What Is an SEO Company? (And What Do SEO Companies Do?)

What is an SEO company?Your timesaving, traffic-generating hero. Search engine optimization companies, better known as SEO agencies, help businesses generate more traffic from the web by improving the business’s visibility in organic search results on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Looking to learn more about SEO companies? Keep reading and get answers to:

• What is an SEO company?
• What does an SEO company do?
• How much does an SEO firm cost?
• What should an SEO firm’s services include?
• When should I hire an SEO agency?
• How do I find a top SEO agency to hire?
• And more

P.S.Enter your URL hereto learn how to improve your SEO rankingswithoutan SEO company!

What is SEO?

Search engine optimizationis the optimization of a website to improve its online visibility in organic search engine results. With SEO services from an experienced SEO company, businesses get professional help developing, implementing, and optimizing an SEO campaign that generates visibility, traffic, and revenue.

How does SEO work?

More than 200 factors help generate search engine results pages, but the below provides a quick overview:

1. Crawlers (or spiders) from search engines like Googlecrawl your website
2. Search engines index your website’s content, making it eligible to appear in search engine results
3. Your site appears in relevant search engine results pages — where depends on200+ ranking factors

When you partner with an SEO agency for SEO services, their goal is to make SEO work for you, like by:

• Ensuring search engines can crawl and index your website
• Targeting relevant keywords that attract qualified website traffic
• Optimizing website content for on-site SEO to improve search engine rankings
• Adapting SEO campaigns based on algorithm updates
• Providing recommendations for improving and scaling your SEO strategy

Overall, search engine companies take dozens of steps to help your business improve its:

• On-page, off-page, and technical SEO
• Keyword rankings
• Organic traffic
• Organic traffic’s conversion rate

What is an SEO company?

一个SEO公司执行search engine optimization (SEO) as a service. Typically, SEO companies will use on-page, off-page, and technical optimizations to improve a site’s visibility, traffic, and revenue from organic search results.

What does an SEO company do?

An SEO company helps businesses grow rankings, traffic, and revenue from organic search. SEO companies perform multiple tasks to achieve these goals, including SEO audits, on-page optimizations, content creation, link building, keyword research, and technical optimizations.

How much does an SEO firm cost?

How much an SEO firm costs depends on your business and the firm. Typically, SEO companies willcost $2500 to $7,500 per month. While you can find SEO firms for cheaper, you need to watch forSEO scams, which often lure businesses with the promise ofcheap SEOservices.

Somefirm-relatedpricing factors include:

• Location
• Experience
• Deliverables
• Payment structure

Somebusiness-relatedpricing factors include:

• Timeline
• Project scope
• Goals

Request a quote for the most accurate answer to how much SEO companies cost. After reviewing your request and speaking with your team, the agency will provide custom pricing — and a list of deliverables — that you can use to decide if this is the right SEO company for your business.

Is it worth hiring an SEO agency?

Whether it’s worth hiring an SEO agency depends on your answers tothese questions:

• 你能do SEO yourself? (And can you do SEO yourself well?)
• Do you have the budget foroutsourcing SEO?
• Is yourSEO strategyover- or underperforming?
• Are yourSEO skillsbelow average, average, or above average?

Typically, it’s worth hiring an SEO agency when:

• You don’t have the time, resources, or skills to do SEO yourself
• You have the budget to hire an SEO company
• You aren’t delivering the results management wants from SEO

In comparison, it’s worth keeping SEO with your in-house SEO experts when:

• You have the time, resources, SEO tools, and skills to do SEO yourself
• You don’t have the budget to hire a good SEO firm
• You are delivering the results management wants from SEO

Keep in mind you don’t have to meet all the above points to hire an SEO agency. Many businesses take a proactive approach and hire an SEO firm. If you notice your time for SEO is decreasing, for example, you can get ahead by hiring an SEO agency before your results begin to suffer.

What services do SEO companies provide?

What is an SEO company? Your all-in-one provider for SEO services like:

• Traditional SEO, which optimizes your site for non-localized searches.
• Local SEO, which optimizes your site for local searches.
• Ecommerce SEO, which optimizes your site’s online store for search.
• Enterprise SEO, which optimizes your site for competitive keywords with high search volumes.
• Voice SEO, which optimizes your site for voice searches.
• SEO audits, which analyze your site for issues affecting its rankings.
• SEO consulting services, which assist during projects, like a website redesign.

Depending on the SEO firm, they may offer all, some, or only one of these services. If you’re looking for an agency that can do it all,focus on full-service agencies(WebFX is anexample of one) since they have larger, specialized teams for these different search engine optimization areas.

What should an SEO company do?

Ok, so you know an SEO company’s definition and what they do, but what should they do,specifically? Great question — and it’s one you’ll want to ask when meeting with potential SEO agencies to hire. Typically, SEO companies should do the following:

• Audit your website
• Improve your on-page, off-page, and technical SEO
• Report your progress

Learn more about what these tasks include below:

Audit your website

With a completeSEO auditof your site, your SEO company can:

• Determine the site’s structure, indexing, and optimization status
• Find high-impact issues, like crawling or indexing issues
• Prioritize which areas to focus on first, like indexing issues vs. on-page optimizations
• Recommend an effective SEO strategy for achieving your goals
• And more

Typically, SEO agencies will use SEO tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Screaming Frog to analyze your site’s search engine optimization. So, expect your SEO team to ask for analytics access. Depending on the agency, they might also usepaid SEO tools, like Ahrefs or Semrush.

After auditing your website, your firm should provide you with the following:

• Findings summary
• Recommended action items

The best SEO firms will also explain the “why” behind their recommendations. Why? For the same reason your favorite service provider, whether a mechanic or a plumber, takes the time to explain an issue and its solution — they value you andwantyou to feel confident about a decision.

Improve your on-page, off-page, and technical SEO

What else do SEO companies do? They focus on improving youron-page,off-page, andtechnical SEO.

Thesetypes of SEOinclude multiple projects and tasks, which you can see summarized below:

Someon-page optimization examplesinclude:

• Improving title tags and meta descriptions
• Researching keywords
• Suggesting (or writing) new content

Someoff-page optimization examplesinclude:

• Setting up directory listings
• Conducting link outreach
• Generating content ideas

Sometechnical optimization examplesinclude:

• Optimizing robots.txt file
• Improving page speed
• Streamlining internal links

If you provide your SEO company site access, they can make the above technical and on-page optimizations for you, saving you a tremendous amount of time. However, depending on your business, you might be unable to provide site access.

In that case, your SEO agency will serve more as anSEO consultant, providing recommendations for you (or another team member) to implement. This setup will require more time from your team and will affecthow soon you see results from SEOif you can’t implement your SEO company’s recommendations.

Report your progress

Finally, SEO companies report your progress monthly. Typically,these SEO reportswill focus on:

• Rankings
• Traffic
• Conversions

Depending on the agency, your point-of-contact will walk through this report with you.

最好的SEO公司将调整这些报告哟ur business, focusing on the metrics that matter most to leadership. WebFX, for example, can report on the number ofqualifiedleads generated from SEO and the number of leads that became sales, which helps our clients see SEO’s bottom-line impact.

It’s important to note that while keyword rankings and organic traffic are important, they can becomevanity metrics. Your business could rank number one for a high-traffic keyword, but if that traffic isn’t relevant to your business, you won’t see the bottom-line impact.

That’s why it’s vital to speak with an SEO agency about how they measure success before hiring them.

What should the best SEO agencies do?

The best SEO agencies stand apart from the rest because they’re pros at:

• Optimizing for SEO
• Delivering WOW service
• Adapting to market changes, including search engine algorithms

They also do what other SEO companies don’t, like:

• Research your market
• Develop your strategy
• Fill your skill gaps
• Improve your analytics
• A/B test your SEO
• Re-purpose your SEO data

You can learn more about these tasks, below:

Research your market

When it comes to what SEO companies do, the best ones will research your:

• Industry
• Target market
• Competitors

With this information, your agency can better understand the market, which can help them:

• Determine the best keywords to target
• Find opportunities for link building, content creation, and more
• Provide recommendations for navigating economic or market changes

Some agencies, like WebFX, also partner you with a dedicated SEO expert inyourindustry. In our experience, this helps our clients by decreasing onboarding times, streamlining communication, and improving SEO results.

Keep in mind you won’t find this at most agencies — even thetop SEO companies. That’s because it requires a large team (we have more than 500 in-house specialists), a diverse client base, and long-lasting SEO partnerships (some of our clients have partnered with us for more than 10 years).

Develop your strategy

While everyday SEO agencies can develop strategy, it’s the top SEO agencies you want to develop yours.

That’s because these agencies consider your business’s bigger objectives when creating your strategy. For example, will your business expand into a new area in the next five years? Let your SEO company know, and they’ll incorporate that goal into your overarching strategy.

When it comes to strategy, you can also expect best-in-class SEO agencies to:

• Tailor your strategy to your industry, audience, and goals
• Adapt your strategy based on economic or market changes
• Enhance your plan with the latest SEO tactics
• And more

If you’re looking for a hands-off approach to SEO, you’ll want a top SEO company because they’ll develop, implement, and manage your search engine optimization plan. Even if you prefer a more hands-on approach, you might enjoy collaborating withSEO experts.

Fill your skill gaps

Search engine optimization is more thanwriting title tagsandgetting backlinks. You’ll need several skill sets, from web development to copywriting, to maintain an SEO program that drives rankings, traffic, and revenue in 2023.

Top SEO companies recognize the skill gaps within most SEO programs. That’s why their team includes:

• SEOs
• Content marketing specialists
• Web developers
• Website designers
• And more

WebFX, for example, features a team of 500+ professionals that includes:

• SEOs
• Outreach specialists
• Content marketing specialists
• Professional copywriters and copyeditors
• Data analysts
• Conversion rate optimization specialists
• Social media specialists
• Digital advertising specialists
• Web developers
• Website designers
• Business consultants

With a team like this, you can knock outSEO tasks(like the following) faster:

• Creating assets, like new content
• Fixing issues, like a sitemap
• Launching projects like a custom 404 page
• Pivoting strategy, like in response to an industry shift
• Adopting new tactics, like first-party data
• And more

When you can implement SEO action items faster, your business can get results from SEO sooner. Keep in mindSEO still takes around three to six months— but if you start SEO now vs. later, you’ll see results sooner.

A/B test your SEO

The best SEO companies go beyond optimizing your website’s SEO. They alsoA/B test your SEO.

In search engine optimization, A/B testing can include:

• Testing different title tags
• Testing different meta descriptions

If you partner with a full-service SEO agency, they can also help withconversion rate optimization (CRO). Unlike SEO A/B testing, which focuses on bringing more traffic to your site,CRO testingfocuses on converting more of your existing traffic.

As an example ofSEO and CRO’s combined impact, WebFX has used bothdigital marketing strategiesto help our clients generatemore than $3 billion in revenueover the past five years.

Improve your analytics

One of the bigger benefits of hiring a top SEO agency is betterSEO analytics. Most successful SEO companies will invest in white-label website analytics software, which helps clients monitor rankings, traffic, and conversions from SEO.

For transparency — agencieswillpass the cost of purchasing this software onto you.

This setup can become a bigger issue because as software costs rise, so will your SEO service costs. Your agency also has no control over when these increases happen or how much the software will increase. Should your agency switch platforms in response to rising costs, your data is in jeopardy.

There are still plenty of benefits to having advanced analytics software, though, like:

• View SEO-generated results in a dedicated dashboard
• Monitor rankings for top URLs
• Track SEO conversions over time

While rare, you can find some agencies that have developed and built their own analytics software.

WebFX is one example, thoughour platformextends beyond analytics, providing you with the following:

• Track SEO’s return on investment (ROI) down to the URL
• Measure return on investment across all digital channels
• Get AI-powered insights for improving SEO
• Monitor competitor movements, strategy shifts, and more
• Automate marketing initiatives, like lead nurturing email campaigns
• Personalize website URLs
• Access sales data via customer relationship management (CRM) integrations
• And more

If you decide to hire an SEO company, spend some time thinking about what you need — and what leadership needs — to measure search engine optimization’s performance and bottom-line impact because that will influence the type of SEO agency you hire.

Re-purpose your SEO data

From building your strategy to tracking your performance, the best SEO firms work to keep you ahead of the market. That’s why, in 2023, the best-of-the-best SEO companies will help you maximize the value of your organic traffic data.

If you’re familiar with the shift fromthird-party to first-party data, you know building afirst-party data strategyis critical. That’s what top SEO companies do. With ourproprietary marketing platform, for example, we help our clients re-use their data for ad campaigns, personalization, and more.

The result? Our clients have seen an average 20% increase in digital marketing ROI!

When shopping around for SEO service providers, research (or ask!) about their approach to first-party data. Not all SEO companies will have one. However, the top SEO agencies will know what you’re talking about and will likely have an answer about how they help you generate and activate your first-party data.

How do I choose an SEO company?

You know the definition of an SEO company, and what an SEO business does, and now, you want to hire one.

Hiring an SEO agency can take several months, especially if you need buy-in from other departments. However, educating yourself on how to choose an SEO company can help you find the best SEO service provider for your business.

Here are some tips for picking an SEO agency (for even more advice, read ourSEO Hiring Guide):

• Outline your expectations:Get together with your stakeholders and determine what you want from an SEO agency. Do you want a company that can develop and execute? Are you looking for a firm to help with a specific project? How are you planning to measure their performance?
• Determine your budget:Before getting into discussions with an SEO company, determine your budget. How much is management willing to invest in SEO services? What do these services have to include for that budget to make sense?
• Ask your network for recommendations:Use your network connections for initial agency recommendations. They can help you build a list of companies to check out (or avoid), which can save you a tremendous amount of time.
• Review your candidate’s case studies:Look at case studies from your list of SEO candidates. How do they measure success? What strategies do they use to achieve results? Why are clients happy with this agency?
• Ask your top agencies for a meeting:Contact your top candidates and meet with them! How do they manage SEO projects? What is their SEO framework? How are they keeping ahead of the industry? You should also ask questions related to pricing, timelines, and deliverables.
• Get your custom proposal:一旦你有你最喜欢的搜索引擎优化公司的列表s, ask for a proposal. This proposal should include pricing, deliverables, and anything specific you and the agency discussed, like a requested task or start date.

If you go through the hiring process and haven’t found an agency you like, don’t settle. You want an SEO company you can trust with your site — and your business. Keep looking and talking with agencies to find the best one for your business.

FAQs about SEO companies

Learn more about SEO companies (and even SEO) with these FAQs:

How do SEO companies charge for SEO services?

You’ll find SEO companies offer afew different payment structuresfor SEO services, like:

• Flat rate:A predictable fee charged regularly, like monthly.
• Performance-based:A varying fee charged regularly based on the agency’s results.
• Hourly:A pre-determined fee charged based on the number of hours worked.
• Project-based:A pre-determined fee charged based on a project and its scope.

The preferred pricing models are flat rate, hourly, or project-based.

What metrics do SEO companies improve?

SEO companies focus on improving the following metrics:

• Search engine rankings
• Organic traffic
• Organic conversions
• Engagement metrics, like time on page

Depending on your business’s SEO needs, your SEO agency might focus on additional metrics.

What do an SEO company’s services include?

An SEO company’s services should include:

• SEO audit
• On-page optimizations
• Off-page optimizations
• Technical optimizations
• Reporting

Some SEO agencies will provide more than what’s listed above, like:

• Strategy development
• A/B testing
• Advanced analytics tracking

Every agency is different, so you’ll need to check with them to verify their service deliverables.

How does an SEO company work?

An SEO company works to grow your business by:

• Learning about your industry, target audience, and business
• Building, implementing, and managing a strategy that impacts your most important metrics
• Communicating with your team the what, why, and how of different site updates
• Reporting on SEO initiatives so you can see (and share) SEO’s impact

An SEO company’s job is to drive leads, phone calls, store visits, purchases, and more through search.

Just like you hire an accountant to help streamline and improve your books or hire a cleaning company to tidy up the office each week, partnering with an SEO company means connecting with a company whose goal is to improve your visibility in search engines.

What is an example of working with an SEO company?

Let’s say you operate a house painting company in Ames, Iowa(Go Cyclones!).

You are an expert in all things paint. You spend your day talking all about glosses, finishes, ferrules, and more. You want to earn more leads for your business and hear from your customers that they find local paint contractors through search engines like Google.

Taking the time to learn, implement, and adjust an SEO campaign isn’t an option for you.

So, you find a trustworthy and reputable SEO company to help manage your web presence in search engines. A few months later, your site starts showing up at the top of Google results for searches like “painters in Ames Iowa”and“exterior painters in Ames.”

A beautiful partnership is born! You are busier than ever, thanks to leads flowing in from search engines. Partnering with a quality SEO firm gives you the expertise needed to generate more business from organic searches.

The beauty of SEO is that your marketing efforts allow interested customers to find you online.Most marketing channels require businesses to blast their message out to thousands of customers, with the hope being that a small percentage of them will be qualified prospects.

SEO works in theopposite方向:你方便人们寻求out and find your business as they search online. By nature, leads you earn from organic search are self-qualified. This means peoplealreadyinterested in your product or service are looking for you.

See what an SEO company can do for you

What is an SEO company? They’re your answer to capturing more traffic and revenue from the web.

拥有超过25年的经验(than $3 billion in revenue generated in the past five years for our clients), WebFX is a trusted choice forSEO services. So, if you’re looking for a custom strategy, diverse experts, and cutting-edge digital marketing technology,contact us online今天!