It may not technically be difficult to find an SEO company in South Africa, but when it comes to finding the RIGHT company, the search can be a lot more challenging than you may have imagined.
Of course, this is true of any professional service. You would not take short cuts when seeking a qualified, professional doctor for your health needs, or a trained, equipped teacher for your child’s education. Why is it then that it is still so common for businesses to take short cuts when outsourcing their search engine optimization? Choosing the first company that you find is often not only a waste of your resources; it can also end up setting your website marketing back drastically when the company is not able to get the job done.
With this in mind, there are a few things that you can do to ensure that you find the best SEO company in SA for your specific needs and requirements.
Choosing the Best SEO Company for Your Needs
Searching for the right SEO partner to take your website where it needs to go? Here are a few questions to ask prospective agencies to get a better idea of whether or not they will be the right choice.
How will the agency determine which keywords to use for your search engine optimisation strategies?
Keyword research comprises one of the most important aspects of any optimisation campaign. As such, this is something that a good agency should be able to master. Without a solid plan in mind, (and the right research and planning to back up the plan) it will be nearly impossible to get anywhere. Ask whether their strategy includes keyword research, and find out how this research is done to get the best range of keywords for your website.
Will optimisation include an analysis of your website’s design, navigation, content and incoming links?
A good agency will give insight into your current website, and how it can be improved for better optimisation. Many areas of a website can affect SEO (positively or negatively), from the design to the coding, navigation, content, linking and even the overall ease of use. Having an expert opinion on what works and what doesn’t work will go a long way in helping you improve your results in search engines.
Can they also provide any competitor or industry analysis to see which sites are performing well and why?
Competitive research is vital to ensure that you are keeping up with the proverbial online Joneses. Without insight into your competition’s online efforts, how will you be able to target them online? Knowing the keywords that they are using, how they are ranking for specific pages, whether their flashing new mini-site is bringing them any success and even how their content compares to yours will all give you the edge, helping you improve your own efforts tenfold.
This informative SEO consultant guide from ignitevisibility.com shares 70 hours of research into the top questions you should ask, and qualities you should look for, when hiring an SEO consultant for your business.
Will the agency be providing content for your website or will you have to do this yourself?
Do not assume that this is something you should be able to do yourself. In the world of search engine optimisation, content is everything. An agency that does not have any SEO copywriting services may not be able to bring you the results you want, meaning that you should keep your sights set on those who do provide expertly written, optimised content as part of their service offering.
Does the agency have any strategies in place for off-site optimisation and promotion through channels such as blogs, video, social media, articles and others?
Off-site optimisation is often just as important as on-site optimisation – some may even say more so. Without a good linking strategy in place, it will be downright impossible to get anywhere results-wise. This should not include any dodgy, spammy strategies either. What you want is tried and tested white hat search strategies that help you promote your website without losing any favour with major search engines such as Google.
Don’t ever feel shy about asking direct questions such as these when seeking out prospective agencies that you are interested in partnering with for your website marketing. It is always a good idea to get references, testimonials, case studies and anything else that may help give you a better idea of what the agency is all about. Being clear and upfront right from the get-go will certainly save you a lot of time and stress (not to mention costs!) in the long run. By making an informed decision, it will become far simpler to choose an SEO company in South Africa that can add real, measurable value to your campaigns.
If your company needs help in attaining the search engine goals it requires, email us today and let’s see how we can help your company. To read about some of our past results, take a look at our case studies