There are countless marketing agencies out there who offer “SEO” services – but are they actually delivering on their promises? Do they really have genuine expert SEO providers on staff – or are they just “talking it up”?
SEO (search engine optimisation) is a crucial piece of the overall digital marketing puzzle and any business that is serious about its success online can’t afford to ignore the benefits of organic search and online visibility in search engine results pages.
Too many digital marketing agencies offer “SEO services” that only scrape the surface of what they should. They may charge a truckload of money and make big promises – but do you know that they are actually delivering anything tangible?
This is why you need to make sure that your digital marketing provider can demonstrably deliver what it promises – and if it’s signing you to an SEO package, that a legitimate SEO industry expert is driving your campaign.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation involves specific, targeted actions taken both on your website and off it. These combine to improve your site’s organic reach, its online presence, and its overall visibility, and ideally ranking on page one on search engine result pages or SERPs. It is independent of Paid Ads.
The main goal of SEO is to improve your website and how it performs compared with your competitors in search engine rankings. This takes time and must be ongoing as Google (and other search engines) regularly changes its algorithm. Note too that your most successful competitors likely have an SEO campaign in place – so can you really afford to ignore it?
Search engine rankings are determined by a website’s:
user experience
- keyword choice
- navigation
- website optimisation
- page loading speed
- content volume and quality
- backlink quality
- mobile responsiveness
- and much more.
When it is done right, SEO can deliver for you in terms of:
- Better lead generation
- Higher ranking position in search engine results
- More, relevant website traffic
- Being seen online by the right people at the right time
- Engagement opportunities
- Improved brand recognition and awareness
- More customer queries
- More bookings and sales
- Boosted customer retention
- Fantastic loyalty rates
The Importance of an Expert SEO Provider
A lot of marketers have a basic understanding of SEO. But this doesn’t make them SEO experts.
Doing SEO properly – and with integrity for the client – is very involved. While some SEO actions can be adopted into a website by almost anyone, optimal SEO results will only be achievable with an ongoing campaign facilitated by an experienced provider who has the expertise, insight, technical tools, and relevant support.
By choosing a reputable agency, like Irvine marketing agency Twelve12, you can be assured that your business’s SEO campaign is being managed by a genuine, dedicated SEO expert who works as part of the wider marketing agency team. Your investment in this aspect of your marketing is sound and, with the patience that SEO requires, you will see results in time.
Comprehensive SEO – What’s Involved?
- Keyword analysis
- Keyword optimisation
- Website audit and analysis
- URL optimisation
- Tag optimisation (titles, descriptions, anchor tags)
- Image optimisation
- Content creation/optimisation (home and landing pages)
- Blogging for SEO
- Sitemap creation/submission
- 404 error pages and 301 redirects
- Link building (internal and external)
- Article writing/optimisation – guest articles, etc
- Dynamic website content
- Social media posts for SEO (as opposed to marketing posts)
- Metrics/analytics/reporting
SEO is very important for marketing. Email marketing, Paid Ads, social media engagement, and other marketing approaches have their crucial place, but keyword-based search remains the primary route most users undertake to find what they’re looking for online.
Ongoing work is required for successful SEO, it’s a longer-term strategy that captures search engine bots and ultimately will, ideally, generate continuous, high-quality human traffic to your website.
The right marketing provider will make it worth your investment – so choose wisely.
