Hiring an SEO Consultancy
If you’re running a business, then you know that it’s important to stay ahead of the competition. And if you’re not doing everything you can to optimise your website for search engines, then you’re definitely falling behind.
For your online needs, an SEO consultancy can help gain your business more visibility online and more organic traffic to your website.
But if you do not know much about SEO or digital marketing in general, it can seem like a dark art with plenty of room to have the wool pulled over your eyes and sold magic beans.
What is an SEO consultancy, and what do they do?
An SEO consultancy is a firm that optimise your online assets such as your website to make sure it is as visible as possible to potential customers who use search engines.
An experienced SEO consultant will plan, implement and continually manage your online strategy so your business can achieve optimum results.
This can be done through a number of means such as improving the technical SEO aspects of your website, developing a powerful content strategy, or link building strategies to high-quality websites.
What can an SEO consultancy do for my business?
As briefly touched on above, there are many reasons to hire SEO consultants, but the main one is to improve your visibility online and increase organic traffic.
By improving your website’s ranking in search engine results pages, you will be able to attract more visitors which can lead to more customers and conversions for your business.
An SEO consultant should be able to provide an effective SEO strategy that covers on site SEO, content strategy and also link building outreach campaigns.
They do this day in day out, and if you hire the correct agency they should be able to achieve a far more effective campaign than DIY search engine optimisation would realise.
On This Page
- Hiring an SEO Consultancy
- What is an SEO consultancy, and what do they do?
- What can an SEO consultancy do for my business?
On This Page
- Hiring an SEO Consultancy
- What is an SEO consultancy, and what do they do?
- What can an SEO consultancy do for my business?
If you’re unsure about whether you need our SEO services, ask yourself these questions...
You could hire an SEO consultant for a number of reasons
If you do not have an expert internal SEO team, then hiring an SEO consultant should be a serious consideration for online success.
SEO consulting services should be provided by SEO specialists, and should be able to bring a wealth of expertise to bear in order to prevent rookie blunders that someone learning on the job might make.
This could save you not only time but a significant amount of money in the long term.
Additionally, SEO consultants should have a good network of external contacts which can be used to benefit your business. These could be other digital marketing agencies, website design firms, or even bloggers in your industry.
A good SEO consulting company will also keep on top of the latest algorithm updates ensuring your web presence does not become hindered by any search engine changes that occur from time to time.
Another reason why you should hire SEO consultancy services is the tools and software the firm will have at its disposal.
Although accessible to everyone, SEO consultants will pay typically thousands for SEO software that provide analytics data that gives far deeper insights than just Google Analytics and Search Console alone.
Data from these type of software tools can help set the foundations for a more robust and reliable strategy from your SEO consultant.
Do I need an SEO consultant?
Do you have an expert SEO team that cover every area you need for your SEO campaign?
Do you have an expert SEO team that cover every area you need for your SEO campaign?
Are my SEO campaigns delivering the organic traffic I am expecting?
Are my website's rankings slipping?
The role of SEO consultants within your business
A good SEO consultancy should be an extension of your marketing team and should understand your business culture, goals and business objectives.
That way, the results the implemented SEO campaigns achieve are actually of value to your business.
As an extension of your business, the SEO consultancy should know everything about your business, and this can only be achieved by being upto date with all facets of your business such as sales, customer service and accounts for example.
All these departments can benefit from increased traffic to the website whether that be more customers/clients or simply more aware of the company and its processes online.
We must make you aware, just because two companies both call themselves an SEO consulting company does not mean their SEO services are the same.
The level of depth in research within the SEO industry can vary immensely. This is where experience comes in, and this is also why it is important to do your own research when hiring any digital marketing agency.
At GroFu, we like to think of ourselves as being at the forefront of SEO knowledge due to our in-house team of experienced researchers that keep their finger on the pulse of all things SEO related.
When you hire GroFu, you are not only getting an experienced SEO consultancy, but you are also getting access to the latest and greatest SEO tools and techniques. This means you can be confident that your business is receiving the most effective digital marketing services available.
The different types of SEO consultants
Search engine optimsation (SEO) is not just one service.
The various elements of SEO are often divided into four pillars:
- Technical SEO
- Content Development
- On page SEO
- Off page SEO
Each pillar can then be broken down into numerous subcategories.
Technical SEO
This involves making sure all the technical aspects of your website are correct, so search engines such as Google can easily understand your website’s structure, which therefore makes it easier to know what search terms you should be indexing for.
Content Development
This involves making sure all the technical aspects of your website are correct, so search engines such as Google can easily understand your website’s structure, which therefore makes it easier to know what search terms you should be indexing for.
On Page SEO
Once you have high quality content, the next step is to make sure it’s optimised for the search engines. This includes things like adding titles and descriptions to each page, as well as ensuring your website’s navigation is easy to use and understand.
On page SEO includes every aspect of the page, from design and content to functionality and navigation, must be optimised for both visitors and search engine algorithms. Individual webpages are indexed by search engines, therefore on-page SEO evaluate each page to ensure that they are in the best possible position for optimum performance.
Off Page SEO
Great content, products or services are nothing without eyes seeing it.
The goal of this section of SEO is to have your website content in front of a larger audience.
Off page SEO uses outreach and digital PR, as well as other digital marketing techniques, to promote your great content to a broader audience in order to lure quality backlinks, attract more visitors and possible consumers/clients to your site.
Make sure all aspects of SEO are covered
You may find that the SEO consultant or SEO agency you are strategising with only specialise in one or two of the above SEO consultancy services.
Whoever the firm offering SEO services are, ensure that they are covering all the above sections of a solid SEO campaign.
You will be surprised how many SEO consultants in the industry will charge you for a robust marketing campaign, whilst only delivering a fraction of the SEO consultant services needed.
For example, some may only action the tasks set out after the audit and research phase.
This would leave items such as keyword research and competitor analysis to be actioned by another entity.
And if these items are not completed in advance, it is like building a house on sand.
The campaign will not be as strong as it could have been and may not withstand the ever-changing Google algorithms.
When we work with our clients, we make sure that all aspects of their SEO are covered, from start to finish. This allows us to provide a comprehensive service that will deliver long-term results.
What makes a good SEO consultant?
Once you decide to hire someone for SEO consulting services, you will be inundated with offers.
And with any type of service that isn’t your expertise, it can be difficult to pick the right company from other SEO consultants.
A good SEO consultant however will be proficient in three main areas which are documented experience, clear communication and total transparency.
Expertise and experience
As discussed earlier, SEO consultants can vary in their experience vastly. And with this, costs can also vary by similar amounts.
Sometimes it can be tempting to lean towards an extremely cheap SEO consultant.
However, this should be undertaken with caution.
SEO experts calculate their consulting services in value by the genuine amount of time required to deliver your goals in a reasonable timeframe.
And dependant on the competitiveness of your industry, a successful SEO strategy can cost a significant amount.
But this is for a reason.
Ask your SEO consultant what is included in your service packaged as SEO consulting services.
Cheap SEO will typically be a skeleton SEO strategy.
It could include technical SEO, but does it include implementing your content strategy alongside link building to drive quality backlinks?
Chances are, it probably won’t.
On the other hand, professional SEO consultants will charge according to how much time they know it will take to deliver an effective comprehensive SEO strategy which achieves your company’s goals and business objectives.
Sometimes hiring a cheap consultant may mean you are paying for this service again in the future when you have to re-strategise and start from scratch.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask for case studies.
Make sure the examples are relevant to your industry as this will give you a good indication of whether they have the required expertise to help your business succeed in its specific market.
Communication
Communication is key when it comes to any business relationship, and this is especially true when working on outsourcing your SEO consulting services.
After all, you are entrusting another organisation with the success of your website, and you should be kept clearly informed of its progress.
A good SEO consultant will be able to clearly explain the work they are carrying out on your behalf, as well as what results you can expect to see and by when.
They should also be open to answering any questions you have about the work they are doing.
It’s important that you feel confident in the ability of your chosen SEO consultants, as well as feel comfortable communicating with them.
This includes asking questions about elements of the SEO strategy you do not understand.
Hiring external SEO consultant services should mean you are better informed on how the process works, therefore client education and answering any questions should always be part of the relationship.
If you don’t feel like you can have a good working relationship with the person or team you are working with, then it’s probably not going to be a successful partnership long term.
Transparency
A good SEO consultant will be transparent about the work they are carrying out for you, as well as their charges.
If your SEO consultant is not being completely transparent with you about the work they are doing on your SEO campaign, or if they are being evasive about their charges, then it’s probably best to look elsewhere.
In the same vein, you should also be completely transparent with your SEO consultant about your business goals and objectives.
This way, the SEO company can estimate how many hours and other costs would be involved in providing a solid strategy with tangible results.
The more information they have about your business and what you are looking to achieve, the better they will be able to tailor their services to suit your needs.
Regular Reporting
A good SEO consultant worth their weight in gold will provide you with regular reports, detailing the progress they are making with their online marketing efforts towards SEO success.
The format of these reports can vary, but they should all contain information on key metrics such as website traffic, organic search impressions and Click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate and ROI.
If your chosen SEO company are not providing you with regular reports, then it’s usually a red flag.
After all, if they are providing a service based on progressive outcomes, how can you keep your promises if you aren’t keeping track of the results?
Regular reporting is vital for any successful SEO campaign
What makes a bad SEO consultant?
In its most simplest form, it is the opposite of what makes a good SEO consultant.
Poor history of experience, lack of communication and no transparency would be an indicator of a bad SEO consultant.
With bad SEO consulting we will highlight what to avoid in bullet points;
- Amazing too good to be true, cheap SEO prices
- No case studies shown of previous SEO strategies
- Cannot tell you what is involved in their proposed SEO strategies
- Poor communication – long response times
Our team of expert SEO consultants
Our SEO consulting team live and breathe search engine optimisation, following up to date SEO practices that result in increased visibility for your business on major search engines.
With over 15 years of experience, our SEO consultancy helps businesses achieve sustainable, long term increases in website traffic.
It does not matter if you are an online retailer selling fashion clothing or a solicitor selling professional services, we can help you in improve the way you site generates online business.
Our SEO consulting services will help to improve your website’s visibility and organic search results.
This is achieved through a variety of methods such as;
- Technical SEO
- On-site SEO
- Off-site SEO
- Link building and Digital PR
- A robust content marketing strategy
Should the analysis recommend some site optimisation, we also have a team of web developers who can assist with web design issues.
Initial audit & research phase
When you come on board as a client of ours, the first thing we do is several SEO audits and research to better understand your business, your customers and the competition.
Our in-depth initial research and marketplace analysis help set the foundations for search engine optimisation strategies built for success.
The initial assessment phase looks at everything from the ground up, with an in-depth technical SEO audit, keyword research and competitor analysis to find content gaps that can be exploited.
Creating SEO campaigns for success
After we have gathered all of the necessary data with our detailed SEO audits, our team of expert SEO consultants will start putting together an action plan.
Every business is different, so the SEO strategies that work best for one company might not be the right fit for another.
That’s why our team takes a bespoke and targeted approach when it comes to SEO, creating digital marketing plans that are designed to achieve the specific business goals of our clients.
From small businesses targeting locally, to competitive industries such as sports betting. All our strategies are tailored to deliver success.
Delivery & Reporting
Once we have agreed on the most effective SEO strategy for your business, our team will get to work on putting it into action.
Our SEO consulting services can cover the full suite of SEO tasks, so you have one point of call for the whole project rather than dealing with several separate SEO companies.
Throughout the project, we will keep you updated with monthly reports on progress and results achieved.
Why hire our SEO consulting services?
We were created by people who had digital marketing strategies in varied industries for their own companies.
Why does this matter?
It means the methods used within our SEO consulting service have been formulated and refined over many years of spending our own money to achieve the best possible results.
The methods used by our own SEO consultants are tried, tested and have been defined by clear, tangible results for business success.
We are confident that we can help any business achieve their desired goals with our ethical and sustainable SEO practices.
It does not matter the industry either. Our agency can apply successful SEO strategies to any size business or industry.
If you want to improve your website’s search engine rankings and generate more organic traffic, get in touch with us today to find out how our SEO consulting services can help you.