The first three months with an SEO agency are very significant. The period can shape the long-term success of your business’s online presence. During this phase, the agency develops, optimizes, and fine-tunes your SEO strategy to align with your goals. This initial phase helps you set the foundation for future growth.
During this period, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how the agency analyzes your website and the strategies they put in place to improve your rankings. The results may not be immediate, but this is the period when the agency does the crucial groundwork. By knowing what to expect and staying aligned with your agency’s efforts, you can effectively measure progress and avoid potential roadblocks.
In this blog, we’ll explore why these first few months matter so much and how they contribute to building a strong SEO foundation for the long haul.
Month 1: Getting Started and Initial Assessment
Onboarding
When you partner with an SEO agency, the initial month is all about getting on the same page and setting the stage for future success. The onboarding process is the first step, where you’ll likely be introduced to their team and begin sharing relevant data. They get access to your website, analytics tools, and any past SEO efforts. The more information you provide, the better the agency can understand your business and create a customized SEO strategy for your business.
SEO Audit
Once the agency team gathers all the necessary details, they move forward with a comprehensive SEO audit. This step uncovers your website’s current SEO status. During the audit, the agency evaluates key factors such as page load speed, mobile optimization, and site structure. They'll also analyze the quality of your content, keyword usage, and meta tags, along with off-page elements like backlinks and social media presence.
Goal Setting
After the audit, the next step will be goal setting. During this phase, the SEO agency you hired will work closely with your in-house team to understand your business objectives, whether increasing web traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales.
From there, the agency aligns your SEO goals with those business targets. It will ensure that the strategy is clear and measurable. With business goals in place, they can organize their efforts and provide you with something important to track.
Competitor Analysis
Competitor analysis is another important element of the strategy that an agency should cover in the first month. The agency will research and evaluate your competitors to understand where you stand. By analyzing competitors’ SEO strategies, backlink profiles, keyword usage, and overall performance, the agency can identify gaps or opportunities you might have missed. This also helps to refine your strategy and ensures you're not just improving your SEO, but doing so in a way that helps you get an edge over your competitors.
Month 2: Strategy Implementation and Initial Changes
Site Speed Improvements
At this stage, the agency will prioritize improving website speed, a critical factor for both user experience and search rankings. This could involve actions like compressing images, reducing unnecessary code, and optimizing server configurations to speed up loading times.
Mobile Optimization
With the rise of mobile users, mobile optimization is now a major focus. The agency will ensure that your website is fully responsive and easy to navigate on smartphones and tablets for improved functionality and enhanced user engagement.
Metadata Adjustments
The agency will also focus on metadata adjustments during this period. They update title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags. These elements will be optimized to align with targeted keywords and improve visibility in search results.
Content Strategy
Blog Posts and Long-Tail Keywords
The agency will now start working on improving your content on the website. They will start creating new blog posts targeting long-tail keywords. These articles will help capture specific search queries and attract more targeted traffic to your website.
On-Page SEO Refinements
The agency will also focus on on-page SEO improvements, such as optimizing content, refining keyword usage, and ensuring the website follows SEO best practices for better search visibility.
Updating Existing Content
Besides adding new content to the website, they will also update older blog posts and pages. These revisions will ensure your content remains relevant, fresh, and optimized to meet current SEO standards.
Link-Building Efforts
Identifying Link Opportunities
An organized link-building strategy is also of utmost importance. The agency will now start identifying high-quality backlink opportunities. This may include outreach to bloggers, influencers, or industry-related sites to secure guest post opportunities or other forms of collaboration.
Securing Initial Backlinks
While link-building takes time, the agency will begin securing initial backlinks from authoritative sites. These will help increase your site's credibility and improve its authority in search engine rankings.
Month 3: Monitoring, Reporting, and Adjustment
Monitoring Key Metrics
As the third-month approaches, the agency will actively track your website's performance using critical metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and user engagement using tools such as Google Analytics and Search Console. These tools will provide insights into how users are interacting with your site.
Identifying Trends
The data collected will help identify trends, such as which pages are attracting more visitors or where users might be dropping off. This ensures the agency can focus on strategies that drive results while focusing on required improvement.
Adjusting Strategies
Refining Keywords and Content
Using the data from the first two months, the agency will adjust keyword targeting, focusing on terms that show higher potential for ranking and conversions. If certain blog posts or pages aren’t performing well, they might be re-optimized or revamped for better results.
Experimenting with New Tactics
Based on insights, the agency may test new approaches, such as targeting additional audiences or experimenting with different content types like videos or infographics to boost engagement.
Review and Reporting
Monthly Reports
At this stage, the agency will provide detailed monthly reports highlighting progress and results. These reports will include data on traffic, rankings, and conversions, along with comparisons to previous months to show growth.
Clear KPIs
The report will cover specific key performance indicators (KPIs), such as improved page rankings for target keywords or increased time spent on site. This transparency ensures you’re fully aware of what’s working and where adjustments are needed.
Month three focuses on evaluating the success of the strategy, making data-driven adjustments, and providing transparent reporting to keep you informed. This stage will help to make a solid foundation for long-term SEO success by refining efforts based on real-world results.
Conclusion:
SEO is a long-term strategy that requires patience and steady effort to deliver meaningful results. While quick wins may occasionally occur, significant improvements in rankings, traffic, and conversions often take months. To achieve lasting success, you must stay involved and maintain open communication with your SEO agency. Regularly review reports, ask questions, and provide feedback to ensure alignment with your business goals.
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.
