Have you thought of hiring an Edmonton SEO agency? If you’re a business owner in Edmonton, it’s never been more essential to look after your online presence.
Digital resources are booming in Edmonton, and the idea of going through several SEO and social media agencies without much idea of what you’re looking for – and what you need – can be a daunting one.
So, the Get Social team has put together a list of what to consider when selecting the right Edmonton SEO agency for your brand. Let’s get into it!
About Local SEO
First, let’s discuss a little of what local SEO actually is – and how it can help build your business.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a strategy for improving and optimizing your website content to help organically increase its ranking on major search engines. The ultimate aim is to drive prospects to your site based on these intentional keywords – and turn these prospects into customers.
SEO strategy focuses on ranking specific keywords directly related to your business or brand with online content like blogs, website copy, or carefully crafted link-building strategies.
Local SEO takes this one step further and uses the above tactic to target local geographical areas to improve search result visibility. This is an incredible tool for brick-and-mortar businesses that rely on a customer base within a 50-kilometre radius.
1. Get Granular With Your Business Goals
Before going too far down the rabbit hole of Edmonton SEO agencies, it’s important to get clarity on what you’re looking for.
- Are you looking to increase sales through strategic keyword ranking?
- Are you ranking decently, but struggling with a high bounce rate?
- Are you looking to increase brand visibility?
- Are you starting from scratch? Do you need a website built and strategically optimized for high search engine results?
- Are you looking to direct more qualified leads to your site?
Consider other facets of digital marketing within your business. Do you need social media management? Google and Facebook Ads? Website development and support? Coaching?
Getting specific helps you find the agencies that can build a custom plan with your business goals in mind.
2. Be Wary Of Guarantees!
SEO isn’t magic, it takes real and concerted effort coupled with regular analysis and tactical adjustments to succeed – and even then, there are no promises. There’s no waving a magic wand and poof! instant number-one rankings.
That said, while the success of SEO partly depends on elusive search engine algorithms, it isn’t a mystical practice. Be wary of agencies who use overcomplicated jargon to try to confuse you, are hesitant to share how they operate or claim to have some sort of specific inside knowledge or contacts to help your website improve.
Spoiler alert: no one has ‘insider knowledge.’
Exercise care when agencies make grand, sweeping guarantees and promises – specifically when it pertains to getting ‘fast’ results in a certain amount of time.
While it’s normal for a good agency to be optimistic and confident in their practices, they should never guarantee results and set realistic expectations for timelines.
3. Pore Over Portfolios
Most Edmonton SEO agencies will proudly display how they’ve helped past and current clients with their marketing strategies on their websites.
So, if a prospect doesn’t have a readily available portfolio of past clients and at least a handful of positive testimonials – move on to the next.
4. Evaluate Their Content
It’s well and good to have excellent business acumen, a strong process, and a beautiful portfolio – but if your SEO agency features sub-par content writing, this can be what sinks the proverbial ship.
At Get Social YEG, we take great pride in the copy and content we produce. We believe in writing for humans first – Google second. While SEO implementation in accordance with best practices is very important, we also believe in putting out great content for our clients with user intent in mind.
Not only does this help our clients grow as an authority in their niche by providing genuinely well written, informative content – it helps move their potential customers through the buying journey that much more effectively.
5. Get Transparent!
It’s great to talk about goals and strategy at a high level, but, as they say, the devil is in the details.
Ask your agency prospects about their project management process, the systems they use, how much communication and input they’ll need from you, how they stay abreast of ever-fluid SEO best practices, and how much experience they have within your niche.
A solid agency typically will lay this out themselves, but it’s good to have these checkpoints in mind.
Build Your Business With Get Social YEG Today!
Using the power of social media and meticulous SEO strategy, we help our clients grow their online presence. If you’re looking for an Edmonton SEO agency book your complimentary consultation. We love to chat – reach out to our team today!
