Top 5 SEO Companies

Why Do You Need to Hire an SEO Company (And The Right One For You)?

The first thing you’ll need to understand is that SEO is actually not a rocket science. Technical-wise, SEO is fairly easy to learn, and if you are willing to learn about the concept and spend your time—and resources—, you can implement SEO by yourself without spending any money.

So, with that out of the question, why do we actually need to work with an SEO company or even a full-service digital marketing consultant?

The answer lies in the fact that although SEO is—as mentioned— fairly manageable to implement, it is a long-term effort that will demand consistency. SEO will require long-term hard work in at least several aspects:

• Publishing high-quality content pieces that are properly optimized for SEO
• Link-building, often the most tedious aspect of SEO. This can consist of several different aspects from analyzing backlinks profile to building key relationships to re-optimizing
• Technical optimizations, from assessing the current state of your website to analyzing your competition to implementing the best practices of SEO optimizations
• Monitoring and handling reviews—including and especially the negative ones—, especially in the case of local SEO

With these being said, the real question is whether you have the time, and manpower, to implement SEO. On average, it will take 6 to 12 months of consistent SEO efforts before you can see significant results (i.e., your website ranking on the first page of Google search).

Depending on the size of your team and whether you have the luxury of time, most of the time working with an SEO expert is a better choice so that you can invest your time and resources elsewhere.

Remember that SEO is just a single aspect of an integrated digital marketing strategy. SEO will only bring its maximum results when other marketing channels such as social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing, among others are also performing well.

 

Top 5 SEO Companies 2019

In a non-respective order, here are our picks for the top 5 SEO agencies to work with in 2019:

 

1. AudienceWise

AudienceWise is a Portland-based SEO agency, a brainchild of Matthew Brown and Tom Resnik, two prominent names in the world of digital marketing, and has been around since 2011.

AudienceWise specializes in technical SEO optimizations as well as overall digital marketing strategy. They usually work with mid-sized to enterprise clients, and so is relatively expensive.

As AudienceWise take pride in working directly with clients, they only take on a small number of clients at any given time.

 

2. Nine Peaks Media

Nine Peaks Media is a digital marketing agency specializing in SEO and lead generation. Based in Toronto with a global reputation, and is focused on maximizing SEO results through content and inbound marketing.

In this modern day of SEO, there’s no shortcut to ranking on the search engines besides consistent publication of relevant content, and this is precisely what Nine Peaks Media offers.

Nine Peaks Media also take pride on their local SEO services to help small businesses improve their ranking on Google Maps.

 

3. Aira

Aira is a UK-based marketing agency that is not only focusing on SEO, but search marketing (PPC), social media marketing, content marketing, and overall digital marketing campaigns.

Specializing on small and mid-size tech companies,  Aira is a relatively small but experienced agency that emphasizes on understanding the client’s goals and deliver results.

 

4. Hall Analysis

Hall Analysis is a South Carolina-based digital marketing agency that is especially focusing on analytics and data-driven efforts. So, regarding SEO, Hall Analysis emphasizes on technical optimizations and risk mitigations.

Clients of Hall Analysis ranging from Midsize to large businesses, and is a good choice for those looking for a data-driven SEO campaign.

 

5. Vertical Measures

A Phoenix-based, award-winning full-service marketing agency, Vertical Measures is a global reaching agency with Fortune 500 companies as some of its clients.

Specializing on content marketing, SEO, link acquisition, and paid advertising optimization, Vertical Measures focuses on enterprise and especially B2B clients.

Relatively expensive, but certainly is one of the best agencies in the world.

 

How To Choose A SEO Company?

As stated, the main purpose of working with an SEO company is to save your time and resources. However, choosing the wrong one can be counterproductive, as it can ruin months or even years of SEO efforts if you are not careful.

With that being said, here are some important considerations when choosing the right SEO agency:

 

1. Defining Your SEO Goals

The first, and arguably the most important step in choosing the right SEO company is actually to look inwards: assess the current state of your online presence, and decide the key areas you would want to improve.

If you can define clear and realistic SEO goals, you can have an easier time judging the different SEO companies to find the right team for the job.

In this step, you would want to perform a thorough SEO audit, as well as overall marketing analytics. Thankfully, there are now various analytic tools that can help you in this step.

The principle is relatively obvious: the better you understand your needs, the easier you can find the right people that can help with these needs.

 

2. Data-Gathering and Analysis Capabilities

As we can see from the previous step, a huge part of SEO is collecting, analyzing, and actually using data to improve your website’s performance.

The thing is, different companies will need to track different KPIs and different metrics according to their niche, goals, and many other factors.

So, it is important to work with an SEO company that can measure and analyze the right metrics according to your needs. This way, you can properly align your SEO goals and track the performance of your SEO campaign.

Before you approach an SEO company, list your important online KPIs and metrics, and discuss these with the potential agencies.

 

3. Define Your Budget

SEO agencies and freelance SEO experts (which are also viable options here) come with different price tags and packages.

Remember that we have mentioned that technically, you can implement SEO by yourself for absolutely free, so here you are actually buying time. It is wise to plan your budget ahead, so you can narrow down your options and avoid unnecessary spending.

So, when approaching an SEO agency, it is wise to ask upfront about their costs and packages. This way, you can know early on if an agency is within your price range.

Most SEO agencies will offer their service with a variety of monthly costs, so it’s relatively easy to compare between them, budget-wise. Remember to also consider your SEO goals when deciding on the appropriate budget.

 

4. Checking Reviews and Reputations

We are checking agencies offering the SEO service, which is centered around online presence. So, it would only make sense to choose agencies with a prominent digital presence where we can transparently check reviews, testimonials, and even case studies.

You can explore the company’s site for this information, but you can also check third-party review platforms (sometimes a quick Google search will do). If possible, request case studies from the agency, which can often be done by simply submitting a request on their sites.

You can also contact their previous client (or even a current client, which some reputable agencies can arrange). This way, you can get a more objective assessment of the company’s reliability.

 

5. Scheduling a Consultation

Once you’ve narrowed down your options, you can schedule consultations with your chosen SEO agencies. This will be a great approach to learn about their methods and strategies, and whether they can meet your goals.

It’s important to remember that there’s no secret strategy or the “holy grail” for SEO: it’s all about consistency and hard work. A reputable SEO company will be transparent about their tactics and in most cases, will be upfront with the required timeline (6-12 months or even more being ideal). In the world of SEO, it can’t be more true that if something is too good to be true, it is.

This consultation will also help you to understand the people behind the agency—their team—, and whether their level of passion, work ethics, and creativity will work well with your company.

Ask as many specific questions as you can here, and figure out all the necessary information. Remember that you are making a long-term investment, so don’t be afraid to ask.

 

End Words

The most important thing to remember is that SEO is a long-term effort that demands consistency and hard work. So, it’s important to find an agency that you are comfortable working with on a long-term basis.

On the other hand, remember that working with an SEO company is a long-term investment, but when it’s successful, the result will be a sustainable source of traffic and revenue.