Just taken on an SEO agency? Hooray! Your journey to beautifully optimised website content is about to begin.

At least, you hope so..,

Sadly, dodgy SEOs crop up all the time and if you’re not in the biz it can be hard to know who is ripping you off, and who isn’t.

One of the best ways you can initially work out if you’re being ripped off is by looking at how much you’re paying your SEO agency. Do you have a huge retainer but your account manager can’t tell you where it’s gone? Warning bells should start ringing here.***

***It’s worth mentioning that when it comes to SEO, in some cases you might feel like you’re spending money and not getting results. This can be the nature of the beast - it takes time to start seeing the benefit. The important thing here is whether they explain this to you, or if they try to fob you off with a noncommittal response. Regardless of whether you’ve seen an improvement in organic reach or not, any decent SEO should be able to tell you exactly where your money has gone, and why. Timesheets, deliverables, that money has to be buying something.

Maybe you’re a trusting person and you’ve never really considered that your SEO agency might be cashing in on your ignorance of the subject. Perhaps you’ve always had a sneaking suspicion but weren’t sure how to confirm/deny it. Or, maybe you have always known and were just waiting for the opportune moment to strike those suckers, and you wanted some backup. Regardless, we’re here for you - just follow the 100% accurate flow chart below and you shall finally find the answers that you seek.

DISCLAIMER:

Yes, we are being somewhat facetious here. But not about the SEO checked shirt - if you didn't know already, this is an industry standard and you should be wary of any SEO that does not comply. Consider yourself warned.

The thing to take away from this is that if you are working with an SEO that does any of these things, be cautious. Some of the questions may seem ridiculous (e.g. "Did they tell you they have an 'in' with Google?") but these are all things which clients have come to us and shared from previous SEO agencies. That's not to say that all SEO agencies are bad - there are loads of great ones out there, but by looking out for the kinds of things that we've listed above you'll be in a better position to ensure your money is in the right place. Us Monkeys got yo back. 

Analysing your own website from an SEO perspective may seem a little counterintuitive if you're paying someone else to do it, but if you're just blindly relying on them to do everything without paying attention you're leaving yourself vulnerable. If you can regularly read your own analytics you will be empowered to have more meaningful conversations with a good SEO agency and shine a light on the grimy, unsavoury practices of a bad one.

Go forth and learn more about SEO using the guide below. If you do have concerns that your SEO agency might be ripping you off, come chat to us!