SEO agencies can be a blessing to your website if they are doing their job correctly. There are, however, many ways to mishandle SEO and do more damage than good. We decided it would be beneficial for us (and you!) to compile a list of 10 signs that your SEO agency might actually be hurting your Google Rankings.
1) Your rankings are declining -
This one is pretty straightforward. If your website has been under the care of an SEO agency for an extended period of time and you are noticing a decline in rankings, it could be because they aren't doing their job properly. It may also be due to other factors outside of their control, but if it has been consistently going down over time, you should consider other options.
2) They don't do link building -
Link building is one of the best ways to get more traffic to your website. It's also one of the trickier forms of SEO because it requires knowledge, experience and time to yield good results. If your agency hasn't built any links for you in over 6 months, they probably aren't doing their best work. You can also do link building for affiliate sites for boosting your affiliate marketing site’s traffic.
3) They don't know what they are doing -
This should go without saying, but there are a lot of SEO "experts" out there that don't actually have any idea how to increase your rankings or drive more qualified traffic to your site. If you've been in contact with an SEO agency for over 6 months and they haven't demonstrated any results, it might be time to look elsewhere.
4) They don't care about the user experience -
Another big sign that you are working with an SEO agency that isn't concerned with your website is if they don't seem to care about the user experience on your website. If it lacks good content, is difficult to navigate, or has other problems that could be solved with an SEO update (and they aren't doing those updates), you've found a bad agency.
5) They don't publish blog posts -
If your SEO agency doesn't want to help you write and publish blog posts for your website, then they probably won't do much else for you either. One of the best ways to get more backlinks and drive search engine traffic is to publish fresh content multiple times per week that is targeting your target audience.
6) They don't know about on-page SEO -
On-Page SEO refers to how well you've optimized your individual web page for rankings in the search engines. On-page SEO isn't difficult and an experienced SEO agency should be able to give you advice on how to improve your on-page SEO. If they don't know what this is or can't help you with it, then move along.
7) They don't use analytics or tracking -
Another sign of an SEO agency that isn't doing their best work for you is if they aren't using analytics to track the performance of your website's keywords over time. There are many different analytics tools out there and each SEO agency will have their own way of tracking this information. If they aren't doing something similar to what is outlined in sign #4, you probably want to find a new agency.
8) They don't understand your business -
There are a lot of things that play into the rankings of a website on Google and Yahoo!. If your SEO agency isn't doing a good job of tracking and analyzing these things for you, then they probably aren't going to help you rank better. The best way to know if your SEO agency is providing value for your money is to ask them what they are doing to improve your rankings.
9) They don't use local SEO -
If you are trying to target a certain geographic location with your web presence, it's important that your website is properly optimized on the search engines. An experienced SEO agency should know how to get your website ranking for local search terms related to your business.
10) They don't use content marketing -
Link building is just one part of an SEO strategy. The more important piece of the puzzle is getting more qualified traffic to your website through content marketing. If they aren't helping you write articles or blog posts for your website, then you will probably see little results in terms of search engine rankings and new customers.
These are some very obvious signs that your SEO agency is ripping you off or isn't doing their best work. If they aren't using analytics, blogging, on-page SEO, content marketing, and link building through social bookmaking then it's probably time to move on. If you are still unsure about what is right for your business, contact us Now!
