Updated: December 22, 2015
When it comes to SEO programs, you can see variations across clients and the span of months. This is what makes SEO programs such an asset: flexibility to evolve over time. But how do you know which SEO programs are worth using and which are worth trashing?
The following judgements are a good place to start.
Fact Check
You should always ensure that the company you’re researching takes a look at your company’s history with SEO programs before proposing one. Specifically, you need to provide them with the following information:
- Have you used an SEO program before?
- If so, what did you like/dislike about it?
- With any previous SEO programs, what kind of tactics were used?
Having this information will allow an SEO company to have a better idea of whether the previous SEO practices worked. Other questions, like what you didn’t like, can help move your company forward to getting exactly what you want out of a new SEO program.
Don’t Write Things Off Too Quickly
Pay attention when an SEO company performs a website audit for your business as it can often show inaccuracies. For example, the audit can unearth multiple directory links, which could signify bad SEO practices; however, this isn’t always true. Therefore, you will need to dig a little deeper to make sure that your previous SEO company wasn’t using “black hat” practices.
Data Analysis
Like when you perform a site audit, data analysis can also be unreliable because you can’t always trust the results. For example, on the surface a data analysis can indicate your company has favorable traffic, but at the same time you are experiencing poor leads. Digging further, however, could show that some of your pages that received a good deal of traffic have been removed, thus decreasing the amount of leads you’re earning.
At the end of the day the problem with deciding a good SEO program from a bad SEO program is that “good” is subjective to each individual or company. For this reason, evaluating an SEO program for its usefulness requires going further than surface deep.
For further information and ideas on enhancing your business’s SEO practices, check out our blog and knowledge center.
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