SEO services for small business have become a competitive landscape. In order to make an informed decision on which provider to use, small businesses should ask some questions. It has become an absolute must for businesses, big or small, to have an online presence.
There are many ways to achieve this, but one of the most important is through search engine optimization (SEO). If you’re a business owner and planning to hire the best, here are some questions that you need to ask:
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How do you conduct a website audit?
The audit is the first step in any SEO project. It allows the agency to get an understanding of your website’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as its potential for ranking in search engines. A good website audit will answer the following questions:
- Is the website mobile-friendly?
- Are there any technical issues?
- What is the website’s current SEO score?
- How much content is on the website?
- What is the quality of that content?
- Are there any broken links or other errors?
How do you measure success?
There are a number of metrics that can be used to measure success when it comes to SEO. The most important metric is organic traffic, which refers to the number of visitors who come to your website from a search engine. Other metrics that are often used include:
- Rankings: where your website appears in search engine results pages (SERPs)
- Click-through rate (CTR): the percentage of people who click on your listing in the SERPs
- Backlinks: the number of links from other websites pointing to your website
- Engagement: how long visitors stay on your website and how many pages they visit
What is your approach to keyword research?
Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of SEO. It involves finding the right keywords that people are searching for in relation to your business. The goal is to find keywords that are being searched for by your target audience, but that is not too competitive. Some of the things that should be considered when conducting keyword research include:
- Search volume: how many people are searching for a particular keyword
- Competitiveness: how difficult it would be to rank for a particular keyword
- Relevancy: how relevant the keyword is to your business
What is your experience with local SEO?
Local SEO is a type of SEO that focuses on ranking websites in specific geographic locations. It is important for businesses that serve customers in a specific area or city.
Questions that should be asked about local SEO include:
- Do you have experience with local SEO?
- What are some of the things that you would do to optimize a website for a specific location?
- Are there any special considerations that need to be made for local SEO?
What is your experience with international SEO?
International SEO is a type of SEO that focuses on ranking websites in multiple countries. It is important for businesses that serve customers in multiple countries or that have a global reach.
Questions that should be asked about international SEO include:
- Do you have experience with international SEO?
- What are some of the things that you would do to optimize a website for multiple countries?
- Are there any special considerations that need to be made for international SEO?
What is your approach to link building?
Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites. These links can be in the form of an article, directory listing, or even a simple mention on social media. The goal of link building is to increase the authority of your website by getting links from high-quality websites.
Some questions that should be asked about link building include:
- What are some of your strategies for link-building?
- Do you only acquire links from high-quality websites?
- How do you approach link building?
What is your experience with Google penalties?
Google penalties refer to the actions that Google takes against websites that violate its guidelines. This can include anything from a manual action, which is when Google manually reviews a website and determines that it has violated its guidelines, to an algorithmic penalty, which is when a website is automatically penalized by Google’s algorithms. Questions that should be asked about experience with Google penalties include:
- Have you ever received a Google penalty?
- If so, what was the reason for the penalty?
- How did you recover from the penalty?
What is your experience with disavowing links?
Disavowing links is the process of telling Google that you do not want a particular link to be counted as part of your website’s link profile. This is often done when a website has been penalized by Google and is trying to recover.
Wrapping up!
Ask these questions to any SEO service provider you’re thinking of working with to get a better understanding of their experience and approach. With these questions, you can easily find the best SEO agency and opt for professional SEO services for small business.
