Here’s Some Tell Tale Signs It’s Time To Hand Over Your SEO
If you’re reading this the chances are you’ve already come to terms with the fact that your business needs SEO, if you want to garner interest online. You may already have an SEO strategy in place (maybe you haven’t) but you’re finding it hard to keep up the efforts, or you’re intentions are good but you’re not quite sure exactly what you’re doing.
When do you know it’s time to give it up as a bad job and employ an agency to manage SEO on your behalf? Well, we’ve put together a list of the 5 clear signs you need to work with an agency, but first…
What Is SEO?
SEO is an industry abbreviation for Search Engine Optimisation; essentially, the practice of optimising your website so that it ranks as highly as possible in Search Engine Results Pages (SERP’s) such as Google and Bing. Statistics show that the higher up your website in search engine results, the bigger share of clicks you’ll receive, ultimately, increasing traffic and overall conversions.
Why Do I Need SEO In The First Place?
The figures speak for themselves; ‘The #1 organic result is 10x more likely to receive a click compared to a page in #10 spot’ and ‘On average, moving up 1 spot in the search results will increase CTR by 30.8%’ (Source: Backlinko), with this in mind, it really does pay to drive your website up Google rankings for the keywords you identify as lucrative.
Let’s take the keyword ‘SEO agency’ for example, according to SEMRush, it has an estimated 6600 searches each month in the UK alone. On average, the number one result on Google would be bringing in 2056 clicks from that term alone, each month. Assuming a conversion rate of 2%, then the top listed business for that search would attract 40 leads per month!
(Bonus: If you’re interested in knowing what keywords your website ranks for right now, try our free keyword checker!)
All in all, improving your keyword rankings (the positions your website is listed) will improve traffic and enquiries, regardless of the business sector you’re in.
Here’s 5 Signs You Need An SEO Agency
Your SEO efforts Are All Or Nothing
As an SEO agency, we’ve seen it countless times; the companies with plenty of enthusiasm, willing to get stuck in and build their business using SEO, only to wane over time as results don’t come in quick enough. If you find yourself intermittently planning and half heartedly undertaking an optimisation strategy, followed by a long period of inactivity, then the chances are it’s time to employ an SEO agency.
The thing is, if this is you, you already know there are benefits to capitalising on organic search, otherwise why would you be attempting it in the first place? We’re not going to list every benefit of SEO, otherwise we’d be here all day, but as you’ve already given it a go yourself, you’ve probably come across statistics like:
- 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine
- SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media
- The #1 result in Google’s organic search results has an average CTR of 31.7%.
(Source: AHrefs)
With an SEO agency alongside your business you can ensure strategy is delivered properly and consistently, without the usual peaks and troughs you’ll inevitably see. Usually, a plan will be put together quarterly, designed to identify the terms your business is aiming to rank highly, how and by when, so there’s no grey area.
You Want To Seriously Grow Your Business
Why have a dog and bark yourself? If you’re serious about growing your business, it’s time to hand over some responsibility to the experts; you know your business, they know theirs. Employing an SEO agency will see results soar, compared to implementing them yourself, as they’ll have the inside track on what to do (and what not to do) to improve your search engine rankings.
Aside from the expertise, taking on an agency can also help you benefit from a fresh set of eyes. Perhaps you’ve been focussing your SEO efforts on a particular keyword when an alternative is far easier to capitalise on, with much higher traffic.
At the beginning of the relationship with your SEO agency, they should undertake keyword research, designed to find the best terms to drive traffic and conversions to your website. These keywords will also form the ongoing strategy, keeping you in the loop at every stage of strategy delivery.
Your Competitors Are Gaining Ground
Have you noticed that competitors are gaining ground on your search terms? This is a sure sign that it’s time to employ an agency to fight the battle (which you’re starting to lose) on your behalf. Let’s face it, not every business can be number one on Google Search Engine Results Pages, but the top spot is vital. As Backlinko suggest; ‘The number one result on Google gets 31% of all clicks’
As we’ve already discussed too, an improvement of one place in Google rankings can increase click through rate by 30%, which means if your competitors are gaining ground, they’re also capturing a bigger share of the traffic.
A good SEO agency not only helps you achieve high ranking keywords, they also understand what it takes to stay there too.
Don’t forget to keep an eye on paid ads too! Whilst these aren’t affected by SEO, your competitors increasing their Google Ads frequency could signal that they’re making a conceited effort on their digital marketing, which, ultimately, will lead to increased efforts on their SEO strategy.
You’re Out Of Your Depth
Do you really understand Google Search Console, Meta Tags, Schema Mark Up and all the other SEO lingo? If you’ve found yourself feeling a little confused when undertaking your search engine optimisation, then you need to find agency, quick.
In some cases, miss-guided efforts can be more bad than good, if you’re not 100% sure what you’re doing; with competing pages and poor keyword strategy actually resulting in a drop in traffic to your website.
You Need To Focus On Other Things
Here’s the reality, for most business owners SEO is tedious. If you’re finding that your day to day business is suffering, whilst you trudge your way through blog writing, on page changes and technical SEO updates, then it’s probably time to find an agency.
SEO people are an odd bunch, they actually like optimising for Google! Find an agency that understands your business, including what really drives conversions and you’ll be free to work on the elements you enjoy! It’s also worth communicating with your agency on the level of feedback you’d require; whilst some business owners want minimal interaction, with a brief overview of how SEO is improving, others want in depth, down to the day statistics. Whichever you choose should be fine with your agency.
The Wrap Up
SEO is one of the key tools in any digital marketing strategy and for good reason, the problem is, it’s an ongoing, never ending task. This is why many small businesses lose out when it comes to organic ranking as they’ll either start off with good intentions and fizzle, or simply bury their head in the sand, when they come up against something technical. Here’s the lowdown; if you’re not doing SEO, someone else is!
As technology (and Google Search) advances, small businesses in particular become more savvy, with an eye on SEO as a means of driving traffic, capturing leads and beating competition. Can your business afford to lose out? If you relate to any of the signs above, it’s worth speaking with an SEO agency as soon as possible, their benefit far outweighs their cost.
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