One of the most challenging aspects of running a startup is figuring out how to let people know that you exist. Trying to stand out in the ever-expanding and seemingly infinite world of the internet can be a daunting and off-putting task.
That's where the power of search engine optimisation comes in. No matter your business objectives, SEO is key.
But what is an SEO Agency and how can it help you as a startup? For brand-new organisations and small businesses, the importance of search engine optimisation should not be understated.
A powerful SEO strategy is the greatest base for new businesses to make themselves known through search engine rankings.
As you'll need to focus on the day-to-day functionality and long-term planning of your business, collaborating with one of the best SEO agencies for startups is a great way to make sure you don't get lost in the depths of the internet.
What is an SEO agency?
An SEO agency is a search engine optimisation company that helps other businesses generate web traffic and improve online visibility. The goal is to ensure that the business pops up in organic search engines results on Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and more.
The purpose of top startup SEO agencies is to help smaller businesses save time and drive traffic. Without an agency, startups will have to spend a significant amount of time and effort finding and implementing keywords, tracking metrics, and devising SEO strategies.
According to Forbes Advisor, organic clicks accounted for 45.1% of all search result clicks in the year 2022. They also state that over 90% of pages never get organic traffic; highlighting the importance of a well-thought-out SEO strategy.
Without the right SEO strategy and execution, it's unlikely that your startup will get the traction it needs to take off. The first step to success is making yourself known.
The benefits of SEO agencies for startups
There are major advantages for startups who decide to collaborate with an SEO Agency. A few of the key benefits are:
Time saver
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of hiring an SEO company for startups is that it will save you significant time. As a startup, you're unlikely to have the in-house capacity to deal with every aspect of the business. Employees are often required to tackle multiple tasks, including ones outside the scope of their specific expertise.
Naturally, this can lead to far too much time being spent on finding keywords, devising content strategies, writing articles, tracking metrics, and much more.
By hiring an SEO company to take care of the above your SEO campaigns, your team can place their full focus on their primary tasks and make sure the service or product is up to the highest standard.
Money saver
You don't always have to spend a fortune to get to the top of search engine results pages.
To build and maintain in-house SEO teams, would cost a significant amount of money. This is to cover the cost of the resources such as tools, software and salaries of employees.
But by hiring an SEO agency for startups, you get the advantage of all the tools and resources without having to pay subscription fees and the like. Instead, you pay the SEO company, and the agency makes use of its own resources and tools.
Reliable and qualified professionals
An SEO agency's focus is solely on spearheading the search engine optimisation strategy and execution for a company. The team will likely be highly qualified and experienced at boosting visibility and taking you to the top of search engine algorithms.. You need not worry about any sort of costly mistakes, as these professionals are well-versed in every aspect of SEO.
The SEO company has the tools to monitor and deal with issues surrounding indexing, organic traffic drops, rankings loss, bounce rates, manual actions, low dwell times, lack of conversions, and more - all major functions of running an experienced SEO agency.
Access to highly valuable data and analytics
As you navigate through your growth as a business, data and analytics play a crucial role in understanding what your next step should be. SEO agencies will provide you with a range of helpful reports and data that you can analyse yourself to help identify factors such as your target audience and search intent as part of your SEO campaign.
You'll also have access to organic search traffic data, impressions, and click-through rates (CTR) to find where to improve underachieving pages, and further improve high-performing ones. The reports give you the tools to understand your digital marketing strategy as a whole and make the right decisions going forward.
Sales and Revenue
Most important of all, an SEO agency can help you improve sales and boost revenue. According to BrightEdge, 40% of all online revenue comes through search engines. When you prioritise your online visibility and focus on directing traffic towards your site, it eventually shows in your sales (provided the quality of your product or service is up to standard).
Intergrowth claims that over 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and over 53% of website traffic comes from organic searches. This emphasises the importance of SEO for identifying new audiences and securing new sales. A top SEO company understands that the ultimate goal is to help you make money.
Finding the right SEO agency
Of course, with such high stakes, you need to make sure that you choose a SEO company that works for you and your business.
When you're looking for one of the top startup SEO agencies to work with, consider the following:
- Are they qualified?
- Are they experienced?
- Do they have a high-quality portfolio?
- Do they have positive reviews and testimonials?
- Are they ethical?
- Do they have access to SEO tools?
- Have they worked with brands similar to yours?
- Do they provide more than just a report and vague advice?
Ideally, you want a qualified, experienced, and ethical SEO company with great customer service and tons of positive reviews.
The top SEO companies offer a range of services in line with white-label practices and regulations.
Don't go for the cheaper option instinctively. The most dependable and effective SEO agencies for startups are unlikely to be the ones with the lowest cost of service.
What services do most SEO companies offer?
SEO companies typically offer a range of digital marketing and SEO services aimed at improving a website's visibility and ranking in search engine results.
Here are some of the most common services they provide:
Keyword Research
An SEO company will research relevant keywords that potential customers are searching for and optimise your website content accordingly.
Keywords are generally applied in content creation, on-page optimisation, and more. You cannot execute a effective SEO strategy without comprehensive and continuous keyword research.
On-Page SEO Optimisation
An SEO company will typically offer to optimise individual web pages to improve their results and attract more organic search traffic. This includes optimising titles, meta descriptions, headings, and content.
Your on-page SEO strategies should incorporate the findings from your keyword research as each page competes against the rest of Google.
Off-Page SEO Optimisation
Link building ranks among the most important SEO services. Building backlinks from other reputable websites to improve the authority and trustworthiness of the client's website is a pivotal part of effective SEO campaign.
Technical SEO
An SEO team should be skilled at technically optimising your website for search engines, including factors such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and crawlability.
If you and the SEO company fail to consider technical SEO factors, you'll struggle to take yourself to the top of search engines.
Content Creation and Optimisation
The top SEO companies are experienced and adept at creating high-quality, relevant content that attracts visitors and satisfies search algorithms. This may include blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, reels, reviews, and more.
All content creation should be of the highest quality. It's pointless to put effort into content marketing if your content offers no value to your audience.
Also, your content must be easily understandable without any use of industry-heavy jargon. We know that it is difficult for a subject expert to come to the level of a layman and write, accordingly. However, luckily, there are tools in the market like paraphrasing.io that can automatically adjust the tone and clarity of your content for better traction.
Local SEO
Where your target audience lives matters. An SEO company helps you get the website to appear in local search results, especially important for businesses targeting a local audience.
Most SEO campaigns involve a carefully thought-out target audience whom you're trying to direct to your website.
SEO Audits
An SEO audit is when SEO firms provide a comprehensive audit of a website to identify areas for improvement and develop a tailored SEO strategy covering technical SEO, on-page SEO, organic search results, keyword rankings, content marketing, and more.
The SEO team assists you in implementing exact recommendations to quickly resolve all your SEO troubles. In general, SEO companies start the process with a full audit and then let the SEO team prepare the strategy.
SEO Consulting
SEO companies provide expert advice and guidance on SEO best practices, strategy development, and ongoing optimisation efforts such as keyword research, technical SEO, meta descriptions, and more.
A good consultation from an SEO company should leave you feeling far more confident in your ability to boost online visibility and brand awareness.
Analytics and Reporting
A pivotal part of SEO services is the monitoring and analysing of website traffic and search engine results while providing regular reports on performance and recommendations for improvement.
The top SEO companies are constantly diving deep into analytics and reporting to monitor the results of the SEO services on offer such as keyword research and more.
E-commerce SEO
The best SEO companies are also experts at optimising your online stores to improve visibility and drive more traffic and sales through search engines.
What are some useful SEO tools?
There are numerous SEO tools available to help optimise websites, track performance, conduct marketing research, and improve overall search engine rankings. Here are some of the most useful ones:
Google Analytics
Google Analytics provides comprehensive web traffic analysis with metrics covering user behaviour, demographics, and traffic sources. The free tool is a must-have for any SEO company to understand how users interact with your site and where improvements can be made.
Google Search Console
GSC allows website owners and SEO experts to monitor their site's presence in Google search results, identify indexing issues, view search queries, and receive alerts about potential issues.
SEMrush
SEMrush offers a suite of website tools for keyword research, competitive analysis, backlink auditing, SEO reporting, rank tracking, and more. It's widely used by SEO firms to improve search visibility and SEO results.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a comprehensive digital marketing and SEO toolset that includes features like keyword research, backlink analysis, competitor analysis, content research, and rank tracking to get more traffic.
Moz Pro
Moz Pro provides powerful website-based digital marketing and SEO features for keyword research, internal links, site audits, rank tracking, and on-page optimization. Moz also offers helpful educational resources and community support.
SEOptimer
SEOptimer offers a quick and easy way to conduct website audits to identify technical SEO issues, digital marketing recommendations, on-page optimisation opportunities, and more.
Yoast SEO
Yoast is a popular WordPress plugin that helps optimise SEO content for search engines by providing real-time feedback and suggestions for improvement on your website.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
A powerful digital marketing desktop tool for website crawling, which can help identify technical SEO issues such as broken links, duplicate content, and missing metadata.
BuzzSumo
Useful for content marketing and SEO, BuzzSumo helps identify popular topics, trending SEO content, and influential publishers in your industry to help you boost your organic visibility.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that provides insights into keyword search volumes, competition levels, and suggested bid prices for Google Ads campaigns. A key tool for any SEO company.
Final thoughts
For startups throughout the world, SEO is one of the most important factors to consider. As you prepare to navigate through your company's growth, hiring an outside SEO agency for startups may be the difference between success and failure.
A startup SEO agency can provide you with the tools, resources, and data needed to boost your visibility and maximise your sales. Collaborating with an SEO agency is a reliable method for your startup to ensure all the right notes are being hit as you start searching for an audience.
Our team at SEO Rocket is qualified, experienced, and skilled when it comes to search engine optimisation. If you’d like to learn more about what we have to offer and how we can help you, don’t hesitate to reach out today and invest in your online presence.