What are good tests to propose different SEO agencies when you're trying to vet them?
-
We are trying to narrow down our SEO agency list and I was told to propose 5 different tests. I'm not sure where to start. I also want these tests to help me understand what these companies can do for mine.
-
Thank you!!! These questions are golden! I agree. It's important to see if they have a good understanding of how to measure and track our goals. We ultimately want to make sure that our investment in an SEO agency has a good ROI. Thanks again! I appreciate all of the help!
-
Another great answer, asking about Google Data Studio knowledge is also beneficial
-
I think that someone on your team should have a good understanding of Analytics. If SEO and tracking is important to you then you should have someone internally that can vet the process the agency is using. But if you don't, then I would ask a few additional questions. to the one's above.
"Now that you have an understanding of what we do as a company, what are some of the tracking goals you feel we need to be measuring going forward?"
"Besides Google Analytics, what other tools do you use to help track progress and metrics?"
"Do you have a Google Analytics certification and when was the last time it was updated?"
"Do you offer custom dashboards so we can look at an overview in "real time" vs just when we meet?"
"How often are metrics updated?"
"Can you show us an example of some custom reports or Analytics setup you've done recently?"
Things like this. What's really going to be the determining factor is how comfortable you are and how much you actually trust the person giving the info. The good and bad thing about analytics is that it's straight forward. There is no "secret sauce" per se. So you may very well get the same sort of answers from each of the agencies. I have a phrase I tell people all the time, "Always go with the guy you feel you can trust and whom you feel will do everything in their power to get it right if something goes wrong."
You'll also want to find out if they "interpret data". Having tracking setup is one thing, but being able to give you recommendations on what sort of content to write or what to expect from the data is key. I would ask questions that pry some of that out of them.
"What sort of recommendations have you made in the past based on the data you've found inside of Analytics?"
"Describe a time when you had bad news for the company you worked with and how did you help them overcome it?"
Hope that helps.
-
Hi Darin,
Do you know of a way I can test SEO agencies when it comes to their technical acumen? My boss wants to vet companies against each other, but I'm at a loss when it comes to proposing SEO "tests."
-
Any time. Feel free to comment on this post if you have any further questions and I'll be happy to help.
-
Hi Darin,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! That was very beneficial! I will definitely be including these questions in my next steps. Appreciate the help!
-
Thanks.
-
This is an extremely good, detailed answer
-
One thing that is important is to see how they track their activities/success. I'm finding more and more SEO agencies are not very versed in Analtyics, goal tracking and balancing busy work vs productive work.
A lot of the questions I ask are based on where you currently are in your website project?
Do they have a process for tracking the amount of work going into the project on a monthly basis? How will the two of you define success? What is their content process? What is their overall philosophy on link building? How do you analyze the data and report it to us? How often will we meet to go over the data?
What case studies or references can they present? Have they done work in your specific field before? Do they have other clients you may be competing with?
What is their onboarding process like? How long does it take to really ramp up the project? How many hours per month or how many resources will be allocated to our project from the agency? How are turnaround times for questions that we have along the way? Who will be our account manager? How much time do you need from our internal team to help with your efforts?
Is there a contract? If so, what is the opt out policy if we feel the work isn't being done? How long is the contract? Does the contract itemize what is being done on a monthly basis?
I personally don't know of a test but these are questions I would ask. I would want to make sure the team handling my website is VERY versed in analytics and tracking. I think this is very overlooked by many companies whom hire agencies.
I haven't watched the video in a while but I know Rand did a whiteboard Friday on this a few years back. Link attached to the Moz video.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Duplicate URL's in Sitemap? Is that a problem?
I submitted a sitemap to on Search Console - but noticed that there are duplicate URLs, is that a problem for Google?
On-Page Optimization | | Luciana_BAH0 -
Need SEO Advice for different languages and How to optimize the page
Hello. Currently we have an ecommerce site that sells shoes online in France. The site is in English. Say the keyword is shoes and our page is example.com/shoes it;s perfectly fine to optimize that page for keyword of "shoes". Now, what about french keyword of shoes "chaussures" ? How do i optimize it? Should i create a different page or just edit the same page with keyword of "chaussures" in title tag etc? What is the best way to go about doing this? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | WayneRooney0 -
SEO for a site in development
We've recently taken on a new client for an initial 6 months for SEO (until their new site is going live) to help build traffic to the site. They are currently getting a new website built so don't want work done on their current site... but due to the current structure it is making it difficult for us to improve rankings for a number of keywords. They are essentially a booking engine for services across the UK so it is just a home page with a search filtering through their services, locations and dates which leads to a results page. It is a combination of services and locations we need to target keywords for but there are no appropriate landing pages due to the site layout. The one thing they are happy for us to work on is the blog, so my question is would it be best to create landing pages on the blog targeting keywords such as 'sports massages in London' and build links to these pages? Then when it is time for the new site, with new appropriate landing pages, simply 301 redirect these pages? If anyone has any input on this idea or suggestions for other ways about it we'd be delighted to hear from you Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Will_Craig0 -
SEO Title Tag Best Practice?
Hi, I would like to know if appending site name at the end of page title ( page title -_ Site Name/Site URL_ ) is a good/bad practice in reference to SEO? If a good practice which is better ( Site Name or Site URL )? Example: 20 Things you didn't know about zombies - coed.com Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | COEDMediaGroup0 -
Onpage SEO Analysis within a campaign
I have setup a campaign and have a number of pages which are ranked as F, but that is because they are comparing against the homepage and not the internal page I have setup. Is it possible to update the page which the campaign monitor is checking against. Or is it driven by the highest ranking page for that keyword. Thanks Andy
On-Page Optimization | | iprosoftware0 -
SEO Domain Values
I always thought that there was no difference in value between a .com and .net, also that hyphens have the same value as the keyphrase without the hyphen. But I have heard Rand lately saying hyphens are spammy - whats the go? Is CarParts.com better than Car-Parts.com or Car-Parts.net etc?
On-Page Optimization | | Ventura0 -
SEO Titles and Keyword Density
Hey guys, I'm doing some on page SEO for a few clients and I've always wondered about this question. I have read tons of articles on the perfect <title>tag, but they don't often mention this.</p> <p>So my titles, like most others follow this format:</p> <p>Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 - Company</p> <p>So say for example I am trying to rank for 'life insurance' and 'life insurance quote' for 'axa sunlife'.</p> <p>It's my assumption that the title should be:</p> <p>Life Insurance Quote - Axa Sunlife</p> <p>rather than:</p> <p>Life Insurance | Life Insurance Quote - Axa Sunlife</p> <p>Am I right in thinking that putting it twice has no added value, and could in fact have an adverse effect?</p> <p>Thanks,</p> <p>Lewis.</p> <p> </p></title>
On-Page Optimization | | SEOMyGod0 -
AB Testing - Organic Rank
Hello, Currently We are running an A/B test on a few pages, the footer and the header on our site. I was wondering what is the proper way to do an a/b test so that our google rankings won’t fall and that Google will only index one version at this time? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Tonyd230