There’s a pretty distinct difference in how different companies break down their SEO efforts! 

Did you know that over 60% of companies prefer to use mostly SEO and only some PPC efforts? While the next is a 17% usage of equal SEO and PPC efforts. 

In today’s competitive online landscape, a well-thought-out SEO plan is essential. You can do a lot to boost the visibility of your keywords and the volume of your site’s organic traffic if you have a good approach and are patient. Still, if your SEO isn’t good, it could be costing your business money, both in the form of wasted money and missed opportunities.

An SEO marketing company should be able to guide you with the best way to split your SEO tactics in order to gain maximum results. 

However, there can be pitfalls and SEO mistakes that need to be avoided when working with SEO marketing companies, keep reading to find out what to keep your eyes open for. 

1. An SEO Marketing Company May Not Have Laser Focus

One pitfall of an SEO marketing company is that they are too large to have “laser focus” on your brand and your SEO needs. The truth is that bespoke SEO agencies can offer a more custom approach for their clients as they tend to have less to service. 

Larger SEO companies can have you feeling a little in the dark with a simple performance report at the end of the month, which is not great, particularly if you’re a client who likes to discuss things in depth or understand the inner workings of the SEO machine. 

2. They Focus on Traffic Alone

One of the greatest advantages of search engine optimization is the increase in visitors to a website. After all, organic search drives 64% of all traffic to websites. 

But that doesn’t mean traffic should be the only goal of your SEO efforts — SEO is also a powerful way to drive conversions.

An SEO company should dig into your analytics to see which pages are the highest converting pages. Then, see if you can make any improvements to get more eyes on these high-converting pages.

Tools like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools guide how your sites are doing in search engine rankings. The right SEO partner should be willing to show you how to accurately read these tools in order to make better SEO decisions. 

3. They Might Be Underqualified

One pitfall of using an SEO marketing company is the fact that behind the logo and the fancy website is just one person. Now, there’s nothing with this in a sense, however, SEO has so many moving parts.

In fact, many of the cogs that make up the SEO machine are sometimes considered jobs by themselves and in isolation.

It can be very difficult for a one-man-SEO-show to have the skills to make every facet of your SEO tactics work while giving it every second of attention it needs, particularly if they have more than one client. 

On the other hand and to the same point, an SEO company may not be fully understanding of your brand and business which, in turn, means that they may not have done SEO work in your industry before. 

For example, if you’re a chiropractor, then it would be beneficial to find a company that specializes in chiropractic SEO. 

4. They Do Not Manage Your Social Media Accounts

This point is especially important as you begin to build your audience to take advantage of multiple platforms.

Having inactive social media accounts projects the image that the business is closed or unprofessional.

A good rule of thumb for popular social media accounts is to provide updates two to three times per week depending on how big the company is. 

Now, some SEO marketing companies will include content and social media management in their services offering, but one of the potential pitfalls is that they may not. This means that the onus is on you to ensure that whatever is being done to make your SEO work should be implemented and carried out with your social media marketing too. 

5. They Don’t Do Development

A mobile-friendly website is essential as people are becoming more dependent on their cell phones for general purposes including shopping.

Your site needs to be set up so that pictures load at the correct aspect ratio, and information is presented clearly. This is all part of the job specification for a web development agency. However, the pitfall of an SEO agency is that they may not have a development department which means that you’ll have to find a developer to help ensure that the way your website flows is optimized for how your SEO works. 

6. Content Creation Without Any Intention

A lot of times you might have come across the term ‘content is king’. Well, it is true to a significant extent. Filling your website with loads of content and other blog sites with content related to your website is simply not enough.

If online users do not find the content engaging enough or relevant to them then you will not successfully get their attention. Hence, you will have to create content that should cater to the needs of your target customers.

So, what’s the possible disadvantage here? 

An SEO company may not be able to help create and manage your content creation outside of your website. That simple job can be fairly time-consuming and demanding so it would be ideal to find an agency that does content in its entirety. 

Don’t Make SEO Mistakes 

The truth is that although hiring an SEO marketing company may have its pitfalls, there are more pros than cons. But this only rings true if you hire the right company for your brand. 

Take your time to talk with your shortlist of SEO specialists and don’t be afraid to ask them why you should choose them!

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