Common SEO Questions
Things to ask any SEO or Digital Marketing Company
These questions are common questions that you should be asking of any SEO or digital marketing agency. You don’t want to pay cold hard cash to only find out your investment is pushing up daises.
So get the skinny before you pay the piper.
Asking these questions before you shell out will help you to avoid wasted marketing dollars and effort. You should be comfortable with and able to trust in your choice of digital marketing team. We provide these questions to ask not just us but digital marketers as well.
Q: How long has your business been doing SEO?
A: We are a small team but have a combined total experience of over 30 years, working both as independent and in house SEO campaign managers.
Over that time we have developed and engineered some of the most advanced SEO methodologies around culminating in the current version SEREC or Search Engine Re-Engineering Cascade.
Our results speak for themselves, we have been able to go as far as capturing branded keywords from their owners, out ranking them. See our case studies for more information about our history and results.
Q: What sort of increase in our rankings can we expect?
A: Despite our technologies and research into the workings of Google, we cannot in good faith guarantee any rankings. We have a strong understanding of Search and Information Retrieval Science, however, there are far too many factors outside of our control.
From tweaks to the algorithm to other competitors launching their own SEO campaigns, there are variables that we cannot account for or be able to know. No reputable SEO or Digital Marketing Firm will guarantee you first place or any raking for any particular keyword.
Furthermore, ranking alone is not a silver bullet, ranking well for terrible keywords is just as bad as not ranking at all. During the onboarding process we talk with you about your goals and outline your Key Performance Indicators.
Armed with these we conduct extensive keyword analysis to focus on keywords that you actually want to rank for. For example, a pet food company may want to rank well for “Dog”, but how many of those searches will actually result in a sale? We focus on results for your goals over raw traffic that does not convert.
Q: Could you itemize each of the services that you will be providing during the campaign?
A: Yes, you can see each of our services for a full Local SEO campaign on the Services Page. However, it should be noted that the exact services may change once the initial audit and investigation is complete prior to our full proposal being given.
The services listed are to give our prospective clients an idea of what to expect from and ongoing campaign and are not rigid. Each situation is unique and requires customization for it to be not only as effective as possible but also as affordable as possible. We do not want our clients wasting valuable capital on expenses that do not produce results.
Q: Do you utilize any ChatGPT, Large Language Model (LLM), or "AI" as part of your content production or other services?
A: Yes, we will use LLM’s to help expedite the analysis of data, production, and automation of processes for deliverables where appropriate.
Everything produced to expedite our processes by a LLM is vetted and refined by human hands for the final product.
Google specifically harshly penalizes content that is exclusively LLM generated and while it is a useful tool for various processes, it is just one step in a project pipeline. It may be easy to simply copy and paste the output of an “AI” and call it good. But the results will be less than stellar and like any tool it has its uses and areas where it simply does not work well.
For example, we may generate the initial outline of a particular blog post and a first draft using a tool like ChatGPT. However, that is step one. Once, created the initial content will be rewritten, vetted for accuracy, and refined further to meet our exacting standards. Such as comparing the scope and depth of the content to competing content. The goal is to help us work faster and smarter, not replace human touch or create words just to fill the page and hope they rank.
For visual content this will depend on the use and needs of the campaign. Many of the images that we use on our website were generated for us using tools like DALL-E. However, we look at the needs of the campaign first and recommend the most impactful methods for visual, audio, and video content production.
Q: How many hours per month can we expect for each service?
A: This will vary by campaign goals and the individual task. We operate on a monthly retainer basis and expect that all necessary deliverables will be completed with this retainer.
For a full SEO campaign, we expect a minimum of 20 hours will be devoted to your project by our team. Depending on the scope of the project and its goals additional hours will be assigned, if necessary, as part of the initial proposal.
These additional hours will be billed based on additional work needed in full hourly increments and cost may vary depending on the necessary work. Such as content writing being billed based on length. The prices given in on our Services Page represent the general costs for a full SEO campaign and may not reflect a final proposal.
Should we experience any incidental time over runs outside the scope of what we expect, these costs will not be passed on to the client.
Should hourly commitments needed to meet the client’s goals continually exceeded what has been contracted for a period of three (3) consecutive months, the client will be contacted and changes to the contract will be discussed during the next regular meeting with the client.
In all aspects of billing, we are transparent and look to optimize costs for our clients.
Q: How many pieces of content, existing pages optimized, landing pages created, etc. will you create each month?
A: There is no hard a fast rule for this however in a typical campaign to be optimizing or creating new content for 4 to 8 pieces each month, depending on length.
For landing pages, optimization of existing pages, landing pages created, etc. this will be based on the client’s goals for the project.
Recommended quantities and types of content will be discussed during the onboarding process as we review the goals of the project and make recommendations as part of our proposal.
Q: Do I own the content you make for me?
A: Yes, any content we produce for you, you own. We do not claim any ownership, licensing, or rights to the content that we produce for you. Even if you should decide to cancel your contract with us.
Any plugin, website specific software, or other license needed for your specific campaign will be issued to you and will be included in the initial proposal or requested as part of a one time or ongoing charge necessary for the campaign.
We do however reserve the right to keep copies of historical data about your campaign, it’s results over time, and other information that we gather on your behalf. This data is used in our ongoing research, development of new case studies, and will remain anonymous upon your request.
Details about results of Reputation Management Clients and campaigns is kept strictly confidential and will only ever be disclosed in fully anonymized case studies.
Q: How do you approach generating backlinks and how many can I expect?
A: A good back link generation strategy is not a copy and paste affair. Quality relevant backlinks far outweigh thousands of low quality, irrelevant, backlinks.
Depending on the campaign we may use tactics such as Help a Reporter Out (HARO), Local Directory or Citation Link Building, guest authorship, as well as development of backlinks through organic, useful, and high-quality content and tools.
There is no one size fits all in any aspect of SEO, however we only generate backlinks through methods that provide value to the client and do not risk spam or other penalties.
In all of our methods, we focus on evergreen methods that do not endanger the client’s website with so called “black hat” tactics.
As far as quantity this is something that we will not be able to give you. If an SEO is guaranteeing “X” number of backlinks each month there is a high likelihood that they are paying for the links, and they are of low quality at best.
Q: Do you have experience working with my particular industry
A: Possibly, we’ve worked on a wide range of projects, from small businesses to large firms. We’ve worked on campaigns for cosmetic clinics, precious metals, legal teams, rechargeable batteries, and much more.
When entering into a new industry, or one that we have experience with. We take time as part of our onboarding process to understand not only your business and its goals, but all aspects of your industry to better inform our work.
We take nothing for granted and always customize our campaigns to fit the needs of the client.
Q: How do you measure and report success and how much time is spent?
A: We collect all relevant data and generate monthly reports on all goals and their growth for the campaign.
If the client is comfortable with less frequent reporting, we will lower the cadence.
However, all of our work is defined by the clients target Key Performance Indicators. Sales, traffic, conversions, to name a few common ones.
Increasing these goals, defined at the beginning of every campaign, is central to our client’s success and our demonstration of the value that we provide.
Operating on a monthly retainer basis, we can provide detailed accounting of hours devoted to each task and deliverable at the client’s request, however we focus on generating value above and beyond our monthly cost to our clients.
Q: Do you do Technical, Content, and UX SEO
A: Yes. Depending on the goals of the campaign and budget considerations we can deliver on Technical, Content, and UX SEO. Depending on the client’s existing team and resources, we can leverage your in-house talent to help with content, technical, and UX implementation.
However, we can directly implement these if needed with our own team. Contact us and we will create a full proposal that takes into account your current talent and situation, saving you time and money.
Q: How long will it take for us to see improvements?
A: Until we conduct a full competitor analysis and audit of your presence online, it is difficult to give exact timetables.
Each situation is unique, and competition might vary vastly even from one keyword to the next. In general, we expect to see measurable results after at least 3 to 6 months of dedicated work, with significant impact to your Key Performance Indicators by month 12.
SEO is not a sprint, it is a marathon, full results take time and can significantly reduce Cost to Acquire Customers in the long run.
Q: How do you do your keyword research?
A: Once your goals and Key Performance Indicators have been established, we use this to inform our keyword research.
We take into account your industry, niche, audience, customers, market trends, and more. This is all combined to find favorable keywords that will convert well and bring the right people to your website.
Ranking well for a high volume but low conversion keyword is not as important as ranking for a lower volume, but high converting keyword. We tailor the targeted keywords around your goals, not just traffic.
Q: How will you help us stay ahead of our competition?
A: By creating an effective and well-rounded SEO campaign that focuses on your goals and Key Performance Indicators.
We drive organic growth and use methods that are able to withstand the general changes to Google and other search engine’s methods. While the details of SEO may change and have to evolve. Information Retrieval Science remains the core foundation of our technologies, something that no search engine will ever be able to get away from.
We truly believe that we have created the most comprehensive and effective SEO methodology available. Instead of pointing a flashlight in the corner and hoping we see the full picture, we have used Information Retrieval Science, patents, papers, and our own proprietary methods to test and evaluate how Google behaves under the hood. With the recent leak of Google’s API documentation, our methods have only been validated.
While we will not attempt to tell you that you will never have to promote yourself again, or that you can rest on your laurels once we are done with a full campaign. We are confident in the quality and longevity of our results if they are looked after.
We bring flood lights into a dark room when everyone else is lighting candles.
Q: Will I have a dedicated team or work with the same team?
A: We are a small boutique firm, you’ll have direct contact with our founders, who will be directly working on or overseeing the work done on your campaign.
Q: Can you share some of your case studies?
A: Of course, you can see our historical case studies on our dedicated Case Studies Page.
Q: How do you price your work?
A: We price our work with a base price that includes all of the necessary basics to conduct an SEO campaign and maintain it properly each month. Depending on the scope and goals of the campaign elements can be added or removed depending on your goals, budget, and in house talent. On our Services Page you can find out more information about our pricing, campaigns, and features.
We offer more narrow services for those that want singular components of an SEO or Digital Marketing campaign as well as profile management and content creation services for both written copy and social media that help to bolster your online marketing efforts on a smaller budget than a full SEO campaign.
To get a full proposal that works with your needs and budget contact us today.
Q: What is the contract duration commitment?
A: Serving primarily small to medium businesses we offer a few different options for our SEO Campaigns.
- Month to month contracts
- Discounted 6- or 12-month contracts
We recommend you expect to commit to a minimum of 3 months for us to start giving you measurable results. To learn more about how an SEO campaign goes from start to finish you can read more on our SEO Campaign Timeline page.
Q: Do you work with any of our competition?
A: No, we take pains to ensure that we do not have clients that have overlapping services or service areas.
During the onboarding processes we will review our existing contracts for any conflicts and refuse to submit a proposal if there is any risk of a conflict of interest between our existing clients and new potential clients.
Q: What happens if I terminate a contract, or you terminate a contract?
A: We require at least 30 days’ notice of termination of your contract, or month to month service. Work and deliverables will continue until the end of the month that you notify us of your intent to terminate your contract, or previously negotiated dedicated hours run out.
Should you terminate we ask that you conduct an exit interview so that we can not only improve our services in the future but also ensure that all in progress work has been properly handed off to you and your team.
In the highly unlikely event that we chose to terminate a contract we will give at least 30 days’ notice of any intention to terminate our contract or month to month service with you. Notification will be issued at time of billing, and work will continue until the end of the calendar month. Any work in progress or deliverables, complete or not, will be properly handed off to you and your team.
