Has an SEO agency burned you in the past? Were they late on what they offered to deliver or did they fail to get you the results you wanted to see? That agency’s SEO strategy could have failed for several reasons, such as using one-size-fits-all strategies, misunderstanding your industry, or even outsourcing the work to third parties instead of handling it in-house. In this blog, we’ll discuss red flags to avoid to ensure you have an SEO partner you can trust.
SEO Agency Red Flags to Avoid
When you’re choosing an agency to work with, you can avoid a couple of significant red flags to save yourself trouble.
Low-quality content production
The first red flag is poor-quality content. Agencies that produce low-quality content (such as AI content that hasn’t been vetted or edited by a human writer) can end up causing you big problems down the line. Your content needs to be a significant part of your SEO strategy, and it has to have depth, be original, and reflect what your business is and does.
No regularly scheduled website audits
A regular schedule of technical SEO audits of your website should always be provided by an SEO company. Your website’s SEO affects the amount of organic traffic you receive. An audit should look for opportunities for improvement to help you get more prospects, leads, and conversions.
Pushy salespeople
An SEO agency should only take you on as a client if it knows it can help you. If the agency is too pushy, it may be desperate for work or be more concerned with locking you into a contract than helping you get the most out of your experience with it.
Lack of testimonials or client success stories
When an agency performs work that’s tailored to your business, it will get positive results. You need to work with an agency with a proven track record of success, like we have at CSP. If a company lacks client testimonials, doesn’t offer customizable strategies, or technical website audits, it’s best to avoid them.
Can’t give provable business metrics
You need to know the agency gets results. If the agency can’t get results, spending money with it is a poor investment. Discuss customer success stories with the agency, and ask for case studies to show how they have helped business owners in the past.
What Makes a Good SEO Agency Partnership?
Now that you know what you don’t want, you should think about what you do want. A an SEO agency that offers a great partnership is one that:
Asks what your goals are beyond just higher ranks
Ranking is important, but that shouldn’t be your only goal. Good communication with the SEO agency about your conversion goals is a hallmark of an excellent agency.
Doesn’t promise a first-place rank from day one
No one can rank #1 on day one. A first-plan rank takes time, especially with organic marketing efforts.
Builds a strategy around your specific needs
Whether you have a tight budget or you need to know you’re investing in trustworthy SEO services that won’t fail the first time Google updates its algorithm, a good agency will build a strategy around your needs.
Asks about your business/industry to understand the landscape
No one can know everything about your industry. A good agency will ask you questions to learn more and ensure their SEO work is actually benefitting your business model.
Is willing to admit their limits or when something isn’t a good fit
Not every agency is a good fit for the clients they interact with. Some use black hat SEO to try to trick search engines or use AI to quickly populate a site without concern for how that might affect rankings later on. Others will say they have expertise in your industry but then create content or use keywords that show a real disconnect. Choose an agency that knows its limits and can show why you’re a good fit as a client.
At CSP, we want you to have the best possible experience with our team. Our process is completely different from other agencies, as we have over 10 years of experience offering white hat SEO and white glove services to ensure you get the results you’re looking for.
The CSP Difference
At CSP, we offer a different kind of experience. From the very first day, we use our deep SEO expertise and industry knowledge to help you get closer to your organic conversion goals. We only use white hat SEO and offer custom strategies to give you trustworthy, quality results.
Check out these case studies to see how we’ve increased sales leads, search traffic, and top 3 positioning for our customers. Then, talk to an SEO expert to help you achieve your goals.
