How to Vet Any Marketing Agency Before You Hire Them

There are hundreds of digital marketing agencies out there and they all promise growth. They promote their link-building skills and advanced outreach strategies in order to drive the best results. But which agencies are the best? How can you separate a quality organic search company from a poor-performing one? Follow these steps to identify the right team to partner with.

Decide whether you want a full-service or niche agency.

A full-service digital marketing agency will offer a variety of services to your brand. They will create PPC campaigns through Google and Bing, can develop quality content for your web pages, and will work to improve your search engine results and organic traffic. Companies look to hire full-service teams when they only want to work with one vendor.

A niche agency will only focus on one specific part of your marketing efforts. They will only provide SEO services and content optimization. These teams tend to be experts in their fields, but you will need to coordinate with multiple agencies if you work with them.

Decide what you want to outsource and what tasks can be completed in-house. For example, you may complete your keyword research in-house and then hire a vendor to create page content around them.

Learn about their SEO strategies.

Most trusted SEO companies like LinkGraph won’t hire their search optimization processes. They want their customers to be informed about their current rankings in the SERPs and the best ways to improve them. If a marketing agency refuses to share its link-building strategy or technical SEO checklists, you may not want to work with them. They might be doing something that Google frowns upon.

Take time to ask questions about your organic traffic and keyword opportunities. High-quality SEO teams want their customers to be informed so they can make smart optimization decisions.

Ask to see content samples.

If you operate in an industry that requires specific training and expertise, then you may want to look for a marketing agency that specializes in expert content. You want to set your brand apart as a leader in your field by creating high-quality content.

Look at the content the SEO firm creates for themselves and then ask to see samples of client work. Evaluate their landing page copy, blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, and even infographics if you are interested in them. Compare how the agency approaches a new site without existing content to an established brand with dozens of landing pages. You can even request a test piece of content to see how the agency writes about your brand.

You need to hand off your content creation efforts to a team you can trust. The best keyword research in the world can’t make up for lazy writing or basic content.

Request sample performance reports.

Many marketing agencies provide reports to customers with different metrics of success. In the SEO world, these reports provide visibility into domain authority, keyword ranking, and organic traffic. While there are plenty of data points that are useful, there are also vanity metrics that paint a positive picture without conveying important information.

Ask to see sample reports from your potential search engine marketing team. Compare their data points to those you can find yourself on the Google Search Console and other common keyword research tools. You may be able to pull the data yourself without needing their insights.

Don’t get caught up in a flashy agency that promises to increase conversions and drive qualified leads overnight. Make sure you learn how different SEO teams operate and keep up with Google’s best practices. This will help you find a reputable partner that really drives results.