How to Choose a Local SEO Marketing Agency

SEO generates more traffic than any other digital marketing tactic. It’s not just about traffic, though. SEO traffic has a 14.6% conversion rate.

You have traffic and sales with SEO. How do you make SEO work for your business? Instead of figuring out the steep learning curve, you decide to outsource.

You do a search for “SEO company in my area.”

You get a ton of results.

Searching for a local SEO marketing agency isn’t hard. Finding the right one that fits your business is.

If you want to find the best company in your area, read on to learn the top tips for choosing an SEO agency.

Assess Your SEO Goals

What do you want SEO to do for your business? Do you want to gain market share in a local area? Do you want to increase brand awareness?

You should have a clear picture of who you want to attract to your business. You should also be aware if you want people who are ready to buy now, or if you want customers who are interested, but not ready to buy.

That’s important to know because it’ll change your budget and the SEO approach. There is much more competition to target people who are ready to buy now. That makes it more expensive.

An ideal approach is to attract a mix of people at each stage of the sales process. That ensures you’ll have a steady stream of leads and customers.

Search for SEO Experience

When you do a search for “SEO agency in my area,” there are a few things to look for online before you contact the SEO company.

Start with the reviews. You’ll be able to tell if the agency has a good record of work or not. Click through to their website and find out more about the agency.

Look for the types of SEO services they offer. Find out if they specialize in certain areas of SEO.

For instance, do they work in video SEO or ecommerce SEO? Some agencies might specialize in blog content to attract your ideal customer. Safari Digital Melbourne suggests that it is important to be wary of SEO companies that claim to be the best at every single area of SEO marketing. Choose to work with a company that has a proven track record in your industry and has had success with similar clients over the years.

You can then take a look to see if there are certain industries they specialize in. Finally, look for client testimonials and community work in your local area.

They Know the Local Market

Familiarity with a local market is a huge advantage for you. A local SEO company knows where your potential customers are, right down to the zip code.

They understand your competition, too. There are usually a handful of local companies that everyone is familiar with because they invest heavily in marketing plan.

A Ft. Lauderdale SEO company knows who the top competitors are in every industry throughout the Ft. Lauderdale area, from attorneys to SaaS companies.

Since they’re already familiar with the area and the market, they’ll be able to develop strategies to beat the competition.

They Have a Process

An SEO company should have a defined process for getting results for your business. The best SEO companies realize that SEO is a process, but they tailor the process to fit your goals.

Not only that, but they understand that SEO takes time. In most cases, it takes anywhere from 6-12 months to see results.

Be very wary of SEO companies that promise big results right out of the gate without telling you how they’ll make it happen.

Companies that guarantee fast results are probably putting your business at risk. They use black-hat methods of SEO that go against Google’s terms of service.

Your site could end up banned or penalized because of that.

Instead, make sure that you know the SEO company’s process and tactics.

They Stay Up to Date

Did you know that Google just rolled out a major feature called Core Web Vitals? This is a performance measurement for your website.

Google understands the link between website performance and the user experience. The company wants every part of its search engine to provide a better user experience so people will keep using the search engine.

In other words, a slow website can kill your SEO.

You may not need to know this information as long as you have a team that does their homework. You don’t want to hire an SEO agency that relies on outdated tactics that get your site penalized.

Ask the SEO marketing agency how they stay up to date with such changes and how they apply those learnings to their process.

They See the Big Picture

There’s more to SEO than just keywords. There are hundreds of ranking factors in SEO.

Your website’s performance and security are ranking factors. Directory listings are major ranking factors for local businesses, as are business reviews.

A local SEO marketing agency sees all of the pieces of SEO and develops a strategy that helps you get there.

They Provide Reports

How do you know if SEO is working? You can tell if you get more traffic and sales, but how do you know that’s from the SEO agency’s work?

You need to know how your investment turns into dollars. An SEO marketing agency should provide reports about the work they did and the results.

The analytics they use should correspond with your goals. If your goal is to rank higher for certain keywords, they should give you that information. They shouldn’t give you data that makes you feel good but has nothing to do with your goals.

Hire the Right Local SEO Marketing Agency

Do you think you’re ready to hire a local SEO marketing agency? You are now with these tips that help you choose an SEO agency in your area.

Have this list with you as you interview SEO agencies. You won’t miss a thing and hire the best SEO agency to get results for your business.

Check out the blog for more great marketing tips today!