15 [Easy] Tips To Find The Best SEO Company For You!

Today I’m going to show you how to decide if a specific SEO company is the best SEO company for your small business.

If you operate a small business you probably don’t have a board or people outside of your business serving on your board.

Why is this important when it comes to choosing the best SEO company?

Because we know many of our corporate clients have chosen us as their favourite SEO company because we have been referred by one of their board members who also sits on other companies boards or they have connections that have used our SEO services before and therefore have recommended us as the best SEO company.

This means if you’re anything like most of our small business clients you’ll have found your SEO company by typing in Google things like “SEO company” or “SEO Services” or “SEO Experts”.

But here is the problem with that… just because you find a SEO company on Google doesn’t mean they are going to be the best SEO company for you!

What I have learned over the last 15 years ranking our own and clients websites is that just because a SEO company can rank their own site, doesn’t mean they are good at ranking their clients sites.

That’s why I’ve put this guide together that will help you identify if the SEO company you have found is in fact the best SEO company for you.

In this guide I’m going to give you 17 tips to find the best SEO company for your small business. 

Because choosing a bad SEO company can get expensive pretty quickly…

The pitfalls of choosing a bad SEO company?

The old saying, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur”, applies to SEO companies also.

To make matters worse, because the SEO industry is not regulated, amateur or "wanna-be SEO" can set up shop without even knowing how SEO works...

Surely you’ve received the “I have been checking your website quite often” emails… the pestering "Would you like to outsource your SEO" phone calls, and your junk folder probably brims with “too good to be true” rock bottom low-priced SEO offers.

Heck… I run what I consider to be one of the best SEO companies in Australia, and I get them myself.

While I used to laugh at such emails… it’s no longer a laughing matter… since our agency regularly receives enquiries from potential clients who have fallen for these offers only to realise that they’ve wasted their time, money, and rankings have gone backwards.

It’s not the client's fault.

SEO is confusing, and these emails can sound scary - even convincing.

While there are several great SEO providers out there, the majority of companies that resort to these kinds of tactics either...

• haven’t been able to rank their sites.
• Lack experience and are therefore unable to get results.
• care more about making a few fast bucks than building a long-term relationship

Since the industry is unregulated, there’s only one way to sort out the professionals from the pretenders. 

To find the best SEO company for you, you have to do your due diligence.

And the rest of this guide will show you exactly how to do so. 

1) The best SEO companies have raving reviews

An independent study found that when choosing an SEO company, 74% of business owners consider an SEO provider’s reputation “very” or “extremely” important.

It's one of the most important factors in choosing an SEO provider. So here's how you can quickly & easily determine the reputation of the best SEO agencies in Australia.

When you find the right SEO company, your online marketing strategy becomes more effective.

The problem is that when someone finds a good SEO company, they keep things under wraps so their competition doesn't find out about them. So hearing about the best SEO company probably won't happen via referral or your competition gloating about their success.

That leaves starting your research by checking independent review websites and requesting the company's case studies to see what previous clients have had to say about the particular SEO company.

Google Reviews
Facebook Reviews
Company Case Studies

These websites are independent, so you’ll get the good and the bad (without the BS).

Spending just a few minutes reviewing the company can save you a lot of pain down the track.

They will also outline if the agency has helped other people.

At Websites That Sell, we are proud to have helped many business owners, and our clients are proof of this, having been reviewed on Google and Facebook by satisfied clients, we also have many case studies of results we've achieved for SEO which are published here.

Websites That Sell is one of Australia's most reviewed SEO companies from 3rd party review sites, testimonies & rank reports.

2) The best SEO companies have a “reason why”

Believe it or not... many people never even ask themselves this question before making a decision.

Why choose them, over the next lot?

Your answer really depends on what you want from a company.

But our suggestion is you work out exactly what you want to achieve and then ask the question… why is this company the right fit for me. 

Do you believe in their cause, their own why?

Do you like their style of marketing and want the same for you?

Are they easy and enjoyable to do business with?

These question will help you determine your reason why for choosing the best SEO company for you.

3) The best SEO companies are Google Certified.

There is no governing body, no regulations or any real rules in the SEO industry.

However, working with a Google partner and certified professional will ensure you’ll work with a company that...

• Is used to provide the level of care Google requires.
• Is well-versed in Google Search
• Has access to Google reps (to fix those hard problems fast)
• Is well aware of Google's best practices
• Stays up to date with the ever-changing rules of SEO.

You can easily pick if a company is a Google partner & certified as a Google badge should be displayed on the website.

It should look a little like this one (yep that’s ours)

Websites That Sell are Google partners and specialists in Search Advertising - meaning Google trust us to help create and optimise ads that show up on Google search. We can also advise on keyword strategy and budget planning.

Our individual certifications include:

Search Advertising
This includes creating, managing, measuring and optimising Search campaigns.

Video Advertising
This includes creating, managing and optimising Video campaigns.

4) The best SEO Company Actually Answers Their Phones.

I know.

Old fashion right?

Who needs phones in the digital age?

Let alone a real person to answer them…

Well, call us old-fashioned, but the fact remains several times a week, we talk to prospects who have called “recommended” SEO companies only to reach voice mails, virtual receptionists (not SEO experts) or worse… get no answer at all.

So let’s get real here… the ability to pick up the phone, ask questions, run ideas past your SEO company and talk to a human (here in Australia - in English) is important.

Do you need to be able to reach them 24/7 - 7 days a week?

No.

But you should be able to call the office Monday to Friday during office hours and speak to a real person.

Instead of getting ignored or waiting days for a simple answer.

Here at Websites That Sell, we operate 9-5 - Monday to Friday, and you’ll always catch a real person on the end of the line during these hours.

We know it’s important not to outsource the phones to a voicemail or receptionist or, worse, not answer them at all.

We pride ourselves on having trained SEO professionals. Australians who understand English (the nerve, right?) are ready to answer your questions.

Hard to believe?

Try us out on 1300 188 662

Or, if you don’t like using the phone, test our email response time here.

5) The Best SEO Companies Have A SEO Research Process.

If you've ever done any kind of marketing or advertising (online or offline) you'll know that research, data and knowing your market is going to determine the success or failure of your campaign.

It's the same for SEO...

A professional SEO company should be able to demonstrate in no more than 10 minutes:

• Online growth opportunities. Including traffic opportunity snapshots, competitor gap analysis & market dominance strategies.
• Outline any website roadblocks. Details on what is and isn’t working on a website PLUS any hidden opportunities to drive fast growth.
• Reverse engineer the competition. The use of advanced tools shows exactly how the competition is ranking and provides simple ways to outsmart them

The inability to provide results in advance as outlined above probably means the company is incompetent and not professionals in their field.

Too harsh?

Maybe… but at the end of the day, it’s your investment at stake.

So as a bare minimum request some research from your company.

Here's a quick video that outlines how an experienced SEO company can quickly demonstrate how to take over traffic their competitors are currently driving, using one of our go-to tools called aHrefs:

6) The Best SEO Companies Know The Local Area

Location. Location. Location.

It matters in SEO too.

An independent study revealed that "78% of small business owners in the study consider their provider’s location a “very” or “extremely” important consideration."

78% OF SMALL BUSINESSES STATED THAT KNOWING THEIR PROVIDER’S LOCATION WAS “EXTREMELY” OR “VERY” IMPORTANT (WITH 46% STATING THAT A KNOWN LOCATION WAS “EXTREMELY IMPORTANT”).

In the SEO world, it’s very common to have a “virtual” office in a major city and make it look like the company has a presence there - and there is nothing wrong with this.

It’s smart.

We have offices all across the country.

However, having a virtual office in a city alone isn’t enough to execute a highly profitable SEO campaign.

We had to learn this one the hard way.

We have offices in every major city around Australia, so we know our client's operational areas inside out.

Take the city of Brisbane as an example. You've got North Brisbane, South Brisbane, the fact that the Valley is just about part of the city… and so on and forth.

However, when we took on our first client in Sydney, we had no idea about regions, population levels and localities.

This lack of local know-how brought about challenges.

• Missing out on local traffic opportunities (some of the hottest buyers)
• Missing out on local link opportunities (some of the best links for local SEO)
• Missing out on local coverage (which can supercharge a SEO campaign)

To say the least… we learnt quickly.

We invested in on-the-ground research and now have “local agents” to ensure we tap into every possible local opportunity no matter where a company operates.

We know Sydney's North Shore, Eastern Suburbs... the fact Wollongong is both a area as well as it's own little city and that the Sutherland Shire is still a profitable are to target with SEO campaigns.

The best SEO companies have local knowledge.

Again… general perception is that your SEO companies' location doesn’t matter.

This is correct as long as they can demonstrate local knowledge of your area in a geographical, cultural and operational sense.

Chapter 7

7) The Best SEO Companies Have Years Of Experience.

When it comes to SEO experience does matter.

Let's discuss:

• why experience will get meaningful & impactful long-term results
• what kind of experience to look for
• the magic combination of experience & skill your company must have

The internet is still quite young, with the birth of www dating back to 1989, the first-ever web search engine released in 1993 and then finally Google going live in 1998.

Right now we're in an era of constant updates and chaotic change as technology advances and companies refine their systems & websites to best serve users.

And it's no different with Google.

In 2018 alone, Google reported 3,234 updates for the year.

What's all this got to do with choosing the best SEO?

A lot.

A survey about agency experience revealed that over half of agencies and employees of these agencies have less than 5 years of experience.

This means half of those agencies never even experienced the first Google update in 2011 (Panda)

So SEO companies coming on the scene over the last 1, 2 even 3 years generally have no idea about how to "play nice" with Google.

Why?

Because they haven't lived through any of the core updates, they don't understand the bigger picture Google wants to achieve.

While they may understand some of the tech stuff (usually taught by outdated "coaches" wanting to make a quick buck themselves) they haven't lived through recovering sites from Google algorithm changes, and they haven't been exposed to data across hundreds of sites that show them insights Google will never publicly reveal and most important of all these kind of SEO's just don't get that Search Engine Optimisation isn't just about rankings...

SEO is about creating a page that presents the best possible content which ends the search.

Yes - that's marketing.

It's an experience like this that will set a truly quality SEO company apart from the fly-by-nighters.

Websites That Sell has been operating and helping business owners with their marketing since 2007.

We were there for the very first Google Panda update in 2011, and our client's sites have not only survived but thrived every other update since.

The big difference with our company is that our head of SEO (hello, that's me...) I first cut my teeth on direct response marketing - not just SEO.

I understand not just how to rank a page but how to get the visitor to take action on the page and end the search.

Having a marketer like this on your side, online marketing experience since 2007, and results across the years to back it up is the magic combination you need for your chosen SEO agency to generate meaningful & impactful results.

8) The Best SEO Companies Provide Proposals & Deliverables in Writing

If it's not in writing (in the SEO industry) more than likely it's not for real.

While a campaign should have a certain level of freedom, to be able to correct course quickly, this has been taken advantage of by SEO's.

Learn what this could mean and how to ensure you get your campaign outlined in writing before going any further:

If you've talked to a few SEO companies already or have researched Search Engine Optimisation, no doubt you heard that SEO takes time.

Which is true.

It's not overnight that an SEO agency can drive results.

Having said that... we're continually amazed at how we can get impacting results for clients in less than 90 days.

Still...

That's 90 days of paying for SEO and if no understanding of what's actually getting done is in place - it can get pretty daunting.

This is where the "mystery" of SEO comes in.

Companies claim that the work that's being completed is proprietary and doesn't concern the client... or a "combination of the following" SEO services will get completed... or worse nothing gets said at all.

Not any of these 3 scenarios are good enough.

If you're going to pay for a service, you deserve the right to see the tangibles of what's actually getting completed.

Sure you're paying for results, but as I said many times it takes time for results to come in... so in the meantime to give you peace of mind your budget is actually being spent to complete work, and a clear outline of deliverables should be given.

Ask the SEO company to provide a minimum outline of the tasks that will be completed each month.

It's important to see the plan and an outline of actual tasks/services that will be rendered.

The last thing you want is for the SEO Campaign to go one way when the objective you have in mind is totally different.

Hard to believe?

I know...

...But we've heard it many times before from people who have gone down this track with other companies.

Here at Websites That Sell we provide a custom proposal for each client, outlining each of the tasks and strategies that are implemented over the initial month.

Sometimes tasks change based on the response of the campaign. This flexibility should be in place. But a clear path at a minimum should be given.

The proposals we provide are based on the initial strategy session we complete at no cost - that way everything in the campaign aligns with what the client is after.

We've even gone as far as publicly sharing the kind of proposal you can expect.

You can watch this outline below:

Contact us if you'd like to know the kind of proposal/campaign we would create for your organisation or if you'd like to know about our agencies SEO services visit our SEO Services page.

9) The Best SEO Companies Provide Transparent & Regular Reporting

The old saying goes "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it".

It's an oldie but a goodie.

Sadly neglected by many SEOs.

Here are the 3 Levels of reporting a company should offer to help you actually grow your business (not just get rankings).

OK.

We talked about getting your campaign outlined in writing.

But how are you going to check that the promised work is actually completed?

You get the company to agree to provide reporting and communication throughout the campaign.

Here's the report you should expect to receive:

• Monthly outline of completed work (website changes, link building) - ensure you get reports outlining the actual links built for you during the month.
• Rank Tracking report - At a minimum, you'll want this every month to see progress in rankings. Ideally, request an online portal where you can check rankings anytime. (BONUS TIP: ask the company to report rankings from the local area you're targeting. A rank report pulled from a Sydney IP address will serve up different results than one pulled from a Melbourne IP address. If you want to rank in Sydney... well, then it pays to see the results people from Sydney see)
• Analytical Reports - You won't get too many agencies providing this kind of reporting - but this is where you'll find the gold and effectiveness of your campaign. Proper set-up of analytical reporting will allow you to inspect and understand:
  
  • traffic increases
  • website user metrics
  • website enquiry form conversions
  • website phone call conversions

And a whole lot more... but the above is a great starting point to measure the effectiveness of the campaign (remember rankings are just one part of the equation)

• Monthly strategy report outlining the progress of the campaign & direction for the coming month. The SEO strategist at the firm should, at minimum, oversee the campaign to identify any gaps and opportunities and provide feedback on where things are going. This should be completed at the start of the month so decisions can be made monthly on how to invest your allocated SEO budget best.

This is probably starting to sound like a broken record... but we do it better than any other SEO firm we know regarding reporting.

We track, measure & report on EVERYTHING - 3 levels deep. You get:

• Cloud-based, geo-specific rank tracking system.
• Analytics: traffic, web & phone enquiries.
• Monthly completed SEO tasks.

PLUS monthly strategy input from our Head of SEO and phone support from real people (old-fashioned, right?) ready to answer your SEO questions.

Give us a try and call our office on 1300 188 662 now.

10) The Best SEO Companies Don’t Hide Additional Fees

Money Money Money - everything costs something.

Right?

Which is fine, otherwise SEOs would go out of business.

But it's important to know what and what isn't included in the agency's offerings.

Getting SEO right involves a lot of moving parts.

It’s not just a matter of researching keywords, optimising a page and building some links.

The website should be of high quality. Often a developer is required to fix functionality, speed issues and implementation of on-page changes (title tags, meta description, h tags, schema mark etc)

The website should grow. Unless you’re a professional writer a content creation expert will be required to help create high-quality, shareable & helpful content.

And of course to attain rankings the SEO campaign needs to be strategised & executed.

Every company is different.

Some companies only act as SEO consultants while the company's in-house team executes the campaign.

Other companies provide recommendations for on-page changes and execution of the campaign.

Other companies provide a full-service solution including development, content creation & implementation of the campaign.

There is no right or wrong in what a company provides.

What is important, however, is to know from the start what is and isn’t included as part of the SEO service.

At Websites That Sell we are geared to provide any level of service. We have an in-house content creation team, developers and of course SEO professionals willing and ready to execute world-class SEO.

11) The Best SEO Companies Have Positive Core Values

Make sure the company you hire shares the same value as you and your company.

If the mission & vision don't align you may not get to the destination the way you'd like (or ever at all)

Here's how to make sure of this.

You have values, your business has values.

There is a specific culture and a way you do things.

It's important that the company you choose will be a good match.

SEO is one of those industries where no regulation means "anything goes".

Here are a few examples:

Negative SEOing - this is the practice of sending bad links to your competitors to tear them down.

It goes against everything I personally and our company stand for.

We think SEO should be a fair fight and may the best, most innovative and persistent company win.

This is embedded throughout our values and mission.

However many agencies don't align with those values, crossing lines that if the industry was regulated probably would border on illegal activity.

Illegal Link Placement - there have been cases of companies illegally spamming and hacking websites around the internet and inserting links into content without the owner's knowledge.

Let's get a clear comparison here.

This would be the equivalent of you walking into every store on the main street in your major city and placing your advertising on every shop window.

It probably wouldn't fly with the shop owners let alone the police who more than likely would get involved.

Yet this practice is apparent across the Internet.

These are just 2 examples of many ways the hired company may think it's OK to cut corners, do things the wrong way or not actually deliver what's promised.

So how do you know if the companies on your shortlist are going to align with your values?

Well...

The first place to check would be to see if the company has any values.

A legitimate company, serious about building a long-term presence in the market usually has a mission/vision and values displayed on their about us page or on a dedicated page.

Our vision here at Websites That Sell is to be the first & last digital marketing agency Aussie business owners will ever need. We live and die by results.

This vision is backed by the following core values:

• We embrace a Leader / Leader culture.
• We act with uncompromising honesty, even when no one is watching.
• We are innovative thinkers allowing us to do things better every day. We are committed to life long learning.
• We want to be the happiest place on earth. But... we will settle for close 2nd to Disneyland.

And two guiding questions:

• Are clients seeing results?
• Do clients smile when they think about us?

12) The Best SEO Companies Can Help You Get Clear On Your Goals And Align Their SEO With Your Goals

Wise proverb of King Solomon - the wealthiest King to ever rule on earth:

"Without vision, the people perish"

This applies to your SEO also.

Without Goals, your SEO company can't succeed.

Getting clear on your goals has nothing to do with SEO per se. It has everything to do with setting your expectations and ensuring you choose the right company to deliver your desired result.

If you don't have a goal, there really isn't any direction to follow.

Below, you'll find a few ways to help you determine what Goals your SEO campaign should achieve, which will help decide the agency's job.

What's the goal of your campaign:

Build your brand presence?

Do you want to build the brand presence of your company? This way, when your prospects see your advertising on other mediums such as newspapers, Radio, TV, Sales Reps, Trade shows, Facebook, Instagram and anywhere else online, you'll be found when they search for your brand on Google.

This kind of campaign is very important if you're already doing a lot of other marketing and helps capture people who have already been exposed to your brand and message once they search for your company (specifically on Google).

Get found locally?

Does your business attract customers or clients on a suburb level?

For example, home services companies where people search on a suburb level, cafes & restaurants or anything else where customers don't want to drive too far to get what they are after, will qualify for local suburb kind of campaigns.

These campaigns are usually much more affordable as you're not competing against every other suburb or city.

Get found for a big city?

Do you operate and attract/service customers in a big city radius? It will require a specific campaign if you're ready to attract customers in a specific city around Australia.

Competition levels are much higher, your website structure needs to be well thought out, and you'll need to be prepared and able to invest for extended periods before a return on investment will be seen.

Get found nationally or Internationally?

Do you service customers or clients on a national/international level? If you do, there are several options for campaigns.

For example, you can first focus on your most profitable cities/countries or build specific websites for each city/country (international SEO). It all depends on your long-term goals, which will determine the approach.

The important thing is to know what your immediate and long-term goals are so that you can apply a targeted approach to SEO for maximum return and long-term results. The best SEO companies will be able to provide a campaign to support your goals.

13) The Best SEO Companies Don’t Get Your Website Penalised

We've tested the quick way.

We've tested the easy way.

And we've tested the black-hat way.

Here are the results:

Short-term gains, long-term pains!

The silver lining was that tests were only ever carried out on our own "experiment subject" sites - however after all was said and done, these sites never recovered. It was easier to just start over again.

Now let that sink in for a moment.

I want to paint this picture thoroughly because we've seen too many companies destroy perfectly good authoritative domains.

Imagine that.

You've spent thousands of dollars building your brand.

You've got your brand domain name which has great age and authority already.

Trusting cheap, black-hat (strategies that go against Google's terms of service) tactics could wipe all of this out - literally overnight.

Just research some Panda or Penguin horror stories and I think you'll get the point.

The company's traffic sources were wiped out overnight. Businesses went under. The worst part - no one told these companies about this.

That's why it's important we discuss this subject to help in your decision-making.

What does this mean for your process of choosing the right SEO company?

Don't allow any of the following to happen during your campaign (even though some of these tactics may still work, your brand is too important to risk destroying it).

Also note, that you don't need to know the technical aspects behind each of the following terms or strategies - just know what things are called so you can spot them in a proposal if they pop up.

Things to watch out for in your proposal include:

• keyword stuffing of your website
• building low-quality pages
• creating low-quality content
• article spinning
• content automation
• doorway pages
• cloaking
• hidden text or links
• link schemes
• link farms, link wheels or link networks
• rich snippet markup spam
• automated queries to Google
• automated blog commenting
• using automated tools to build links
• using Private Blog Networks (PBNs) to build links.

If any of the above were to appear in a proposal, to safeguard your company's websites, it's advised to stay away and not enter into a contract.

I think I've made my point.

Ok.

Let's move on

14) The Best SEO Companies Are Legitimate

Don't be the next SEO victim.

A quick ASIC & ABN look-up will help determine if the company is registered in Australia or if they are a scam altogether.

This really is basic due diligence so we’ll keep this short. At the end of the day… you’ll want to ensure the company is a real firm. Not someone that will disappear as soon as your deposit clears. Ensure the company is actually registered to trade here in Australia. A quick look-up on the business.gov website will help you identify this.

Here’s what Websites That Sells' registration looks like: https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=65792267851

A quick check on ASIC should verify if the company is in fact legitimate.

Websites That Sells' details look a little something like this: https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/RegistrySearch/faces/landing/bySearchId.jspx?searchId=617671440&searchIdType=BUSN&_adf.ctrl-state=172enrej0t_15

15) The Best SEO Companies Don’t Force You To Rush Your Decision

The bonus "steak knives" aren't worth it...

Anyone who's watched late-night infomercials before will get the above comment 😉

This chapter goes into a little more detail about the ramifications of rushed decisions in the SEO buying process.

We've been operating since 2007 and one of the big things we have learned is that choosing an SEO company should not be an impulse decision.

We have clients who have been with us for over 5 years, and others that we've worked with, gotten results and have come back multiple times for more.

Why?

Because they didn't rush their decision.

In your quest to find the best Australian SEO Company, you'll be faced with expiring offers, urgency, scarcity even fears just to hand over your credit card.

I'm a marketer I'm well aware of these triggers and how they work.

But I also know that there is no rush when it comes to SEO.

Here's the simplest way I can put it.

Your site isn't going to rank overnight, so what's the rush to sign up for the "ultimate too-good-to-be-true offer"? (Probably loaded with an act in the 10 minutes or you'll miss out on the discount, the steak knives and we'll take this offer to your competitors kind of clauses and scarcity tactics)

I call BS!

In my experience, SEO companies are hungry (usually because they can't keep their clients long-term).

So don't rush your decision.

Here's the decision process our most successful clients have gone through (notice no rush at any step)

1. Read a guide like this to make an educated shortlist of companies.
2. Request a free SEO strategy session.
3. Request a proposal outlining how results will be achieved
4. Take time to think
5. Ask questions via phone, email or in person.
6. Make an educated, confident and successful hiring decision (that's going to work long-term)

No expiring offers, no BS urgency and No pressure sales tactics.

Your buying process should be well researched with your SEO company guiding the way to new growth opportunities.

So... What's all this mean?

As outlined at the beginning of this guide, the SEO industry is not regulated so doing your due diligence and following our tips will be the deciding factor between choosing the worst or best SEO company.

All the information you will have gathered in the process will give you clarity about your decision.

There are plenty of good SEO companies among all the horror stories, that can help not just attain rankings, but meaningful & measurable results.

Armed with the information provided in this guide you’re now ready to make an educated and confident decision in your SEO company selection process.

Your Next Step

If you’ve got a website that’s currently not showing up on Google when people look for you, it’s time to start talking to an SEO company.

You can ask friends & colleagues about their experience, Google for a local-based SEO company or better yet - apply for a FREE SEO strategy session with one of our SEO professionals at Websites That Sell.

We live and breathe SEO!

We’ve got the results to back it up.

We tick all the boxes in our guide and we’d love to have a chat with you to see if your small business is a fit for our SEO services.