SEO Companies for Small Businesses | 2023

Why SEO is worth it for your small business?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the practices that  are aimed at improving the appearance and positioning of webpages in organic search results. SEO aims to increase the visibility of a website in the search results when internet users search for related terms on search engines such as Google, Bing etc. SEO is one of the most effective ways of getting targeted traffic to a website from a search engine’s organic rankings. Common SEO practices include creating quality content, writing strong meta descriptions, using effective titles and headings, optimising content around specific keywords, and building backlinks. With organic search topping the charts for ways in which people search and access content on the internet, the importance of SEO cannot be understated. Here are some of the reasons why investing in SEO will be a wise decision for your business,

• Increases website visibility and organic traffic
• Increases brand awareness and credibility
• Brings in quality traffic
• Improves user experience
• Increases the digital marketing ROI
• SEO enhances the success of a PPC campaign
• SEO is a long-term marketing strategy
• SEO campaigns can be monitored and tracked with the help of analytics

Collaborating with a SEO company that can craft and implement a quality SEO campaign will bring in long term measurable results for a small business. With digital transformation and the increase of e-commerce making the playing field level for businesses of all magnitudes investing in SEO is a worthy decision for a small business.

What are the top signs to start looking for a SEO company for your business?

Research has shown that 25 percent of the internet users select the first search result on the Google search engine and the first three search results on Google get 75.1 percent of all clicks. These statistics show the increasing need to implement SEO strategies for all your digital channels, especially your website. Here are strong signs that you need to start looking for a SEO company for your business,

• Your business is relying heavily on paid Ad campaigns
• Your website is not visible on major search engines
• There is negligible traffic coming in from search engines
• The sales of your business is dependent on organic traffic
• Lack of resources and time to carry out an internal SEO campaign
• You are aiming to rebrand or expand your business
• Your website has received a SEO penalty from Google
• Your website is not mobile friendly
• Your in-house SEO campaign is cost intensive and is not bringing in the desired results.

These are some of the strong indicators that it may be time to outsource your SEO needs to an expert SEO agency that can implement a quality SEO campaign as well as save you time and money by being more efficient.

How does a small business SEO agency work?

The services that a SEO agency offers to help implement a SEO strategy for a small business are,

• Preliminary Audit: The SEO preliminary audit is done to understand where the webpage currently stands and what its ranking is. It breaks down the site, identifies potential areas of concerns, does a preliminary keyword research and provides recommendations on what needs to be done to improve the current standing.
• Competitive Analysis: Competitive analysis involves researching the content, links and keywords used by your direct competitors in order to understand the opportunities that can be best exploited for your website. It also gives a fair idea of how competitive the sector is and how aggressive your SEO campaign should be.
• Keyword Research: This step is crucial to successfully implement a SEO strategy for your website. Keyword research involves researching the popular search terms entered into search engines and strategically including them into your content in order to make them rank higher on a search engine’s result page.
• On Page Optimization: On page SEO involves optimising the webpages in order to increase its search visibility and traffic. It refers to all the tactics that can be taken directly on the website to improve its standings. On page optimization techniques involve aligning the page elements such as title tags, headings, internal links and content with keywords.
• Off Page Optimization: Off page SEO refers to all the optimization techniques that are taken outside of a webpage in order to increase its standing. This involves creating quality backlinks, submitting the website to directories, creating content and sharing it on social media.
• Technical Optimization: Technical SEO refers to improving the technical aspects of the website in order to make it rank higher on a search engine. It involves optimising the website and the server in order to help search engine spiders crawl and index the site more effectively. Technical SEO involves improving mobile usability and site speed, managing index and crawling errors and structuring the data.

SEO agencies will have a team of subject matter experts in areas such as technical SEO, local SEO, content strategy and reporting in order to provide a well-designed and custom SEO strategy for their client.

How to select the right SEO company for a small business?

While we have already understood the importance of SEO for a small business, it is equally important to choose the right SEO agency that can bring in measurable results for your business. Here is how to go about choosing the SEO company that works best for your business,

• Have a clear-cut idea about the goals and objective of your SEO campaign and your needs and requirements from the SEO agency. This is the first step in finding an agency that can help you meet these goals.
• Narrow down and choose a SEO agency based on their portfolio, client testimonials, online reviews and client references. Referrals and word-of-mouth can also play a major role in helping you find an expert SEO agency.
• Select a firm that can deliver on KPIs and metrics that work best for you.
• Find out about the tools and techniques they use to execute a SEO campaign. It is not only important to make sure that they are using the latest tools, techniques and processes but also to make sure that their campaign strategy is streamlined and effective.
• Make sure you meet the team that will be working on your account. Ensure that the team that is working with you has the expertise required to implement the SEO campaign as well as prior experience in doing so.
• Most importantly choose a company that communicates with you effectively.

These tips will help you choose a SEO agency with whom you can trust your business’ web presence with.

How would you estimate the cost and time duration of hiring a small business SEO agency?

While the cost of hiring a SEO company depends on multiple factors, the average cost of hiring a SEO agency for a small business ranges from $ 750 to $ 2000 per month. And the average cost of hiring a SEO agency for a one-time project ranges from $ 5000 to $ 30,000. The factors that affect the cost of hiring a SEO agency and implementing a campaign are,

• The goals of the campaign
• The SEO agency’s experience
• Timeline of the campaign
• Tools and resources required to execute the campaign
• Your website’s current technical state
• Your website’s current ranking on popular search engines
• Your company’s competition in that sector or industry

While a well-executed SEO campaign can bring in long term results and impacts for a business, a SEO campaign also takes a long period of time to start bringing in measurable results for a business. According to experts a SEO campaign will take around 6 – 12 months before you can start seeing its full benefits and value. While 6 – 12 months is the general benchmark, the time required for your SEO campaign to bring in results depends on the goals of your campaign, the magnitude of the campaign and the techniques being utilised.

Questions to ask SEO agencies before finalising one.

Considering that there are thousands of SEO agencies out in the market it can be quite overwhelming to choose one and trust them with your company’s online presence. Consider asking these questions to your prospective SEO agencies to evaluate whether they are the right fit for you.

• Do you have prior experience in this particular industry or sector? (Especially important if you operate in a niche sector)
• Which KPIs and metrics are valuable and of priority to you?
• When can we expect to see tangible and measurable results from the SEO campaign?
• What are the tools and techniques that your agency will use for the campaign?
• How will we receive monitoring updates and reports from your agency?
• How do you conduct keyword research and how will you select the top keywords for our brand?
• How will you customise the SEO campaign strategy to our business and brand?
• How will the SEO strategy incorporate into our overall marketing strategy?
• What will you require from our end for the SEO campaign?

Having a discussion with your SEO agency regarding these questions will give you an insight into how the agency functions, what their philosophy and work culture is and on whether they will be a right fit for your business.