We already know what you’re thinking: “You’re an SEO agency. Of course, you think hiring an SEO agency is right for me.” You’d be correct in thinking that, but anyone who works in the SEO industry knows that it is an incredibly frustrating and constantly changing part of digital marketing.
SEO is much more than writing blogs. SEO is about staying on top of industry trends, following best practices, keeping up with algorithm updates, and avoiding common pitfalls. Doing all of these things makes it incredibly difficult for someone to focus on their own job and responsibilities. And it’s this reason why we think most businesses would benefit from an SEO agency.
Stay Informed of Industry Trends
SEO, on its surface, may seem like a simple concept. Provide the best answer to a question and get Google to put you on the first page. But the reality of achieving that goal isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, aiming to refine and improve their engine to help people find what they’re looking for and demote the results of those who are trying to game the system. These changes can happen multiple times a day. For example, in 2018 there were an average of 9 changes per day!
With changes happening so frequently, it can’t be someone’s part-time job to handle all things SEO. A full-time commitment is needed to understand these changes and figure out how they apply to your website.
This is where an agency’s SEO services can save you time and money. An inbound marketing agency that offers SEO services makes its living by staying informed. These professionals are dedicated to staying on top of SEO trends and getting in front of search engine changes that could have a negative impact on your web traffic.
Spend More Time Focusing on What You Do Best
If we set aside the investment required to master SEO and stay on top of the latest trends, it still takes time to put all that knowledge to work. SEO isn’t a one-time investment. As you continue to create content and add pages to your website, there will be an ongoing need to ensure that those pages are optimized. If you change brand messaging or go through a website redesign, SEO is also needed to ensure you’re not changing copy or pages that rank.
You may find that continuously thinking about how SEO applies to your content is diverting your attention from your actual job. If you weren’t specifically hired to take care of the SEO for your website, but you’re the one actively working on it, you’re not only wasting your time, but you’re wasting your company’s money. That isn’t to say that you’re bad at SEO, but you should be focusing on your job rather than other areas. You don’t expect a surgeon to also take out the trash, so why should you expect a non-SEO expert to be the one working on SEO.
An Agency Knows All the SEO Tactics
As the field of SEO has evolved, the criteria that Google and other search engines use to rate and rank your website have followed suit. Many years ago, search engine ranking was determined solely by the content on your website and the keywords present. Over time, however, it has grown to include measurements like how quickly your webpage loads and other technical signals.
The end goal of these changes and improvements is to create an algorithm that can predict the experience a human would have with a given web page, which is why a metric like page speed matters. Have you ever given up on waiting for a webpage to load? I’d be lying if I said I haven’t, and that’s precisely why Google is making these technical signals so important.
Making changes to your website to improve SEO ranking based on performance, user experience, and security are not always obvious. If done improperly, they can end up having the opposite of the intended effect. If you optimize a web page for SEO by dropping image resolution to make your page load faster, but then the images are blurry or don’t accurately display your offerings, your efforts are counterproductive.
Avoid the Pitfalls
In the SEO world, there are many different techniques you can apply to improve your rankings. Unfortunately, not all techniques are “approved” by search engine developers. There are some that are considered as gaming the system, called black hat, which means the practitioner chooses to ignore what search engines deem a violation of their guidelines where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve.
Sadly it isn’t always easy to know right from wrong. In fact, the Google Chrome team accidentally used a black hat technique at one point. As a result, Chrome was penalized by the Google Search engine team, and Chrome’s rankings dropped as a result.
If you’re caught using black-hat tactics, the search engine can reduce your rankings or, in the worst case, completely remove your site from their index. This can be a devastating blow to a brand trying to build its online presence. The immediate reward is not worth the long-term risk.
SEO agencies are familiar with the range of techniques available and know which ones are safe and which should be avoided. Paying for SEO services from the right company that only uses white-hat techniques can improve your rankings quickly, while ensuring that everything is done ethically.
Is utilizing the services of an SEO agency a requirement for any company? Absolutely not. Your business might be able to hire someone in-house to take care of all your digital marketing needs. Or you might be the kind of person who wants to “wing it”. But there are plenty of strong reasons to hire a team of experts to take care of your SEO needs. A fully dedicated SEO team can more easily stay on top of current trends, they can make sure you’re not taking time away from your job, utilize best practices, and avoid common mistakes.
If you think you can benefit from having a dedicated SEO team, reach out to us for a free consultation.