Each second, Google receives more than 66,000 searches. For companies with a dedicated SEO strategy, this is great news–it means they’re likely to be found by potential customers.
But for companies that haven’t prioritized SEO, their competitors may be slipping ahead of them in the search rankings. If this sounds like your business, here are 10 signs you may need to get in touch with an SEO agency.
1. You’re Not Consistent
If you think you can install an SEO plugin and call it a day, it’s time for some real talk. SEO can make a massive difference to your business, but you have to give it time and attention.
SEO strategies and techniques are constantly changing, so you need to be prepared to do the homework and keep up to date with SEO best practices, apps, outreach, link building, and more.
If you’re not consistent with your SEO efforts but you’re aware of the benefits of SEO, you need an SEO agency.
2. You Skipped Local SEO
If you’re a local business, it makes sense to invest in local SEO. Your rankings shouldn’t be impacted by massive international firms or businesses located thousands of miles away.
Local SEO can help you appear where your local customers are searching–in the local search results.
Have you been wasting your marketing budget competing against some of the world’s largest companies? An SEO agency can help get your local SEO sorted so you can take advantage of leads right in your backyard.
3. You’ve Been Penalized
SEO has many different rules, and most of them have been created by Google. Even if you didn’t mean to break the rules, Google can punish your business by lowering your rankings until the issue is fixed.
You can be penalized for keyword stuffing, duplicate content, and particularly black hat SEO. This basically means you’ve tried to cheat, and Google will retaliate.
If you’ve been penalized, you’ll be notified in your Google Search Console. If you’re not sure how to access this or you don’t understand how to fix the problem, an agency can help.
4. You Have No Traffic
You may assume that your attractive, well-designed website and a good informational copy will generate sales. But the theory “build it and they will come” doesn’t work online.
If you’ve realized that you don’t have enough traffic to your website, you may have some underlying issues. These are often difficult for internal teams and business owners to spot.
Your website has a comprehensive list of features which should be reviewed and optimized to attract traffic. A reputable SEO agency can ensure your website gets a significant amount of the right traffic so you can convert more leads into customers.
5. You’re Solely Focusing on Content
Content is still king, but SEO is queen. SEO is a massive part of content marketing, and pumping out blog posts doesn’t necessarily mean great SEO and increased traffic.
Your content needs to be created specifically for your target audience. And it should include the type of keywords they’re searching for. SEO agencies will do this keyword research to find topics and keywords that are most achievable for you to rank with. They’ll also suggest longtail keywords that you may not have thought of.
Quickly boost your off site links with an agency like this one, offering guest post services.
6. SEO is Not a Priority
You can’t prioritize every aspect of your business, and it’s likely you’re already keeping multiple balls in the air at the same time. But if you want results from your SEO strategy, you’ll need to prioritize it.
That means constantly doing research, keeping on top of the latest tricks, distributing content, and more.
Often, businesses will find that SEO is too big for them to do themselves but too small for an in-house team to manage. An SEO agency is perfect for this middle ground.
If you’re finding that your marketing team is spread too thin, or you don’t have the skills to manage the work involved with an SEO strategy, it could be time to talk to an agency.
7. SEO Changes Too Fast
Google is constantly tweaking and updating its algorithm. That means that you need to be constantly tweaking and updating your SEO strategy.
If you don’t have the time to do this, your rankings can suffer. This is especially true if your competitors are up to date with the latest changes.
Hiring an agency that continually keeps up with these updates can take a massive weight off your shoulders as they’ll do the hard stuff for you.
8. Your Pay-Per-Click Costs are Too High
PPC can be a great way to boost traffic to your website. But if that traffic isn’t converting into paying customers, your ROI will be minimal.
PPC needs to be constantly monitored and updated. But SEO can take a while to get going but will create a lot of momentum. This means you can get targeted traffic without paying for every click.
That doesn’t mean quitting your PPC. But an SEO agency can help you augment your PPC efforts so you can enjoy higher ROI.
9. Your Business is Expanding
If you’re moving out of the local market and targeting a wider audience, it may be time to consult an agency.
That’s because you’ll need to know exactly what your new competitors are doing and what you’ll need to do to carve out a niche in an industry if it’s already established.
10. Your Website Has Changed
If you’ve updated your website and improved user-experience while incorporating modern design, your visitors are likely to stick around longer.
But these types of changes can also impact rankings. Sometimes, an updated website can mess up your navigation, leaving pages with no links to them. This can cause a sudden drop in your search engine rankings.
Before you make the change, it’s a good idea to consult an SEO firm. If you’ve already changed your website, it’s never too late to get an experienced agency to help you recover any lost rankings.
Is it Time to Talk to an SEO Agency?
If any of the above signs sound like your business, it may be time to talk to an SEO agency.
This will ensure that you have a smart SEO strategy going forward, so you can enjoy all of the benefits that come with great SEO, including more (targeted) traffic.
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