Broadly speaking, there are two main types of SEO agencies, although there are exceptions:
- Keyword Agency
- Consulting Agency
Quality and competence of SEO agencies
First and foremost, they differ in terms of quality and competence. But there’s also an important difference: traditional consulting agencies spend more time on a project, immerse themselves in the client’s product and ideally deliver a holistic result. By a holistic result, I mean truly necessary and result-oriented solutions – results in the client’s domain that translate into tangible figures, specifically their profit.
The keyword agency approach
Keyword agencies usually do not carry out such an in-depth analysis of the client’s market. Their marketing analysis is limited to a briefing and discussion of the project. This can be outlined as follows:
- The client contacts the SEO agency.
- The sales manager or agency owner prepares a commercial proposal.
- The client is handed over to the SEO manager.
- An initial project meeting is held.
- Keywords are selected.
- The process begins.
Critique of the Process
What’s wrong with the process?
The approach is not client-centric. The SEO manager selects keywords and presents them to the client. On the client side, it’s not always the business owner who is most interested in the bottom line, but rather the marketing manager.
They both review the list of keywords, select the most promising ones and start implementing them. The agency manager incorporates these keywords into a template brief, texts are written (it is an advantage if the company has its own copywriter) and submitted to the client for approval.
The copy is finalised, added to the website and, if the client’s contract requires it, external links are created. In the best-case scenario, our client receives relevant or near-relevant traffic for the 10 keywords ordered. In the worst case, there’s no traffic, or so little that the agency’s efforts are never recouped.
Reasons for Ineffectiveness
- The client’s budget: Typically such clients have a limited budget and insufficient understanding of SEO to make an informed decision and choose a more profitable promotion strategy.
- Agencies working on the flow principle: In this workflow, novice SEOs and junior level specialists usually perform template tasks, setting high expectations for the client. I find this approach and way of working somewhat unethical.
A different approach
Is there a better way?
Indeed there is. For example, by changing the concept of the approach to include:
- Primary analysis, detailed research and prioritisation of activities.
- Implementation of web analytics, conversion tracking.
- Appropriately allocating the advertising budget, focusing on effectiveness rather than imaginary rankings.
- Working for results in the client’s world.
The winning approach: Operating in the customer’s world
Understand their pain points, their problems and their business successes.Knowing the product as well as the owner, understanding the target audience. Working by the numbers, where every action taken by an SEO specialist is considered in terms of the client’s bottom line. What will I gain by promoting my site for this keyword? Is it just traffic? Is it conversion or just a pretty graph in Google Search Console?
Of course, my approach and ideas about the ideal world are not always compatible with the dry reality of the SEO business. But there are always exceptions.