Picking out the wrong link building agency could be harmful to your business. If the wrong links are built, this could lead to lower rankings, a penalty, or even worse, being banned. Thankfully, when you are dealing with high-quality agencies, you don’t always have to pay premium prices. You just have to know where to look.
As Google and other search engines become smarter with diagnosing backlinks, it’s important that you’re building the right ones to support consistent rankings for years to come. If you’ve been in the SEO game for a while now, you probably already understand that it can take hours, if not days to acquire a solid backlink. With all of this time invested in link building, it could take away from creating valuable content for your website.
If you have the funds available to hire an outside link building firm, this could be one of the best investments you could make; however, before you even consider this route, it’s essential that you take the right steps to make sure that you’re making the right choice.
1. Scrutinize their tactics
The first thing that you’re going to want to explore is the tactics being used. How is this company going to build links? If you don’t understand the strategy they are using, this is going to be too much of a gamble. Always make sure that you’re choosing a service that you understand and be sure the strategy will work for years to come.
Most of the time, what you’re going to find out is that most services will focus on a few niche services.
For example, some local SEO link building services can focus more on tactics that make you competitive more locally, such as local citations and guest posts with locally prominent websites.
2. Look for samples
A good company will be more than happy to show off case studies and testimonials. They may even let you talk to customers in the past. When hiring any company in life, it’s best to see what kind of work they have done.
For instance, if you were to hire a guest posting service, it would be wise to see what kind of domains the guest posts show up on and the content quality. The more you can research these links, the more comfortable you can be with hiring the service.
3. Gauge their pricing
Since link building isn’t going to be free, you’re going to want to understand how things are priced. Some companies are going to be upfront with their services, while others may charge based on the hours invested. Regardless of how you’re going to pay, always make sure that you know what you’re going to get for every dollar spent. If the company isn’t upfront about its pricing, take this as a red flag. You don’t want to get burned when outsourcing link building.
4. Look for recommendations
Some of your best services in life are going to come from recommendations from either friends or family members. For example, when it comes to PPC management, we recommend Clicksgeek. If you know of someone in the SEO industry, ask them if they have used a service before. Even if you don’t know of anyone, consider reading a few reputable SEO blogs to see who the owner recommends, but be forewarned, some SEO bloggers may promote a certain service if they are paid.
5. Get a feel of their reputation
If you have a spreadsheet filled with a hundred potential candidates, a great way to knock a few off the list is simply by searching for the company name. A quick search will often bring up honest reviews from customers in the past. If you’re reading nothing but great things, it may be a company worth contacting; however, if nothing comes up or there’s a lot of negativity, it’s probably best to choose someone else.
Being talked about a lot online is also great. It may also mean that they know how to build local citations, which is always a plus. Look for companies that have a lot of clout online.
Let’s face it, choosing a link building agency is going to take a lot of your time; however, if you’re able to find the right company, this could lead to an amazing relationship for years to come.
