to settle accounts with agencies after 2 months of cooperation. So, how to effectively cooperate with an SEO agency?

Cooperation with a seo agency – table of contents:

• Customer requirements – what are the things to expect from your SEO agency?
• How should a SEO strategy look like?
• SEO activities – cyclical and long-term
• Realistic requirements and realistic promises

Customer requirements – what are the things to expect from your SEO agency?

SEO report

The client has the right to demand transparent actions from the agency, so it should receive regular reports. The first one, after the initial audit; and subsequent ones – periodically.

SEO audit

During the audit of the website, its current position in Google is analyzed. The report should therefore include an assessment of the technical condition of the site, including an analysis of the server performance and quality of the site code and content analysis, as well as suggestions for any improvements.

SEO recommendations

Recommendations should be calculated to give the website a chance to appear in higher positions in Google.

How should a SEO strategy look like?

Positioning activities

If we decide to cooperate, among other, things to expect from your SEO agency is a strategy of positioning activities, including for example defining the phrases for which the website will be positioned.

It is important to appear in the top search results for the queries that are of interest to us, and therefore potentially converting.

Link building strategy

The strategy should also include preparing a plan for the growth of links leading to the website from other websites. Here it is important to check where the links come from and what happens to them in case of termination.

There are still companies that make their clients dependent on them by linking their sites to their back-end pages (these are pages used only to link to clients’ sites, with no real value for the user). Removal of links may adversely affect the positions of the site in search results.

SEO activities – cyclical and long-term

How should cyclical reports look like?

Among things to expect from your SEO agency are cyclical reports. In cyclical reports, the agency should present the number of phrases for which the website is in the top search results. It is important to present data in a broader time perspective because the positions change from minute to minute.

As the main task of an SEO agency is to increase organic traffic to the website, the report should include information about its growth. It is also good if there is information about which sections of the website achieve the best results, and which should be worked on, e.g. by expanding product descriptions.

SEO is a long term process

Optimizing a website for Google is a long-term process and it is very difficult to verify the quality of services provided by an agency in short notice. Remember about this when thinking about things to expect from your SEO agency.

The effects will be visible after a few months at the earliest, but the exact time depends on the industry in which the company operates, the initial state of the website, and the scope of work that needs to be done. For this reason, agencies often sign contracts with clients for a longer period, for example for a year.

Realistic requirements and realistic promises

You can’t fully predict SEO outcomes

Unfortunately, in this period, the client will have limited room for maneuver and will gain confidence in the competence of the agency only after spending a lot of money. It’s a difficult deal, especially since a guarantee of, for example, occupying a specific position in Google can never be obtained.

The search engine algorithm is too changeable and unpredictable for any serious entity to make such declarations.

Don’t look for agencies which offer immediate results

It is worth being aware of this and not trusting the entities that guarantee immediate results. There is a big risk that we will find a partner who uses practices incompatible with Google regulations. In such a case the consequence may be a penalty imposed by the website i.e. exclusion from search results or significant lowering of the website position.

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