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What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making your website visible to search engines, such as Google, in a way that gives your site preferential visibility. When your website is optimized for search, you improve the likelihood that your site will rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) and thus be more visible to those searching for your services or products.
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Why Is SEO Important?
Effective SEO is crucial for driving quality traffic to your website. The goal of SEO is to help those interested in your business offerings find you online. Optimizing your site for search improves the odds that those performing related online searches will find your company and click through to your website.
High click-through rates (CTRs) increase the opportunities you have to engage with your website visitors, make a connection and either make a sale or establish a relationship that sets the stage for closing a sale down the line.
How To Choose the Best SEO Service
When selecting an SEO service, you should first consider your SEO goals. Then, spend time with a few SEO service providers to discuss those needs in light of what each agency delivers. It’s also helpful to speak with current or past clients.
SEO service providers help you increase your visibility in search engines and thereby assist you in generating more traffic for your website. An SEO service provider may conduct a variety of tasks, including auditing your existing website for SEO effectiveness, conducting keyword searches, developing an SEO plan to outrank your competition and writing SEO copy for your site.
Types of SEO Services
Before purchasing SEO services, it’s wise to get a handle on the different types of SEO available. Understanding the basics will give you a considerable advantage when evaluating SEO agencies.
- On-page SEO: On-page SEO involves optimizing on-page content elements such as headlines, page content, image alt-tags, page titles and the page URL. Including appropriate internal and external links within your content also boosts on-page SEO.
- Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO involves tactics that improve your overall search rankings but are irrelevant to individual page content. Building high-authority backlinks to your site is a critical off-page SEO service that a top-notch SEO service group should provide.
- Technical SEO: Search engines need to understand your site content and structure, so an up-to-date XML sitemap is crucial for effective technical SEO. Other technical SEO necessities include eliminating site problems, such as slow page load times, mobile responsiveness issues, duplicate content and HTTP error codes, for example, 404, which indicates content is not found.
- Local SEO: Some service providers specialize in helping your site rank higher than competitors in your local market. Optimizing your Google Business Profile listing is key to local SEO success; a reputable local SEO service provider can handle this for you.
- E-commerce SEO: Websites built for e-commerce need to be optimized somewhat differently than non-e-commerce sites. Some SEO agencies specialize in helping websites with online stores increase site traffic and improve sales conversion metrics. For help getting started, check out our full e-commerce SEO guide.
- Voice SEO: Voice search users typically ask conversational questions that contain more words in their search string than used in a text search. Voice SEO is particularly important for local service or hospitality businesses likely to benefit immediately from people looking for options for urgent needs, such as the nearest service station, bakery or dog groomer.
How Much Do SEO Services Cost?
SEO service pricing is typically done on either a project or monthly retainer basis. You may pay an upfront fee for your initial audit and existing site optimization. If you want to work with a service provider for ongoing SEO support, you’ll likely need to enter into a multi-month or annual contract. A longer contract commitment is often required because SEO efforts take several months to yield results.
Most small businesses that invest in SEO services typically pay from $500 to $3,000 or more monthly. Several factors determine how much SEO services will cost for your small business. The volume and veracity of online competition, the number of pages you need to optimize, how effectively—or ineffectively—your current site is already optimized and the service provider you select can all impact your total SEO costs.
When working with an SEO agency for the first time, you may be presented with several SEO service options, with tier pricing relative to the level of service you’ll receive. Before signing a contract, make sure you are clear on the deliverables. Also, if your project or retainer fee nets out to more than $150 per hour, you’re likely paying too much; the average hourly rate is closer to $75 to $100.