Are you looking for an agency to undertake your SEO work? This can often be a difficult choice. With so many options, it’s hard to know what you should be looking for in an agency.
To help narrow down your choices, it can help to know what SEO traps to avoid. After all, you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars only to have zero results.
So what are the SEO traps to avoid?
1. Guaranteed results
It can feel like you’re getting peace of mind if you’re signing up to an agency that gives you a guarantee on the results they’ll achieve. However, this is a red flag which you should avoid. An agency should know the results they can achieve within a certain budget, however, those results will never be a guarantee. After all, we never know when a Google algorithm update will occur. Make sure your agency doesn’t guarantee they’ll achieve unrealistic goals.
2. Quick results
You’re paying a lot of money for digital marketing, so it’s understandable that you want to see a return on that investment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, SEO doesn’t quite work that way. It will often take months to see the results of SEO work. However, some agencies will give a quick time frame on the results. This can be a sign that the agency is either lying about the time frame, or they are using SEO tactics which violate Google’s webmaster policies. If the latter is the case, you could find your website receives a penalty, and you will lose your rankings. In some instances, it can take a long time to recover from a Google penalty. The risk isn’t worth it – make sure your agency only undertakes activity that abides by Google’s policies.
3. Number one ranking
Everyone wants to have their website rank at number one. However, with so much competition, everyone can’t achieve these results, especially for every keyword. Some agencies will try to promise they can get your website ranking number one. This isn’t completely unrealistic, however, beware of how many keywords they are promising this for. If they’re promising number one for every keyword you want to rank for, you might want to take your money elsewhere.
4. Cheap prices
There’s no problem with looking for an agency that charges less than the others. After all, if you’re going to get the same results, you might as well save some money and hire a more affordable agency. However, if the cost sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Chances are, if prices are too cheap, you won’t achieve good results.
Simply put, it takes time to produce good content which will help your website rank on search engines. If prices seem too cheap, you might end up with content which has been outsourced, or even scraped from a competitors website.
Don’t worry if you’ve got a small budget – there are still affordable agencies out there. Just make sure your agency is delivering quality work and not violating policies.
5. Secret strategies
SEO can sound complicated to those who do not work in the industry. However, you shouldn’t feel confused about the work the agency you hire does. The agency should be able to clearly explain to you what work they are undertaking to increase your website’s rankings.
However, some agencies will try to tell you there are secrets which they can’t disclose and that’s how they will increase your rankings. You should definitely sign up with the agency that knows something the others don’t – right? Wrong. While there are different strategies to use, there are no SEO secrets. A quick Google search will reveal a plethora of blogs which are available for free which discuss various SEO strategies. Always make sure the agency you hire is completely transparent with you regarding their SEO strategies.
Knowing these traps should help you narrow down which company you do and don’t want to hire. Always make sure the company you do hire follows Google’s policies and are completely open and honest about the work they are undertaking for you. If they’re not – take your money elsewhere.
