What kind of services should my SEO agency provide?

The world of digital marketing includes several different elements, including SEO services. Yet, many organizations are not getting the most from their SEO strategies, primarily because they don't know what to look for when it comes to SEO services from their agency.

How important is SEO really?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is essential if you want to gain traction with online shoppers. It refers to the process, practices, and tactics used to increase your rankings for search engines. Doing this makes it more likely that when someone searches for a product or service that you provide, they'll see your business site first.

Over the past two years along, e-commerce has grown dramatically. According to Statista, in 2020, over two billion people made online purchases. Revenue for e-retailers for that year was over $4.2 trillion. More importantly, 40 percent of online shoppers use search engines to find products and services to buy.

In Canada alone, 82 percent shopped online in 2020, compared to 73 percent just two years earlier.  And the numbers have increased due to COVID restrictions. That is a lot of sales that you may be missing out on. Essentially, if you want to boost your revenue and attract online customers, you'll need to work on your SEO strategy.

SEO is more than keywords

Most people think of keywords or phrases when they think of SEO tactics. But optimizing your website needs to go beyond sticking in a few words or phrases on the page. Search engine algorithms are regularly updated, and you'll need a marketing team that stays up-to-date on the changes. At Soap Media, we know SEO, and we use the most current tactics to optimize your website. Our SEO specialists go beyond keywords and phrases to help you get the results you want from search engines.

What kind of SEO services should my marketing agency provide?

When you hire an SEO agency, your business has certain expectations, and most of those revolve around improving your company's visibility online. But how do you know what SEO services are a must-have? Here are the services your marketing agency should be providing.

SEO audit

You should always begin with an SEO audit for your website. This is a comprehensive look at your website and any SEO strategy you've been using. It is essential to find your site's strengths and weaknesses. These will be areas that point to the SEO services you'll need the most. Before your marketing agency can prepare an effective SEO strategy, you should complete an SEO audit. Otherwise, how will your team know what SEO elements need to be updated? Try our Free Site Audit Tool.

Competitor analysis

Understanding where your top competitors rank in terms of SEO can also reveal where your website needs work. Including a competitor analysis as an SEO service can give you an edge by identifying weaknesses in your competitor's SEO strategy. Work with an SEO agency that offers competitor analysis as part of their ongoing service so you can stay ahead of your competitors. Regularly reviewing what other companies in your space are doing online can help you recognize trends and changing habits.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is the most common SEO technique offered by marketing agencies. It includes optimizing elements such as:

• • • • images
      • sitemaps
      • header tags
      • title tags

meta descriptions

On-page SEO is where keywords come into play. Your team will work on these words and phrases to make it easier for a search engine to find your content. However, the days of keyword stuffing are passed. These keywords need to fit naturally into the writing. Readers should feel the content flows effortlessly.

Off-page SEO

Boosting elements that are not front and centre on your website is just as important. This includes strengthening your site's backlinks to help give your brand more authority online. These are links from other sites that direct readers to your content. The more quality backlinks your SEO team can get, the more your organization's reputation will grow. Search for an SEO agency that offers various off-page SEO services, such as:

• SEO for Google My Business
• Monitor social media mentions for your company
• Building connections with other organizations that can share your content
• Creating content you can share

Regular reports

SEO agencies that provide regular reports and updates demonstrate their value through transparency and trust. Performance reports can help you better understand your SEO services' impact on your business. These reports can include a variety of information, including conversion rates, rankings, organic traffic to your website and more.

What to look for in an SEO agency

There are some crucial things you should watch for when you are considering hiring an SEO agency, including:

Strong reviews and case studies

Find out what other customers have to say about their experience with the SEO agency by reading online reviews of the company. It can also be useful to read the organization's SEO case studies to see how they used their SEO services to solve problems for other clients.

Fine print

Carefully read the fine print of the agreement, so you understand what you'll be getting and what you'll be paying in fees. Some SEO agencies will indicate extra charges, fees or penalties in the fine print.

Why choose Soap Media?

At Soap Media, our SEO specialists love what they do! We are committed to staying up-to-date with changing search engine algorithms and expectations. Our team wants to give you the best SEO services to boost your rank. And it's working - 80 percent of our clients have made it to the first page within 4 to 6 months of working with us.

If you want SEO services that give you results, talk to us. Book a free discovery call and let us help you build an SEO strategy that works.