If you’re familiar with SEO, you’re also well-versed with the term SEO outsourcing. This is a process where an SEO agency hands over search engine optimization projects (on-page optimization and off-page optimization) to a third-party company, agency, or individual. The most important reason behind outsourcing is scaling the business and growing it further.
Questions to ask from an SEO Outsourcing Agency:
However, before outsourcing projects to a third-party company or agency, be ready with the following questions to understand the skill set and awareness of the agency about the subject matter:
What is their Specialization?
Ask the agency about their specialization. Each outsourcing agency has a specific specialization in SEO niches such as on-page, off-page, link building, and local SEO. However, some agencies claim to have expertise in every aspect of SEO. Either of these aspects has its benefits and drawbacks.
Having an agency with specialization has its business benefits. Such companies have focused on one or two aspects of the SEO service as they have expertise in them and know how to find and fix the errors there. They are fully aware of what to do and how to do it.
The idea has a drawback too. You have to spend a good amount of money to hire the service even if the agency has a core competency in select aspects of SEO. Instead, you can approach a boutique agency that throws equal attention to almost every aspect of the SEO.
Thus, before hiring the agency it’s required that you’re clear on your priorities and business goals. Go for one that fits your needs.
How do they adopt the SEO strategy?
This is the most pertinent question being asked before hiring an SEO agency. Every individual campaign is designed with a different approach since SEO is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every campaign needs a distinguished approach toward the industry, business model, and goals to accomplish.
SEO for a local business interested in attracting customers from a dozen zip codes requires a very different approach than SEO for a major corporation with a global market.
While hiring, don’t fall for experience, rather focus on the expertise. The most important attribute of the agency is to have the right approach for industry-specific projects.
How Do They Determine Campaign Timeline?
SEO takes time to bring results if teams abide by the standards and Google standards. A fully-packed SEO strategy may take at least six years to start showing expected results. But that doesn’t stop an agency from offering a stipulated period for results.
SEO results are dependent on several factors including technical aspects of the website and off-page as well as on-page optimization. It’s proven that fixing technical errors on the website can help you receive a notable improvement in ranking and traffic.
These SEO gains may happen in a short time. However, this isn’t a definite situation and may vary from one project to the other.
Essentially, results start to appear 5 to 6 months after the project is launched. If the outsourcing agency promises quick gains, ask them what strategy they will follow to secure the results. If they talk about illegitimate ways, they might be using outdated, spammy, and black hat techniques.
What is their approach to link acquisition?
Backlinks are the staple food of any SEO strategy. They boost brand authority and improve rankings. If a website doesn’t have backlinks from popular and authoritative websites, it becomes tough to rank higher.
A good outsourcing company has a well-defined link-building process and proven expertise in getting authority links for their clients. The links should be from high-quality resources such as directories, blogs, and PR journals.
How do they measure campaigns?
Another important aspect to enquire about is the process they use to measure the different metrics. Campaign measurement is a critical element of any campaign. When it comes to search engine optimization, several metrics are there that need to be evaluated. The number of links acquired during the campaign and fluctuations in keyword rankings is a few.
You must ask the agency how they will report the data and how often. You can make the right business decisions with the help of this data. Once the reports are in hand, it becomes
easier to reach your goals. Some questions that you might ask the agency are the following:
- How often do they send the progress report?
- How many and what tools do they use to measure campaign success?
- Which are the most important metrics they measure?
Don’t hesitate to ask the agency if they can provide past case studies or client success stories. It will help you determine how they measure success and what you can expect when they take up your project.
Conclusion
Finding an agency to outsource your SEO content marketing projects takes time and effort. An ideal agency puts its best and works hard on projects they work on. They apply ethical and SEO best practices to bring the best results possible. While reviewing an agency, prepare with the right questions that you need answers for.
Tarun Gupta, CEO of Brainpulse Technologies, is a prolific author and digital marketing specialist. His insightful writings span SEO, content marketing, social media strategy, and email campaigns, offering invaluable expertise to businesses worldwide. Tarun’s contributions continue to shape the digital marketing landscape, guiding success in multiple niches.
