With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, everyone’s minds are turning to love. People are making plans about who they’ll spend the day with, what they’ll do together, and what gifts they’ll exchange. Here at AIS Media, our minds are always turned to the love we have for our clients. We work hard every day to cultivate a relationship with each and every one of our clients that is full of communication and respect with an eye towards our mutual goals. These same ideals can be used for romantic relationships as well as for a relationship with your SEO company.
Starting an SEO program is a lot like starting a relationship. You’re just playing the field at first, trying out a few different people, and gathering data about each of them. Once you’ve vetted each candidate, you’ll pick one to stick with and forget the rest. After spending some time together, you’ll start to wonder how you survived so long without them, and you won’t be able to imagine living your life alone again.
When you find the right SEO company, it’s like finding “The One”.
Burned in the Past
Before you meet The One, you’ve probably been through a few other relationships. Some may have ended horribly, some may have just fizzled out and you parted on good terms. The same is true for your experiences with previous SEO companies. There may have been a breach of contract, heated arguments, or differences in opinion. Or, you may have spent a few happy years together, but after a while neither party knew what to do to keep the spark alive.
Just as with romantic relationships, you can’t let previous bad experiences with one SEO company interfere with a successful relationship with someone else. Take what you’ve learned from these relationships and apply it to your search for a new SEO company.
The Dating Game
When you decide to jump into the dating pool, you’re going on a whole new adventure. You ask your friends for advice, see what others like you are doing, and thinking about what your goals are for life. You’ll likely go on dates with a few different people until you find the one that meets most of your expectations.
When searching for the right SEO company, you’ll reach out to other business owners and friends for their recommendations. You’ll call up a few SEO companies and get their insights into your website and marketing goals.
Before you pick one at random, do your research. Check their reviews and references. Check their case studies. Pay attention to their sales calls. Do they promise you the moon within 30 days? Or do they take a more practical, long-term approach? Trust your gut and watch for red flags.
When you find an SEO company that checks most of your boxes, you’ll sign a contract.
Now you’re in a relationship with SEO.
The Honeymoon Phase
Much like the beginning of a relationship, the first 60-90 days of your SEO program sets the tone for how your relationship will work. Your SEO company will perform a technical audit, identifying all the errors that might keep your site from being found and indexed by Google. They’ll do keyword research, and map the most relevant, high-value keywords to the pages on your site. Then, they’ll start on-page optimization for their appropriate keywords. It can take three months for Google to realize a page has been created on your site, which is why it’s best to practice patience with your SEO program. In the first 60-90 days you might start to see a rise in rankings, but it can take 1-3 years to truly see results.
The first 90 days are for figuring out what you’ve got, what you need, and where you want to go. This time is for learning how to best work together, and developing trust.
Over the course of your first year together, your SEO company will be making continual updates to your site. They’ll start by optimizing the current content on your site, since these pages are likely to already be over 90 days old, and therefore are already indexed by Google. Then, they’ll begin content creation for keywords that still need to be represented on your website. This can be in the form of landing pages, or supplementary blog content.
It’s a Commitment
Living through a full year with a significant other generally gives you a good idea of whether or not your relationship is working. You’ve made it through all the holidays, and the family drama that can come with them. You’ve maybe even been through a difficult spot together. You’re able to communicate better and have had serious conversations about your hopes and dreams for the future together.
After a year with your SEO company, you should have a good understanding of how you work together. There should be a steady cadence for content creation and additions to the website. You should hear from your SEO company regularly, and feel open to sharing ideas and questions. Most importantly, you should feel comfortable and want to continue working together to achieve more of the results you’ve seen so far. You may be seeing an increase in traffic, keyword rankings, or more customers/sales than you were before you started working together.
It’s important to note that every website develops on its own time. Some websites shoot up in rankings very quickly, while others take more time, even if they’re using similar strategies. Keep in mind the difficulties your site may be facing. If you started with zero rankings or have penalties from Google, or if you don’t have a physical location but want to be in the Maps results, it can be harder to rise up in the SERPs. Your SEO company should be able to provide a thoughtful response that addresses your concerns and illustrates how their strategy is working over the long haul.
Taking a Long-Term Approach
A study conducted by Emory University shows that people who are in a relationship for at least 3 years before getting married, are 39% less likely to get divorced.
Similarly, a study by ahrefs shows that nearly 60% of pages in the top 10 results of Google were three years old or more.
Just like in a romantic relationship, you’ve got to take a long-term approach to achieve results through SEO.
Many relationships lose steam after a while. It’s important to keep the spark alive in romantic relationships just as much as it is in a relationship with your SEO company. To avoid becoming stagnant, your SEO company should be staying on top of the industry and informing you about any changes Google makes that may affect your website. They may also ask for your input when searching for new channels to market your products or services. Maybe your site could benefit from high-authority backlinks, or maybe you need to increase your social media presence. Listen to their ideas and bring your own to the table. It might just be that you’re already doing something great for your SEO, and they would know how to leverage it to see even more results.
Jumping from relationship to relationship is never going to get you married.
Jumping from SEO company to SEO company is never going to get you on page one.
If you’ve chosen a solid SEO company to work with, they’ll have a long-term strategy for achieving top results for your website. Give them time to work their “SEO magic” and you’ll be meeting and exceeding your marketing and sales goals.
If you’re ready to find The One, call AIS Media today at 404-751-1043. We offer a free website performance analysis to see if we’re the right one for you. We’d love to discuss your hopes and dreams for your website, and see how we can help you get there.
