How To Hire An Portland SEO Service Provider In Oregon
SEO is a crucial part of any ongoing success for your business, mainly if you have online components such as a website. It is possible to have an expensive site, but not get the traffic that you need to be successful. However, it is not just general traffic that you need as you must get targeted traffic as well. A good quality SEO provider will be able to help you get the consistent and targeted traffic that you need.
However, if you are not an SEO expert, it can be hard to determine which providers are good and which are wrong. You need to know how to find the good providers as SEO has to be implemented in an effective manner that helps you achieve the results that you want. Quality SEO is a crucial investment for your business, and ineffective implementation will render all the efforts useless.
What To Know Before You Hire An Portland SEO Services Provider
Hiring An SEO Provider Is An Investment In Your Business
The hiring of an SEO provider should not be seen as a business expense. You need to consider this as part of your business strategy and as an effective means of enhancing your business presence online and within your business sector. When you start searching for a provider, you need to avoid starting with the intention to buy some SEO. Hiring a provider needs to be the same as hiring an employee who understands and cares about your business as well as the online objectives that you have.
The First Page Of The Search Engine Is Everything
Most people do not go past the first page of the search engine when they look for information. Google has become so good at what they do that most people blindly trust the search engine’s ability to provide the best results on the first page. All you have to do is think about how often you go to the second page when you look for something.
What this means is that when your business does not appear on the first page of the search engine, it is as good as being nowhere. The top positions on the first page will get the majority of traffic. As you progress down the first page, the click-through rate will decrease.
The Big Keywords Are Not Everything
Many people do not realize that it is better to rank for the smaller keywords than to try ranking for the more prominent keywords and not be on the first page at all. An example of this will be an accounting business in Preston which will generally not rank for the highly competitive keyword ‘accounting’. However, this business will have a chance at ranking for the keyword ‘chartered accountant Preston.’ A good SEO provider will be able to find the keywords your business has a realistic chance of ranking highly for, and that also have high enough search volume to be worthwhile for your business.
SEO Is About Beating Your Competition
It is important to note that there are no guarantees from the search engines which state that you will rank on the first page if you do certain things. SEO works in this manner:
The search engines will have their conventions and websites will conform to this by giving the search engines what they want. When this is done, the site will achieve better rankings. What stands between you and the top spot in the search results is your competition. The sites that hold the high places for your chosen keyword are your online competition, and you need to beat them.
There are some keywords which are easier to rank for a while there are others that are more difficult. This is dictated by the competition that you have for that particular keyword. A good SEO provider will be able to research your competition for each keyword.
On-Page And Off-Page SEO
Search engine optimization is a complex and constantly changing science. However, to properly interview a potential SEO provider, you need to understand the two main components of SEO. This will be the on-page and off-page SEO.
On-page SEO relates to all of the factors on your website which will impact your SEO such as the page headings, the outbound links, the keywords, the usability and the internal links. Off-page SEO will be the factors of your website which will impact your SEO. This will include citations, backlinks and social sharing.
It is possible for an SEO provider to work on the off-page elements, but if you are not willing to change the on-page factors, you cannot blame them for lack of results. A right provider will help you review your website and report their findings of your on-page SEO. They will tell you how the site can be improved and you should have your web designer made the necessary adjustments.
Increased Rankings Does Not Always Increase Leads And Sales
An SEO provider is only able to get your website, posts, videos and Google Place further up in the search results. They will not be able to guarantee an increase in leads or sales because this is determined by your sales funnel and this is outside of their scope. Converting traffic to leads or sales is not the job of an SEO provider, and you need to remember this. You need good marketing to convert visitors to sales, and this is something you should talk to a marketing consultant about.
The Key Differences Between Good And Bad SEO Providers
Good SEO Providers
A good SEO provider will understand all of the points mentioned above. You will be able to judge this based on the answers that they provide to the questions that you ask during an interview. A right provider will also want to build a solid foundation and a good SEO plan for your business. They will often insist upon the extensive market and keyword research before they make any plans.
There are times when good providers will refuse to work with clients that do not to complete this groundwork because they know that they will not get the results the client wants. A right provider will also provide their clients with results as their primary priority. Some clients might state that they have already done the keyword research, but this is an investigative and lengthy process that the SEO provider will want to do to make sure it is correct.
Good providers will also use responsible SEO methods. This will include paying attention to on-page SEO as well as getting high-quality backlinks. They will also improve citations, help with social sharing and ensure that your users have a good experience on the website.
Bad SEO Providers
The priority of a wrong SEO provider will be to take your money. They will generally not complete proper market and keyword research, often asking you what the top keywords you want to rank for are. If you have a provider ask you this, it is likely that they are going to plug your website into some software to get irrelevant backlinks from across the internet. They will also use lousy SEO techniques such as spam blog comments and link farms.
This is something that you will want to avoid because it will damage the reputation of your business. Additionally, the overall SEO and credibility of the website will also be negatively impacted. Lousy SEO will use wrong methods which are commonly known as black-hat techniques. These methods will have a detrimental effect on your website because the search engines will poorly perceive it.
The way that the search engines view your website at these times could result in it being sandboxed. This is something that you will want to avoid at all costs because it is tough to reverse. The search engines do not care that you hired a wrong SEO provider, as they see your website as your responsibility.
It is essential that you hire an SEO specialist that knows how to best highlight the attributes of your website. They should be able to draw attention to your products and services in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd. Of course, your web design is also very important, and you need to have a website that reflects your company personality and ethos. When you have good web design, a good SEO provider will be able to ensure that you get the users you need and that they have a good experience.