Local SEO is a crucial part of your marketing campaign – or at least it should be – and the more you know about it, the more you’ll realize this is the case. However, unless you have a lot of time to spare and you have a lot of knowledge in SEO practices (which, as a business owner in a specific (non-SEO) sector, is probably not the case), it’s best to hire professionals to help you with this aspect of your marketing.
The problem is that it can be hard to know who you should hire. There are many different firms out there, but not all of them will be as good as the next. This is why you need to consider a few different factors when hiring a local SEO expert. Read on to find out where to start.
Specific Knowledge
If you want to get the best results out of your local SEO marketing, you’ll need to ensure that the company you’re hiring has that specific knowledge. Professionals like YEAH! Local who work in local SEO as their core business are the ideal choice because there are certain differences between local SEO and standard SEO.
In order to get a good idea of what the experts you are considering can do, take a look at their results – they should post them as a form of marketing for themselves, so ideally, they’ll be easy to find. If not, you’ll need to ask for the data. This way, you can be sure that they really can do what you need them to do and that they have positive results to back it up.
Reputation
When you are choosing a local SEO company to work with, their reputation is crucial. It’s important for all businesses to have a positive reputation, but when it comes to SEO – such an important part of your marketing and potentially something that is going to take up a lot of your budget – it’s vital. After all, this is the business you’re handing your marketing over to, and you’ll need to know they can do a good job and not sully your name in the process.
It’s a good idea to pick an SEO company with a lot of experience and one that is visible in the search engine rankings, just like you want to be. This will help you see their good reputation and ensure you can work together to create a positive impact on your bottom line.
Positive Reviews
Who else has used the local SEO experts you’re thinking of using yourself? This is easy to find out, as you’ll just need to look for reviews about their service and business. Although testimonials on the company’s website are a good start, they are only telling a fraction of the story – there won’t be any negative reviews there for a start.
Do your own research and look at a number of third-party review sites to get a better picture of how the company operates. What are their results like? Are they good value for money? How about their customer service (you need to be able to work closely with them, so you need to know they’ll offer good customer service)? Do as much research as you need to get a better idea of whether or not this is the right partner for you to work with. Even if this means your marketing campaign is delayed slightly, it’s worth getting right so that everything else can fall into place.