Whether hiring an SEO agency is worth it depends on several factors, including your business goals, budget, in-house expertise, and the complexity of your website.
SEO is the process of enhancing a website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. It involves a variety of strategies, including keyword research, content optimisation and technical enhancements, all focused on the fundamental goal of attracting organic (non-paid) traffic. These techniques are deeply connected to psychology as they revolve around understanding user intent and ensuring that website content is considered authoritative.
SEO agencies specialise in carrying out comprehensive evaluations of business websites and aiding them in developing and executing strategies to improve the website’s overall performance.
Below are 5 aspects to consider when deciding if hiring an SEO agency is worth it:
1. Expertise & Experience
SEO agencies provide specialised knowledge and experience that can help improve your website’s visibility and ranking on search engines. This allows for a comprehensive SEO strategy to be developed that is tailored to your business goals.
This holistic approach ensures that all aspects of optimisation are covered, increasing your overall chances of business success. SEO experts have a detailed understanding of vital principles, including technical SEO, keyword research and link building. An agency’s experience with algorithms and search engine guidelines is invaluable when crafting strategies to improve your business.
Additionally, agencies stay up to date on the latest trends and changes to ensure your strategy remains effective. Google, for instance, frequently updates its algorithms, which can significantly impact your website’s ranking. SEO agencies analyse these core updates and incorporate them into their recommendations.
They also have advanced tools that display analytics, providing further insights into your website’s performance and areas that need improvement. The continuous monitoring that is required for the utmost success can be challenging to manage without an agency’s expertise and experience.
2. Budget
Your budget plays a pivotal role in determining whether to hire an SEO agency. Investing in high-quality SEO services will deliver the greatest improvements; however, you must ensure the cost aligns with your budget and expected return on investment (ROI).
It is vital to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy that can significantly increase organic traffic and conversion rates. Aim to be prepared for a 3-month investment in an agency to allow adequate time to reap the benefits of your investment.
3. Time Management
Understanding the fundamentals of SEO and how to implement them can be extremely time-consuming, especially when you already have other demands on your time. Thankfully, working with SEO specialists doesn’t require any in-depth knowledge on your part.
The key to a successful SEO strategy is that it must be constantly maintained. Content must be updated consistently, and keyword research and backlink building must be completed frequently. Thorough performance analysis should also be completed often. All of this can be overwhelming, especially when juggling multiple responsibilities.
Hiring an SEO agency can allow you to dedicate your time and energy to your core business tasks while the experts handle your SEO strategy. This will result in more efficient time management, removing the added stress of tackling an SEO plan.
4. Competitive Edge
The competition is more intense than ever in the current digital environment. Collaborating with an SEO agency can help you gain a competitive edge by implementing advanced strategies that may be beyond your in-house team’s scope.
A valuable agency will always analyse your competitors, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, provide you with a method of outperforming them. While many other services, even simple-to-access online analytics, can determine this information, the aspect that differentiates an SEO agency is that it will provide the steps to incorporate them.
Better yet, SEO agencies not only provide a plan but will also support you through its implementation and contribute based on your needs. For instance, skilled blog writers within an SEO agency can ensure your blogs are fully optimised. This is important as blogging is one of the most efficient ways to improve the quality of your customers and boost the ranking of your website over time.
Furthermore, SEO agencies have a variety of experiences with various businesses across different industries. This exposure allows them to bring high-quality, evidence-based solutions for your SEO challenges. They know what works best for achieving better rankings and more visibility within your industry.
5. Website Complexity
Websites with extensive content or site architecture benefit the most from a sophisticated SEO strategy. For example, e-commerce websites often include a vast amount of content, and each page requires optimisation for relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and link structures.
These complex tasks can be handled efficiently by SEO companies, ensuring that every page is optimised accurately and consistently. However, for simpler websites, basic SEO practices might suffice, and handling them in-house could be more feasible.
Furthermore, site architecture plays a significant role in search engines’ ability to crawl your content. While poorly designed websites can confuse search engines and result in lower rankings, well-structured websites with clear navigation help search engines understand the context and significance of each page. User experience is also highly impacted by this.
When your website is well-structured, users can find the information they’re looking for seamlessly. User experience and search rankings have a bidirectional relationship, as when your user experience is strong, your search engine rankings will be, too. Users will link to and spend more time on your website, both of which provide search engines with strong signs that your company produces high-quality content.
SEO agencies are skilled at restructuring site architecture to enhance crawlability and user experience. They ensure that pages are appropriately indexed and linked, which can significantly improve your SEO performance. A great emphasis is also placed on site health and speed, which further enhances users’ ability to find information and search engines’ ability to crawl efficiently.
When Might Hiring an SEO Agency Not Be Worth It?
While there are many benefits of hiring an SEO agency, it might not be beneficial for all. When making your decision, it may be helpful to consider these factors:
- Very Small Budget: If your budget is extremely limited, it might be more cost-effective to handle basic SEO tasks in-house using online resources and tools.
- Seeking Fast, Short-Term Changes: SEO is a long game. If you’re looking for quick results, such as a boost in sales or immediate visibility, SEO might not be the marketing solution for you.
- Niche Market with Little Competition: If you operate in an incredibly niche market with little online competition, extensive SEO efforts might not be necessary.
How Lumen SEO Can Help
We at Lumen SEO can take care of your whole SEO strategy, including keyword research, link building, content writing and technical SEO. You can learn more about what an SEO agency, like ours, does here.
If you like the sound of working with us, we offer free, no-obligation SEO audits on business websites. To claim yours, simply enter your details here, and we’ll get a free SEO audit to you within 7 days. It will include the strengths and weaknesses of your website, along with the top three aspects you should focus on improving, in order to enhance your business’s ranking.
For a friendly chat about the SEO services we provide here at Lumen SEO, contact our SEO consultants today. Alternatively, you can message us on either our LinkedIn or Instagram pages.
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