Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a smart strategy to calculate the performance of your website. The online presence of any business is a crucial factor in its holistic growth. Nevertheless, the primary goal is to bring your site on the first page of search results on search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo.
Digital marketing may be an intimidating topic to talk about. In San Diego where digital marketing experts are overflowing, identifying the best company among the crowd can be confusing.
Here are some of the questions you can ask digital marketing experts to determine their level of expertise, and to learn SEO for your benefit.
1. How long does SEO take?
This can be a trap question you can ask to identify if the company is sincere in helping you. SEO is a never-ending venture. It is continuous and evolving as it tries to adapt to the ongoing changes and factors around.
Here are some of the factors that greatly affect SEO:
* A secure and reliable site is one of the factors that significantly affect SEO ranking. The site needs to appear trustworthy, and its content should be understandable. The page needs to have a clear purpose, and the information about the content creator should never be vague.
* You must develop your site in such a way that it will not take a long time for your page to load. Having a slow loading page can get your site penalized. When this happens, you need to wait six months to two years or longer before it can be lifted and get higher rankings in the search engines again.
* Search engines never disclose anything about their algorithm and minor updates. This is why none of the businesses can win over SEO unless they own the search engines themselves.
2. What sets you apart from other SEO digital marketers?
Think of these experts as candidates applying for an open position in your company. Why? For the reason that you want to learn more about their principles and how they do business, which will help you decide whether the values they uphold align with yours.
* Past success and experiences
You need to know about their past experiences, achievements, and the problems they had encountered. This will help you weigh in whether their methods in handling unfortunate events is acceptable to you. Also, the list of their achievements will guarantee the level of their expertise.
* List of satisfied clients
If you want to dig deeper, consider asking for a list of their satisfied customers. This is to verify the information they are claiming. Asking for the opinions and experiences of their past clients will further help you in your assessment.
* Proof of their high-quality service
Ask for any form of evidence to back up their claims about their highly-reputed name in the industry. Anyone can easily make claims about being the best company in the field. However, not everyone can support it with solid pieces of evidence.
3. What are the assurances that my business is safe with you?
You do not want to be entangled with any SEO company that practices fraudulent activity. Once you get caught doing such with them, the next thing to expect is getting penalized. Thus, one needs to be vigilant in entrusting their business to anyone’s care. Here are some related topics you should discuss with them:
* Their in-depth knowledge in your line of business
* The level of their comprehension of a digital marketing strategy based on their experience
* Open the about topic of potential penalties
* Try to assess how they are going to react if you happen to get penalized
4. What are the methodologies to successful SEO?
You need to see results to convince you that your partners are doing their part in the project. No one wants empty promises. Make sure that a concrete plan is constructed, and it should include:
* The complete list of all the services deemed to be accomplished
* The total duration or number of hours which should be spent on the project
5. How do you identify success?
You need to know how a particular SEO company measures success. Learning the things they consider successful is a way to know you’ve reached the goal. SEO is a long-term process that does not happen overnight. Here are some factors that might affect success, which you can clarify with an SEO digital marketing expert:
* Brand Awareness
Do you now have a reliable engagement with your target audience? Do they continually seek to know more about your brand? These are the things that you should determine, which could be seen along your SEO journey—people talking about your brand.
* Website Authority Do important sites acknowledge the existence of your website by linking back to you? This can be measured by looking at the relationship level of your website with other powerful websites.
* Quality Search Topic
This is the traffic on your website that creates sales and boosts your profit. You can use online tools, such as SEMrush and Alexa, to determine the traffic on your website and the quality of your content.
The Bottom Line
If you have something on your mind which confuses you, don’t hesitate to ask the SEO digital marketing expert you will be working with. Ask about relevant SEO trends or strategies you can apply to your business to have a successful digital marketing campaign.