7 Reasons You Need An SEO Agency
SEO is an essential part of a successful marketing strategy. Now more than ever, businesses are waking up to the long-term benefits of SEO when carried out effectively.
Are you considering working with an SEO agency? If you haven’t worked with one before, you may wonder what benefits an agency could bring to your business and if it’s worth the investment.
In this blog, we cover why the evolution of search engines and changing customer behaviour has shaped the need for an SEO specialist, plus and seven benefits you’ll gain by working with an SEO agency.
Why do you need an SEO agency?
SEO has been around a long time, but why is SEO so important in 2020? Firstly, in recent years Google has become much more sophisticated and, in turn, its algorithm has developed significantly. No longer just a search engine delivering website results, Google offers a broad range of information including image, video, Shopping, Maps, knowledge graphs and local capabilities.
Placing the user at the core of the experience, the search engine’s aim is to deliver the best results possible to satisfy search intent. Google’s ongoing development alongside growing online consumer demands and increasing competition has created the need for SEO specialist agencies.
Google’s updates
The E-A-T, or Medic, update was significant when it occurred in 2018. This update now sees Google’s algorithm considering whether the content on your site is not only relevant and keyword optimised but genuinely useful to the user. Does the page answer the user’s questions without the need to navigate to a different page? Does your content answer search intent? Does your content convey expertise, authority and trust (E-A-T)?
We asked our Head of Technical SEO, Chris Shelbourn, what he believes is ahead when it comes to Google’s algorithm updates:
“I think we’ll see further announcements on core web vitals. It seems likely that these considerations will become a ranking factor and even more focus will be placed on page speed and usability.” – Chris Shelbourn, Head of Technical SEO, Ingenuity Digital
As the search engine becomes more complex and online competition becomes rife, an SEO agency is becoming a necessity to help you succeed in the digital world.
7 benefits of using an SEO agency
1) Navigate the complex SEO landscape
Every time Google makes a complex change such as the Panda update, Penguin penalties or the Medic update, it becomes harder to generate an ROI unless you’re aware of what needs to be done and how to do it.
As the organic channel continues to evolve, it requires the help of an SEO expert to navigate changes. An experienced SEO agency will be well versed in recognising and reacting to these changes, able to leverage their years of expertise to craft and deploy a strategic SEO plan that will drive results.
2) Best and latest practices
It’s an agency’s business to stay on top of the latest SEO practices and they know how to get results. Tracking positions and monthly search volumes alongside Google updates, it’s easy to identify impact, allowing us to react fast.
This immediate exposure to changes in the SEO arena coupled with working alongside clients from multiple industries places agencies in a strong position to support you through the frequently changing digital landscape.
As an SEO agency, we place importance on keeping our team of SEO specialists trained, certified and up to date. Through our tried and tested strategies, we can better understand what works and what doesn’t. This approach not only saves you time and money but also allows us to focus on SEO strategies that drive real business impact.
3) Leverage their specialism
Within SEO, there are many disciplines that, together, optimise your organic performance. With experts working on individual elements of your search engine optimisation strategy such as digital PR, content writing, technical site auditing, link acquisition or research and development ensures we generate the best organic performance possible.
We recommend using an SEO specialist for each focus area. As SEO becomes more complex, being able to leverage this specialism becomes hugely beneficial.
4) Cost effective
Working with an SEO agency may not necessarily be cheap, but when you consider the ROI, it can be highly cost-effective, especially when you compare to the cost of hiring an in-house team.
Allocating your budget to where the best ROI will be made, you could find that three of four people are in fact with specialist skillsets to reach your objectives. Experts in their field, an agency will not only be able to identify what will lead to the maximum return on your campaigns, but also have the specialist skillsets ready to leverage.
5) Access to a wider talent pool
With an SEO agency, you instantly have access to a wider talent pool. If the agency prides themselves on attracting and retaining top talent, you can be confident that your team will be the best of breed with the knowledge required to hit your objectives.
This is of huge importance to us. When we welcome new people into our teams, we nurture their skills and specialism. Allowing them to grow and supporting them to excel in their field is beneficial for their development as well as your digital campaigns.
6) Access to industry-leading and exclusive tools
You can reap the rewards of market leading tools when you engage with an SEO agency, benefitting from insight that you otherwise may not have or need to pay a premium to access.
We’ve even take the time to develop our own in-house tools to complement industry-leading tools, adding further value to better performance for our clients. Our exclusive SEO competitor analysis tool which reveals:
- Your website’s performance in comparison to your competitors
- Specific pages which need urgent improvement
- The health of your website including page indexing, site speed and Google crawling
- How many phrases you rank for on the first page of Google
Having knowledge of your market and understanding of where you sit in the market is key to success. Uncovering your true competitors, we can spot opportunities for growth to form a high performing SEO strategy designed to get you ahead of your competitors.
Do you want to find out more about your competitors? Claim your free SEO competitor analysis today.
7) Data and insight
Data is the cornerstone of a high-quality SEO strategy. Knowing what to look for and where to find it, your SEO agency is skilled in analysing data from numerous sources. Uncovering valuable insight, we can show you how to use this data to your advantage, turning insight into action with ROI in mind.
An SEO agency should take an open and transparent approach to their work, using data to guide their decisions so your campaigns have the best return possible.
As the SEO and online landscapes become more complex, the need for an SEO specialist becomes all the more prevalent.
The fast-paced changes that have occurred to the digital marketing space this year have seen us leverage our flexible approach. As a result, we have been able to continue doing what we do best – solving our clients’ business challenges.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to organic success. Instead, it’s about leveraging expertise to recognise what will drive results for an individual business. Using our many years experience working with a range of clients both in the UK and internationally, we know how to generate results, crafting a bespoke strategy that will see you meet your objectives.
If you want to find out more about our work and how we can help improve your SEO performance, contact our SEO specialists or take a look at our case studies to find out how we: