Business owners have a decision to make in the highly competitive digital marketing industry, with 2023 on the horizon. That decision is regarding custom SEO services and whether to hire in-house or outsource to an SEO agency. Seo agency
In this article, we will look at the need for custom SEO services so you have a clear understanding of where an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution will no longer work for long-term organic growth and sustained brand recognition.
All customised SEO strategies contain three fundamentals:
- Objectives
- Timeframe
- Analysis
Let’s take a look.
Off-the-shelf v Custom SEO
As you may know, Google and other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo! continuously update their algorithms. This can be done hundreds of times yearly, but many minor tweaks and changes can go unnoticed. However in recent years they have been significant updates that have changed may online marketing mechanics and subsequent strategies.
In the early decades of the internet, algorithms were the equivalent of a child starting school; it was time to learn and grow.
A decade ago, the phrase ‘customised SEO’ wasn’t a buzzword or something anyone paid much attention to. Standard SEO packages would be effective for almost any business in any industry at that time.
These were the days when ‘off-the-shelf SEO’ solutions would work. You targeted keywords, ensured plenty of them were added throughout your content, and you would see your SERPs results proliferate.
As analogies go, the algorithms mentioned above have gone from being in the primary school a decade or so ago to now being the equivalent of an Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard graduate; They’ve GROWN UP and FAST!
Let’s focus on Google. As you know is by far the most powerful search engine with over a 90 percent market share, as Statista attests to over the past 12 years.
Source: Statista.com
Google now has many ranking factors that are considered every time their crawlers analyse and index a web page.
With more and more ranking factors considered now, Google has made clear its initiative to produce the best quality results for its users when it comes to satisfying their searches. Therefore it is no longer wise to assume that a standard SEO package will work.
Why? Competition.
Let’s look at where internet usage was in 2019 to where it is in 2022.
Source: Oberlo.com
As you can see, there are now 8.5 billion searches per day. This has skyrocketed in just three years over the pandemic from 5.5 billion daily searches, so let’s contextualise it; the competition is through the roof!
Therefore SEO professionals now tailor customised solutions to make you visible in the online mist.
No Two Businesses are the Same
Even if you pit yourself against a business next door selling the same products and services, your companies will still have fundamental differences.
So this is why SEO has become customised.
It must be taken on its merits to get the best results from any marketing campaign. Targets and growth stages can differ from your next-door competition for various reasons.
Suppose this is not your first experience speaking with an SEO agency regarding SEO services. In that case, you should notice there is now a thorough assessment interview before instigating and proposing an SEO campaign. Something that wasn’t required a decade ago.
An innate understanding of your business, niche and competition must be thoroughly analysed to build a strategy for success.
Help Them to Help You
Organic SEO takes time, hard work and investment to see long-term results. So be careful thinking that you can just hire an SEO agency, give them the keys to your online presence, and expect to drive off into the success highway; it’s not quite that simple.
Custom SEO services and marketing campaigns are a joint effort. Being honest and transparent about your marketing problems and ‘pain points’ is an essential building block for SEO professionals to understand what facets of your digital presence need to be worked on and in what order.
You want to partner with someone who understands your project inside-out and is there to work on new ideas and marketing plans.
Support the team with new information about new products and services and general industry information. The most successful SEO campaigns are run with everyone on the same page pulling in the same direction.
Analytics, Metrics and Constant Evaluation
One thing that previous SEO campaigns didn’t rely heavily on was analytics. As explained above, SEO years ago was not advanced as today.
Now you cannot get away from them; it is what all digital marketing campaigns rely on.
The best SEO agencies will have the industry’s top tools to analyse your entire online presence, current market trends and online behavioural patterns for your industry, niche, and target market.
The need for constant analytical reviews has separated small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that used to conduct part-time or in-house SEO, moving toward hiring qualified SEO professionals to run their marketing.
Most top professionals use these two widely used paid analytical services on the market. Still, it doesn’t hurt to take time to learn the basics of analytics to gain a better overall understanding by using Google Analytics.
Procedures
The key to customising a marketing campaign is procedures.
- Evaluation
- Onsite Search Engine Optimisation
- Offsite Search Engine Optimisation
- Analysis
- Content
- Following Changes Then Staying on Track
These may sound pretty straightforward to most business owners but the difference now in 2022 moving towards 2023 is the amount of work it takes to conduct each step of these processes.
The pandemic has left businesses in flux. There have been those who naturally cut back on digital marketing as one of the first (perceived) budget cuts, and those with the right advice pilled more money in to supersede their competition and keep that competitive advantage moving forward.
Momentum is a significant factor in SEO today, but gaining it takes research, planning and analysis, then implementation.
SUMMARY
Local SEO is now a significant factor in local businesses’ success, so consideration of how your immediate surrounding can increase your bottom line should also be considered. As a good starting point, search for ‘an SEO agency near me’. Once engaged, take your time to explain your current situation and aspirations and be honest with your budget and goals; then, you will be able to see why customisation is the only way to success in today’s digital marketing environment. Good luck.
