Any business with an online presence should seek SEO help.
Think about the following stats for a sec:
SEO generates a staggering 1000 percent more traffic than organic social media.
Sixty-eight percent of all online experiences begin with a search engine.
A whopping 53 percent of all website traffic is a result of organic search.
Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Images account for more than 92 percent of all traffic on the internet.
SEO leads have an impressive 14.6 percent close rate.
With such statistics, you cannot ignore the value of SEO to your business.
But, the truth is, SEO is intricate. What’s more?
Professional SEO isn’t cheap.
For this reason, many startups and businesses with a tight budget opt for DIY search engine optimization.
While anyone and learn and perfect their SEO game, DIY search engine optimization is exhausting, time-consuming, and prone to errors.
The ripple effect is that your efforts take longer than necessary to translate into tangible results. In the worst-case scenario, they don’t move a needle, so your business remains stuck deep into search results, away from potential customers.
Even so, there are some apparent signs you need SEO help.
#1 You’re Not Actively Sharpening Your SEO Skills
As stated, SEO is in constant motion. Things keep changing.
Do you know what this means?
Well, it implies that you have to keep honing your SEO skills to make the most out of your efforts.
Sure, some tactics may work now, but you’re never sure they’re going to give you the same results one year down the line.
Can you imagine, for instance, that keyword stuffing was a thing a while back?
Try that today, and you risk getting slapped with a Google penalty. And as if that’s not enough, you have a zero chance of ranking high in SERPs.
The long and short of it is that you must keep up with what’s happening in the SEO world if you’re serious about taking your online brand to the next level. There’s a catch, though, SEO is all about sticking to tried-and-tested methods.
And most of the time, you don’t have the time to try things out.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense to hire a professional SEO to inject and implement the latest and effective tactics into your overall growth strategies.
#2 You Think You Can Leave SEO On Auto-pilot
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again…
What exactly are we telling you?
All we’re trying to communicate in plain English is that SEO is not a one day (or one week for that matter) kind of affair.
You cannot create a couple of backlinks in a single day and hope to rank high in search engine results.
You cannot use an SEO plugin that requires random updates and hope everything will be alright.
The bottom line is: SEO is a long term growth strategy.
You have to keep optimizing your site as frequently as possible …then wait for four to six months to start seeing results.
That, did you do SEO for a few days and can’t seem to see the results you were hoping for?
Worry not! It’s time to call a professional SEO to help you figure out things.
#3 You’re Convinced SEO Is All About Creating Content
Make no mistake about it!
Creating valuable content is an essential part of SEO as explained in the graphic below.
But, there’s more to SEO than churning out loads of content.
And, one of the most common mistakes DIY SEO enthusiasts make is to think that generating lots of new content will help them rank high in SERPs.
They think that uploading a new blog post twice or once every week will automatically attract visitors and some love from search engines.
Sure, you must create fresh, unique content frequently to give visitors a reason to come back to your website and, by extension, your business.
However, when the content is live on your site, you have to do a few things including:
On-page optimization
Off-page optimization
Technical optimization
What if you don’t have the skills to do all of these?
Well, you guessed it right – consider spending your money on an SEO agency to make sure that everything is in order.
#4 You’re Victim Of A Google Penalty
Let’s face it…
No one wants a Google penalty.
And there are several reasons Google will slap your website with a penalty.
The most devastating effect of any form of penalty is that it takes a while to recover. Plus, there’s a possibility you might never get out of the aftermath of a penalty.
Simply put, a Google penalty can ruin your online brand and cut down your revenues forever.
In essence, this means that you have to know the rules and, most importantly, follow them to a tee.
The challenge, however, is that the risk of a penalty looms, even if you’re as ethical as they come.
At times, you can break the rules without your knowledge and then boom! There goes a penalty.
While it takes a lot of time and effort to come out of a penalty, things can be easier if you a professional SEO on your side.
An experienced SEO expert will pick out the mistakes and help you work your way around them.
That way, you’ll save time, energy, money, and of course, your business.
#5 SEO Isn’t Top On Your List Of Priorities
Listen…
You have to prioritize SEO if you’re serious about growing a formidable online brand. That’s the truth.
A Hubspot State of Inbound report has it that up to 66 percent of marketers see SEO as a top marketing priority for their business.
That’s how important SEO is.
In fact, with such stats, it makes perfect sense to conclude that SEO is more important than content creation and distribution.
For a business owner like you, these numbers mean that you MUST prioritize SEO if you want to stay ahead of the curve.
On the flip side, though, running a successful business requires a lot of time and dedication.
While you might be aware of SEO and the need to prioritize it, you may not have the time as you have to pay attention to other areas of growing your business.
Still, this doesn’t mean you should neglect SEO or dedicate less time to it. All you need to do is hire an SEO expert to ensure that your brand keeps getting the exposure it needs as you concentrate on other growth strategies.
#6 You Can’t Spare Time To Learn More About SEO
Remember when we said that SEO is in constant motion?
That may be so, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep up with changes. Even then, you have to create time to learn SEO and what’s trending in the field.
Again, not every business owner will find time to acquire the skills and expertise to SEO independently. On the contrary, many people opt to spend most of their time focusing on, well, running their businesses.
Because SEO is an integral part of your business growth, you can always find a qualified SEO expert to help even things out.
It is critical to mention at this point that Google makes an estimated five hundred to six hundred algorithm changes every year according to the data available on Moz Google Algorithm History.
Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your business keeps up with the changes.
The idea is to make sure that a core update doesn’t get you by surprise. And even if it does, you can interpret what’s happening quickly. Hiring a professional SEO company gives you the peace of mind there’s someone who’s always on the lookout for such things.
#7 Your SEO Efforts Aren’t Yielding Results
Picture this: You have a business to run. You want to retain old customers. Generate leads. Do some marketing on social media …the list goes on.
Despite having a full plate, you’re still finding some time to do SEO.
However, the problem is, your efforts aren’t moving the needle the way you’d like them to.
Plus, the fact that it takes four to six months for you to start reaping the benefits of SEO doesn’t make things any better.
If you put a lot of work toward SEO and aren’t experiencing positive ROI, you should consider hiring a professional SEO to take some pressure off your shoulders and, most importantly, help expose your brand to potential customers.
#8 You Know SEO Basics But Aren’t Quite Sure What You’re Doing
Here’s the thing…
Most business owners know a thing or two about the fundamentals of SEO. Many know what on-page optimization is and how to do backlinking, for instance.
A significant number, however, doesn’t understand anything more than the basics of SEO. If you belong to this group, we recommend paying an expert to spearhead your SEO strategy.
Some tactics may look good on paper, but when implemented, you could land your website in all sorts of problems with Google.
Some common mistakes that can get your site penalized include:
Links from sites in another language
Overusing H1 tags
Affiliate links all over the website
Multiple landing pages
Over-optimization
Links from a penalized site
An experienced SEO expert can help you avoid these mistakes and more.
#9 Your Keyword Research Skills Aren’t The Best
When growing an online business, you must get your keyword research part correct.
Sure, there are a host of paid and free keyword research tools, but you need more than that to rank high in SERPs.
You must, for example, know how to choose keywords with reasonable monthly search volumes.
Most importantly, you must understand how to unearth less competitive keywords. The last thing you want to do is try to rank for highly competitive keywords, especially when you’re on a tight budget.
With limited SEO knowledge, it can be challenging to figure out which the best keywords to target are and what it will take to outrank your competition.
A professional SEO will not help you with the keyword research and show you how to insert them in your content to love Google love.
#10 You Have A Local Business But Don’t Understand Local SEO
Grasping general SEO is one thing. Understanding local SEO, on the other hand, is entirely different.
Sure, both operate on similar fundamentals, but there are certain things that you need to know to make the most out of local SEO.
For example, do you know that you can register for Google My Business to help you gain traction with local search?
Google My Business not only provides a free business listing in the search engines but also allows you to include directions, contact info, and hours of operation.
On top of that, it enables you to gather and display reviews and ratings for your business.
On your part, you’ll have to research the keywords related to local searches to make the most out of your efforts.
A dedicated SEO expert will come in handy if you want to out-compete local businesses and don’t know how to do it.
As a bonus, be sure to read this article to learn more about local SEO and how it can benefit your business.
GrowthGenerators – A Professional SEO Partner You Can Trust
We’re not saying that you shouldn’t go the DIY SEO route.
If you understand the ins-and-outs of SEO, by all means, you can do it yourself.
However, SEO is complex, as we’ve seen, and it takes more than backlinks to get the job done.
GrowthGenerators is an experienced professional SEO company that will stop at nothing to ensure your SEO efforts deliver the positive.
Our team of SEO experts will craft an SEO strategy that works for your business model.
Most importantly, we will help you dominate SERPs for targeted keywords and help grow your business.
If you’re struggling to get your SEO act together, get in touch with us. Let’s shine the spotlight on your business.