How to Work Collaboratively With Your SEO Agency

Hiring an SEO agency is an excellent way for small businesses to reap the same benefits as their larger competitors. Even growing businesses benefit from search engine optimization (SEO). Get the most out of outsourcing by being active in your success.

This guide covers these three points for smooth and effective collaboration:

1. Discuss Your Goals with the SEO Agency
2. Provide Information That Helps Them Help You
3. Establish an Open Line of Communication

There is a lot to discuss, so get ready to take notes.

Let’s go!

Want to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to SEO? Watch this video!

1. Discuss Your Goals With the SEO Agency

Successful collaborations start by identifying what each party brings to the table. The agency has the expertise and know-how to help your business and website thrive. Your business or company, as the client, brings in finances in the form of payment for their services.

It does not stop there, though. Your goals and expectations are also invaluable in helping the agency find the best way forward. For example, whether you need your website to draw more traffic or conversions affects what type of SEO service you need.

Both parties must agree on goals and expectations because:

• You do a disservice by not speaking up in matters that affect your business.
• It helps clarify what kind of work the SEO agency needs to do and how.
• The agency must know if they can provide the service you need.

You can also approach this from the perspective of what you need the agency to do:

• On-Page SEO: This is work on elements that customers see and interact with, such as creating content, checking internal links, and formatting pages.
• Off-Page SEO: If you are concerned about branding and marketing, this is what you need help with from the agency. Cleaning up backlinks is also part of this.
• Technical SEO: Fixing backend issues affecting user experiences (UX). This is a core component of a strong SEO strategy.
• Local SEO: This SEO branch is for businesses and websites that want to perform better in their local market. It focuses on increasing visibility within a geographic area.
• Other SEO: Optimizing specific parts of your digital presence outside your website, for example, social media or e-commerce, is also part of SEO.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are an unbiased metric of success. Discuss them with your SEO agency to ensure you are on the same page. Track them on your end, then compare your ratings when you meet with the agency.

A KPI mindset leads to growth because it provides a vision to work toward.

2. Provide Information That Helps Them Help You

“Two heads are better than one,” as the saying goes. It is tempting to say that you pay the agency to do the work, but hold that thought for a moment. Whatever job you pay them to do can be done faster if you provide them with crucial information.

Though research and analysis are part of their job, giving your SEO agency a head start helps them get the job done sooner. You will benefit from the process at no additional cost. Essentially, helping them helps you at the end of the day.

Here are some essential pieces of information that can significantly speed up your agency’s work, depending on the services you need:

• All About Your Business: The agency may know about your industry but not necessarily about your business. Tell them what products and services you provide and your target market. All are good starting points for content ideas.
• Competing Businesses: Competitor analysis helps the SEO agency find your niche online. You may have a list of businesses you want to compete against and a niche you already fill in the market. Let the agency know about them.
• Target Keywords and Topics: If you outsource content, feel free to contribute your keyword and content ideas. After all, you know your business and brand best. The agency’s job is to help you achieve that and bring you the success you want.
• Customer Wants and Needs: As the business owner, you have close contact with your buyers and clients. You know their concerns and have heard their feedback. Understanding user intent is one SEO agency trend you should capitalize on.
• Other Suggestions You Have: You undoubtedly have thoughts on how to get the job done. Share these with the agency and see if they can integrate your suggestions into the overall plan. Always remember that your input is invaluable.

You save yourself time and money by giving them a direction to work toward rather than leaving them to figure it out from scratch.

3. Establish an Open Line of Communication

Although SEO agencies are experts in helping your business and website grow online, they can only work with the information they have. They cannot read your mind. You must be active in communicating with them.

Here are three reasons why having an open line of communication is beneficial:

• Your thoughts and opinions are essential for the agency to do its job correctly. What you want to achieve is as valuable as the output they produce for you.
• Relying solely on their interpretation of your wants and needs is a recipe for disaster. Ideally, you want them to have a clear vision of your expectations, and communication provides this.
• You know your business better than anyone else, so it is in your best interest to volunteer information that can help smooth the process.

Working with the wrong agency is a major reason why companies fail at SEO. Get to know them before you obtain their services. In addition, reducing the possibility of miscommunications can affect the speed and quality of work they provide for your business.

Summing Up

Hiring an SEO agency is a great way to delegate work that your employees are not equipped for  or able to handle. Everything from market research to keyword research to content creation is easy with an agency working with you.

However, being active in building your SEO success is equally important. Contact us to partner with a leading SEO agency and create your success today.