7 characteristics that make a SEO agency good

If you are looking for an SEO agency, you are probably wondering how to choose the best one among the dozens of options in sight.

Let us tell you that you are facing a real challenge! Therefore, we want to help you by sharing with you the 7 characteristics that we at Chili believe define a good SEO agency.

But first, let’s start at the beginning.

What is an SEO agency?

As you probably know, SEO is the acronym for “search engine optimization.”

So we could say that SEO is one of the many digital marketing strategies out there, and its purpose is to improve a company’s digital presence so that it reaches more customers.

How do they do it? They achieve this by making your website appear among the first search results of Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc.

So an SEO agency is a company that is dedicated to offering SEO services to other companies.

What does an SEO agency do?

SEO is one of the marketing strategies with the highest return on investment (ROI). Think about it: 91% of people never make it to the second page of Google results, so being among the first results can make a real difference.

But, to be honest, positioning a web page in search engines is a relatively complex task, which requires implementing multiple strategies and actions at the same time.

In general, the first thing an agency does is audit their client’s website. An audit consists of analyzing the structure of the website; knowing the download speed, navigability and accessibility; studying the competition; and making a first analysis of possible keywords.

In this way, it is possible to know what the starting point is, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the company and what should be done in the short, medium and long term.

For example, it is possible that a website is very slow, something that can be fixed in a day simply by hiring another hosting. On the other hand, if the reputation of the site is low, that takes more time to solve.

If you want to know more about what an SEO agency does, visit our article 9 tips for SEO positioning.

Some advantages of hiring an SEO agency

There are companies that have their own marketing department and, within that department, they have an area dedicated exclusively to SEO.

However, most companies choose to hire an SEO agency. Why is that?

The main reason is that SEO is almost never a goal in itself.

Meaning that if you have an ice cream shop, SEO can help you reach thousands of potential customers. But your main task and objective will always be the same, that is, making the tastiest ice cream and offering it at the best possible price.

So, by hiring an SEO agency, you can leave that matter in the hands of experts and focus your efforts on what really interests you and where you can really make a difference.

In addition to saving time, an SEO agency allows you to take advantage of the knowledge of professionals with extensive experience in different areas such as marketing, SEO, content writing and web development.

The Internet is a constantly evolving world and to have a successful business, you definitely need to work with professionals who know what they are doing and stay up to date.

Keep in mind that doing SEO is not enough. You have to do it very well, otherwise your competition will surpass you.

7 features of a good SEO agency

There are dozens —if not hundreds— of SEO positioning agencies in Panama and the rest of Latin America.

With so much offer available, how can you make sure you’re choosing the best option for your business? What key points should you pay attention to?

If you have never worked with an SEO agency, it is normal that you do not know where to start. For this reason, at Chili we have prepared this list of 7 characteristics of a good SEO agency, which you can use as a checklist when comparing your candidates.

1. They have a clear plan

SEO and improvisation don’t mix. As we have seen, there are many fronts to take into account and you cannot forget any of them.

Furthermore, when a company has experience in what it does, it is natural that it has outlined its processes, that it has put together a plan taking into account the successes or failures that they have had in the past.

That an SEO positioning agency shows you its action plan is an indicator that it knows what it is doing.

Now, a good plan does not mean a complicated plan. On the contrary, it’s always better when the strategy concepts are simple and every stage of the process is well-defined.

2. They have a huge variety of professionals

We live in a changing world, where there are few indisputable truths. However, one of them is that there are no experts in everything.

When it comes to positioning a web page in search engines, some technical aspects such as the architecture of a web page are involved. However, creatives are also needed, for example, for content marketing and the writing SEO articles.

SEO involves web developers, copywriters, graphic designers, UX/UI experts, SEO technicians, content strategists, data analysts, consultants, coordinators, advertising experts and we are surely forgetting something.

In conclusion, a good SEO agency has all the necessary professionals to carry out their tasks.

3. They have worked with important clients

Bragging is easy. Coming up with good marketing strategies, carrying them out and getting results is very difficult. It is a job that takes time and implies knowing how to adapt and overcome unforeseen events.

Therefore, an SEO agency that has worked with major clients to whom it has delivered results is an SEO agency to be taken seriously.

4. They know your market

SEO is always oriented towards the consumer’s needs. To do this, you must know how you speak, what search intentions you have, what you know and what you don’t know, what your interests are, what you fear, what objections you have when purchasing a product or service, and much more.

Only in this way can the content of a web page be perfectly aligned with that target audience and fully exploit its conversion power.

5. They do various types of SEO

SEO has multiple subtypes like local SEO, international SEO, mobile SEO and SEO by voice. Although they all aim at the same thing (position web pages in search engines), each one requires specific settings.

On the other hand, until now we have referred to SEO as positioning in search engines like Google. However, SEO can go much further.

At Chili, for example, we are a pioneer marketing agency in Panama and Latin America, as we offer comprehensive SEO services that cover other platforms such as Pinterest, YouTube, Free market andAmazon.

6. They do other things besides SEO

This is not a requirement. SEO is such a complex topic that a digital marketing agency can be specialized only in it —and if that’s the case, that’s totally fine!

However, it may also be a good idea to hire an SEO agency that also provides programmatic advertising services, Google Ads, and social media ads.

Perhaps at this moment you have not thought about it and you think that SEO is enough. However, SEO is a great marketing strategy in the medium and long term, and for this reason it is always advisable to combine it with other strategies that offer more immediate results, such as paid advertising.

7. They offer a free audit

Lastly, many SEO agencies offer free quotes and audits (and if they don’t, you won’t lose anything by asking).

Having a report of this style will allow you to learn a little more about the SEO agency, what their work ethic is, and to what extent they can help you.

At Chili, for example, we offer a free SEO audit that identifies the main problems of a website and includes:

• Total SEO score of the website.
• HTML Tags: Duplicate values, tag recommendations, missing titles and descriptions.
• Content quality score.
• Frequency of keywords and areas for improvement.
• Immediate action points to improve the page.
• Recommendation for internal and external link building.
• Page performance, including page download and response time.
• Backlink quality.

We offer all this for free because we trust our team of professionals and the results we can achieve.

If you are looking for an SEO positioning agency in Panama, claim your free audit and let’s start working together.