It could be an SEO agency. It could also be an SEO expert/freelancer. My biggest takeaway from my experience in doing SEO both for client sites and my own is that SEO is easy. As long as you don’t make critical errors.

There are numerous guides out there on the web that you can research. Tons of YouTube SEO resources available at our fingers. And as long as you have the time, life can be kept as simple as using a WordPress site, producing content with target keywords in mind, and building backlinks.

One of the major reasons clients from my previous jobs and the past choose an SEO agency is because they do not have the time or capacity to conduct their SEO campaigns. When you are growing quick, working on multiple fronts (building sales, developing products/services, managing operations), it’s a lot easier to hand the reigns of generating business for you to an agency with the skills and experience to do so.

As a sole business owner with limited resources, I would never recommend going the SEO agency route. Generally speaking, I’ve always known it to be best to focus on sales yourself and overdelivering yourself as you grow. It’s only when you reached a point in your day-to-day where you begin feeling overwhelmed do you consider an SEO agency.

Quick sidenote: For those who want to do things on their own, here are 3 resources I recommend studying to do your own SEO.

In an ideal world, you want an SEO agency or expert by your side as early as possible. Like before you build a site (i.e., launching a new dental practice) or begin a site migration of some kind (i.e., consolidating multiple dealerships under one corporate site).

The reason is when you build with an improper foundation, you might end up walking down a path with no results for months on end. Worst yet is ending up tens of thousands of dollars in the red for migrating a site only to find out the way it was done wrong, tanking your organic search visibility into no man’s land.

What makes an SEO agency suitable to step in to help you is that they have the technical understanding and resources to effectively improve your online presence. They have the expertise and know-hows on:

  • Site structure and architecture (physical vs. virtual silos)
  • How to do proper redirect and repair faulty ones
  • Identify, then resolve broken pages and links
  • Understanding of hosting solutions and CMS
  • Conducting comprehensive keyword research
  • Content development and content optimization for SEO
  • Build backlinks efficiently and effectively
  • Educate you in SEO; and
  • (For the really good ones) Expertise and insights to specific markets and geographic locations

If you have the resources and look forward to scaling or growing your business, that is the best time to begin searching for an SEO agency or expert. Otherwise, I highly recommend to start your SEO journey by studying the resources I’ve listed above!

By /