5 Keys to Hiring a Reputable SEO Company
A successful marketing strategy today involves much more than just placing a few ads. Every company knows that customers are online, which means they are searching for you there, and one key component to successful marketing is to optimize the place where you rank in online search (called search engine optimization, or SEO). If you are looking to hire the right SEO company to help you develop this strategy, here are five key components that you should look for.
1. They Understand the Changes to the Google Algorithm
Google is not the only online search engine, but it does account for about two-thirds of all online searches, which means that a good SEO company needs to understand how Google ranks search results in order to optimize where you show up. In recent years Google has made several changes to their search algorithm — you may have heard about Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird updates — and in order to help you get to the first or second Google page your SEO company must have a strategy for maximizing these updates.
2. They Don’t Focus Solely on Keywords
It is true that keywords are important, but today’s search is about more than just having a ton of meaningless content filled with the right keywords. If your SEO company talks endlessly about keywords (without any additional strategy) or they create content by copying and pasting from other sites or using computer programs, you may not get any benefit from the strategy. In fact, search engine algorithms today often punish sites that try to pack their content with keywords without any context or meaning.
I can’t believe what I’m looking at by Ed Yourdon, on Flickr. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
3. They Can Build Valuable Links
A few years ago one way to increase your search engine ranking was to have a high number of links that connected to your site. The origin of the links was not important, so many paid for links anywhere and everywhere to build a high profile online presence. Search engines today have evolved, and now only care about quality links, which means they actually penalize sites for having connections to link spamming sites. The right SEO company will help you disconnect from link farms and connect with quality links to boost your online presence.
4. They Understand Your Industry and Your Customers
Since content is so critical today, building a good search engine strategy means the company must understand your industry and your customers so they can create content that is high quality and relevant. If you work with an SEO company that understands your customers and knows the terminology of your industry they can develop the right content that will reach out to people who matter for sales and leads.
5. They Know the Value of Content
With the changes to search engine rankings, content is king. If your SEO company is still focused on links and keywords, they won’t be able to drive your online marketing strategy to success over the next few years and you will see your search engine rank drop. Instead, find a company that understands the value of quality content that is readable and will attract people to your site.
Having a web presence is important, but even more important is incorporating a search engine optimization strategy that will help drive your customers to your website and convert leads to sales. These five keys will help you find the right SEO company to develop your strategy. Some recommended SEO companies are http://seo-firms.findthebest.com/l/347/Wpromote-Inc, http://seo-firms.findthebest.com/l/303/SEO-Image and http://seo-firms.findthebest.com/l/212/SEO-Logic.
