Why Outsourcing SEO services is done at your peril
For those new to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and wondering which provider to choose, a word of warning.
Going cheap on your SEO could be one of the most costly mistakes ever.
An article in Entrepreneur highlights some of the many pitfalls of choosing a low cost (supposedly quality) SEO company form regions such as India.
So why this bashing of the outsourcing SEO work force?
Put simply, SEO is not just a science, it is also an art form, you need solid processes in place to ensure that what you are doing is up to date, legal, allowed and useful to the general optimization desires of the client, and you need an SEO company who takes time to help you develop content that is high quality while doing all the on page and off page SEO that they can to make sure your site is truly optimized correctly.
There are a huge amount of SEO ranking factors to take into consideration, granted ticking all boxes is not 100% vital but you need to get the basics and then more right to truly succeed.
Too many low cost (low quality) outsourcing SEO companies offer the world to start with and do very little to add value to the overall SEO of your website. They will typically offer a low barrier to entry and bamboozle you with science in the hop that you stay quiet when in reality they may be harming your site with the work they are doing.
Major SEO issues
One major SEO issue is language
Google actually grades content on a website for the level of language skill of the person which has written the content, and we all know that content is king. The problem is that badly written content pits the native reader off and also Google wonders who has written it is it is of low quality.
Another issue that arises when using low quality SEO companies is that they use borderline spammy techniques, this is not altogether wrong (depending), let’s not forget that SEO is par art right, the issue is if areas are relied on heavily and an update occurs you can see all that hard work wiped away unless more robust tactics are implemented and added
Poor quality links
With the quality of links back to your website playing an ever increasing importance factor it is vital that you do not let old fashioned tactics play any part in your future SEO drive, and using cheap companies often means they lack the sophistication needed to generate quality content to gain links in a more natural way and will lean towards buying or using link farm type linking arrangements.
Understanding your business needs
Many SEO firms will claim results for long tail keywords, these are usually around 4+ words that are very specific and often show buyer intent (very useful to be found for is you have a relevant product or service) but there is usually much less in terms of competition and therefore a bit easier to gain result for. In a worse case scenario you are paying for ‘results’ but gaining very little in terms of actual useful traffic.
Lack of conversion knowledge
The other major issue is like way too many SEO’s the focus on telling the client all about traffic, which is nigh on useless unless you can convert that traffic into a paying customer and this takes usability studies, conversion knowledge and high quality copy text, images and communication.
Summary
if you are serious about SEO, you need to accept that it is a time and money investment and you need a partner that works with you, not bamboozles you with promises and lingo you do not understand.
If you smell a rat, then you are probably going down a dark tunnel with a light at the end that can quickly go out and leave you very, very lost in the large open space that is the world wide web, don’t let your website and business suffer by going cheap and outsourcing your SEO to abroad.
Speak to expert providers locally so you can discuss your requirements face to face and work out your options properly.