18 Things All Advanced SEO Services Have in Common: How to Pick the Best Service for Your Website

Although always evolving, and often to the frustration of marketers, search engine optimization (SEO) is still one of the most important components of Internet marketing.

It’s so important so that any organization, regardless of size or industry, can reap its rewards, provided it’s done right, of course.

To ensure your SEO services provider delivers the best possible results for your campaign, I’ve compiled a list of qualities all advanced services have in common, which you should look out for when choosing a service.

Substantial SEO Experience

SEO agencies are a dime a dozen, with a new one seemingly sprouting out of nowhere on an almost daily basis.

And just because someone calls himself an SEO expert, doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing. As such, it’s important to check an SEO services provider’s background, portfolio, references, and years of experience.

While age isn’t an immediate indicator of reliability, any SEO company that’s managed to stay afloat for a decade more than likely has a set of happy clients to boast of.

Technical SEO Know-how 

SEO expertise means having knowledge of the technical aspects of SEO, which includes:

• Website structure and crawl friendliness
• On-page optimization and the use of keywords and HTML tags
• Link building and other off-site optimization methods

The best SEO services take a holistic approach to SEO. As such, you need someone who’s an expert in all three aspects.

Commitment to White Hat Techniques

A reliable SEO will only use safe white hat SEO techniques and nothing that might cause Google to penalize your site, such as buying links, creating dummy social media accounts, and using link blog networks. Artificial link building is perhaps one of the fastest ways to hurt your SERP ranking; unfortunately, many SEOs knowingly ignore Google’s warnings. 

Services Beyond SEO

As counterintuitive as it sounds, a reliable SEO service provider will go beyond search marketing, offering a comprehensive Internet marketing audit and plan that leverages all possible channels and platforms to improve your site’s performance in the following ways:

• Online Visibility
• Lead Generation
• Conversions

Why pay a company that only does link building, when there’s a better one out there doing that and so much more effectively?

Clear Deliverables

Hiring the services of an SEO provider means having agreed on specific deliverables to be expected from your transaction. These can include, but are not limited to the following:

• A website audit
• Monthly reports
• Milestones
• Establishment of target KPIs (key performance indicator)

These deliverables are critical to knowing whether your SEO campaign is successful or not. 

Familiarity with Industry Trends

It’s imperative for an SEO specialist to keep up to date with the latest trends in the industry. This is especially important, as SEO constantly changes, and following best practices is the best way to protect your site from being penalized, or worst, outright banned from the search results.

Top SEO specialists will know the current landscape of SEO like they do the back of their hand. They’ll also have a general idea on what to expect from future updates, based on the direction search engines like Google are taking with their algorithm updates (i.e. a stronger focus on content). 

Healthy Skepticism Regarding Search Algorithm Trends

However, someone who claims to know everything about Google’s search algorithm probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Sure, I know what methods have positive and adverse effects on a site’s rankings on Google’s SERPs, but I can’t claim to know all of the intricacies of Google’s algorithm, nor will I claim to know how exactly it might change in the future.

Backend Data Knowledge

Advanced SEO specialists will also be familiar with website backend data. Perhaps the biggest reason to hire the services of an SEO expert lies in how technical it can get, encompassing coding, meta-tagging, and analytics, all of which are half of what makes SEO so effective.

To launch an effective campaign, it’s not enough to know the general or basic concepts of SEO. You also need backend data expertise. 

Ability to Interpret Website Data

Given the sheer volume of information and numbers that come into play with SEO, it’s important for a provider to know what the data or analytics are telling them.

With the various tactics you can try to boost your ranking, your analytics data will tell you everything you need to know about what’s working and what isn’t—the only problem is whether or not you know where to look and what the data means.

An SEO should understand your site’s analytics, identifying the impact (or lack thereof) of specific measures implemented in your campaign, knowing what to keep or change when moving forward.

Knowledge of Channels that Affect SEO

With so many channels for communication that can affect your site’s search ranking, it’s necessary for SEO providers to know how each one comes into play with your campaign.

For example, while social media may not be a direct ranking signal (as stated by Google’s John Mueller in an interview), the two still have indirect connections worth optimizing, making it important to understand its role in your company’s Google ranking. Social media can be used to siphon traffic to landing pages on your site, thereby improving their rankings.

An Understanding of the Real Goals of SEO

 What is the SEO’s focus? Is it traffic via increased rankings on search engine results pages? Or is it conversions, the process of converting a visitor into a paying customer?

While at first, SEO is all about improving rankings to increase traffic, the real endgame is driving more people to turn into customers. A reliable SEO provider will know this as they appreciate the importance of looking at the big picture.

Excellent Communication Skills

The best SEOs all have the ability to break down advanced SEO concepts into layman’s terms, helping business understand just what it is that’s happening with their campaigns. SEOs must have the ability to communicate clearly why a recommended change has to be made on your site, providing understandable reasons and clear expected results.

Communication is also a critical skill when your SEO has to work with your company’s existing IT team, which is bound to happen at some point.

Provides Realistic Timeframes for Results

You know what’s one way of spotting a shady SEO services provider? It’s when they promise you visible results in a short span of time, like a week or so.

The bitter truth about SEO is that any increased rankings for a certain keyword made by optimizing the site will show up after quite a bit of time. Anyone promising otherwise is either lying or using some kind of black hat method that might end up penalizing your site.

If you ask me, I’m much more likely to trust someone who gives a lengthy timeframe to account for content creation and building organic links (which can eat up a lot of time) than someone who promises instant results.

A Quality Over Quantity Approach to Link Building

The success of an SEO campaign can be hinged on the success of your link building efforts. Gone are the days of link building by volume and paying for links, so you should probably avoid any SEO provider taking this kind of approach.

With Google’s Penguin update built to sniff out black hat link building techniques, the focus now is on high quality link building, developing ways to link to high PR sites organically.

Case Studies

Case studies serve as proof of how well an SEO provider’s services worked for their clients. The best SEO services will be more than happy to give you links or copies to their case studies or references, giving you an idea of how happy their clients were with their work. Naturally, the more successful case studies, the more likely an SEO company will give you great results.

Real-world Marketing Savvy

When it comes right down to it, the meat and potatoes of SEO is very much like regular marketing.

For example:

• Content has to convey the value of your product/service, helping convert the reader into a customer/
• Content and messages have to appeal to the user reading the search engines results pages, giving them a brief but detailed description on what your site has to offer.

Ability to Adjust to Your Brand Culture

Although learning curves will always be there, the best SEO services providers are able to fit into any company culture, whether it’s I.T., sales, retail, analytics, or customer service.

SEOs are expected to be able to work effectively with members of your team, matching your personality, vision, and communication style. 

A Knack for Getting Things Done

Effective SEO companies are all about getting results.

SEO is largely a trial and error process, but great SEOs will stop at nothing to get around obstacles and problems. Of course, this means your company must be open-minded enough to explore and experiment with SEO techniques and A/B testing.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether your business is a small startup, a large organization, or something in between, if you need to leverage traffic from the Internet for your marketing or sales, turning to search engine optimization should definitely be in your playbook.

When hiring an SEO specialist, look for someone with real vision, someone who can identify goals tailored to your unique situation.

Most of all, be patient. Successful SEO campaigns can take several months to come into fruition, so don’t expect instant gains in rankings and traffic. As mentioned earlier, any company promising that probably shouldn’t be trusted with your money.

How about you? Do you have any recommended qualities in an SEO you’d like to share?