SEO As A Service – Outsourcing SEO, The Ultimate Time Saving

SEO as a service… what is it and is it worth it?

SEO as a service is really just outsourcing your Search Engine Optimization to a Outsourced Marketing Company.

Lets break down SEO Services, what it is, what does it do, how can it help and is it worth it?

Just want to throw a blatant plug in here… At The Serial Seller, we provide SEO Services which include;

• SEO Audit
• SEO Strategy
• Keyword Research
• On-Site & Technical SEO. (Meta Titles, Content, Titles, Images, URLs)
• 6 Month Content Plan Outline
• Content Writing (1 Blog per Week)
• Real-Time Data Analytics
• Monthly Results Overview & Updates
• CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) Monitoring & Recommendations

What Does an SEO Agency Do? A Lot, Actually.

A lot of business owners don’t understand what goes on at an SEO agency, meaning as far as they know, I (and the rest of my team) juggle hats all day.

First, let’s clarify what SEO even is. SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of increasing a web page’s search rankings in order to increase online visibility.

Here’s why hiring a legit SEO agency is so important to any business: 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 47 percent of people click on one of the first three listings.

Now, I say a “legit” SEO agency because in the online world there are two general types of SEO: black-hat SEO and white-hat SEO. White-hat SEO gains search rankings based on actual hard work and data. Black-hat SEO involves shady methods that can get you to the top, but not for long—and these tactics are usually damaging to your long-term presence.

What goes into white-hat SEO? Well, there are more than 200 factors that go into what makes a page rank high on the search results page, but the ones that matter the most (and the ones white-hat SEO revolves around) are:

• Whether or not your website is secure (HTTPS vs. HTTP)
• Whether or not your website is mobile-friendly
• How fast web pages load on your site
• Whether a web page has the correct schema markup (type of website code)
• The quality of your web pages’ content
• The length of your web pages’ content
• Presence of social signals that point back to your website
• Presence of quality backlinks that point back to your website
• Whether or not you have optimized images on your web pages
• The search intent of the user

How do SEO Agencies influence all these factors? Strategically.

What does an SEO Agency do?

The process of SEO includes six major steps which are also known as R.O.C.K.E.T search engine optimization process.

Research

The process of SEO begins with research which is a vital part of the process. SEO starts with a deep analysis of your website and your competitor’s website.

Doing research will help you to know where you are lacking and where you need to work further on optimization and link building. Here at The Serial Seller, we give top priority to the research part and we have dedicated SEO experts work on it.

This makes you aware of where you stand against your competitors and where You need to improve. Business is not only about doing your work and waiting for the result, you need to do even more than that. You must keep an eye on your competitors too and collect their data which can be useful for you.

Optimize

The optimization phase includes the number of edits to your site to make it appear at the top of SERPs. Optimization is a way to improve your site’s ranking in search engine results by identifying keywords and most importantly search intent of users when they’re looking for products and services like yours.

Content

Creating quality content that connects you with your users. Make sure you provide answers to all of their questions about business, products, and services. High-quality content is very essential for successful SEO. If your content is relevant and useful it will motivate your visitors to stay longer on your website.

We have an experienced team of content writers who can create SEO optimized content for target keywords as per clients’ needs.

We make sure that your content is logically organized with easy to navigate categories and subcategories. This is not only beneficial from an SEO point of view but also helps your visitors to navigate through your site .

Then we focus on promoting the new content by sharing it on different social media platforms and by building backlinks to your content.

Keywords

Keywords are very crucial for SEO success, you need to target those keywords that are highly relevant to your business. Keywords are the words that users search to get answers to their desirable search.

These are the keywords and phrases that make it possible for people to find your site via search engines. we help you to achieve that by doing in-depth keyword research of your competitor and figuring out ranking opportunities for your business-related target keywords.

After that, you need to add your targeted keywords to your content to drive valuable traffic to your site.

You need to know how people search for products or services that you offer. This will help them to find you on Google otherwise they will click on one of the many pages shown in the search result.

Implementing the right keywords will help your site to rank higher above your competitors. So, developing a list of keywords is a very essential step of search engine optimization.

Earned Media and Links

Promoting your website is essential, for that you can use a network of bloggers and industry influencers this is known as an earned media strategy.

It is any mention about your business that you haven’t paid for, it’s a cost-effective way to promote your website. It can’t be done overnight, you need to make a proper strategy that requires consistent efforts to build awareness and relationships with industry bloggers, journalists, and other influencers.

Who may share your content after they learn who you are and what value you might bring to their readers or followers?

Testing

Lastly comes the task of testing the website and custom reporting which is essential to drive the best possible results. It is the process of evaluating the website’s performance and optimizing pages for better results.

This helps to analyze what is working and what is not working on your website. In other words, it helps to self assess your website and doing the required changes.

Types Of SEO Services

You must have known that SEO services come in many types. We can not measure all the SEO services on the same platform. Each SEO service is different.

Let’s discuss the types of SEO Services:

There are mainly 4 types of SEO services and those are:

• On-page SEO 
• Off-page SEO 
• Technical SEO
• Local SEO

What Is Included In SEO Services?

Every SEO company is different from others in terms of the service provided by them. So, you need to choose a service partner that offers the complete SEO package.

Every agency chooses to give different services included with SEO. But there are several things that permanently get included with SEO Services.

While comparing SEO agencies you must look forward to the following services.

SEO Audit

An SEO audit is a way of determining how well your webpage works. It is an effective way of analyzing the result of your webpage.

SEO audit is done to identify the factors that affect the organic search of the users. The SEO audit will help to figure out:

1. Technical SEO issues
2. Website structure issues
3. On-page SEO issues
4. Potential off-site problems
5. User experience issues
6. Content gap and opportunities
7. Competitive market place insights

The audit should cover all the components that affect your SEO visibility.

SEO Competitive Analysis

SEO Competitor analysis is a powerful strategy that helps to rank higher in search engines and get more traffic.

Competitor analysis helps you to get the following

1. Your actual SEO competitors
2. Keywords you should target
3. Topics you should cover and focus on in your articles
4. Strategies you should adopt to beat your competitors

SEO Competitor analysis includes processes like researching the links, keywords, contents, etc.

It is better to analyze the target keywords which your competitors successfully use than to waste your time in searching for them.

Let’s understand it with a real-life example, suppose, you own a bakery shop and have a competitor store in your area too. You offer very good quality to all of you as more customers visit their shop. This is because they not only sell bakery products but also sell party items.

If you also start selling party items along with bakery products you can give tough competition to your competitor and gain business.

Custom Strategy

SEO strategy involves the process of planning, outlining, and implementing steps to rank high in search engines. It can be better explained as a process that you follow to get more traffic to your site.

The Process Of SEO includes the following Strategy:

1. Make a list of topics
2. Make a list of long-tail keywords based on the topic
3. Build a page for each topic
4. Set up a blog
5. Blog every week to develop page authority
6. Create a link-building plan
7. Compress all media before putting it on your website
8. Measure and track your content success

Monthly Performance Report

A monthly performance report is data that provides the client an overall view of the website’s performance in search engines. It targets organic traffic, ranking, and other domain metrics.

This monthly update provides clients an idea of how much work the agency has been doing for them. This report helps clients keep track of their work and justify why they are spending money on SEO services.

The reports of SEO should include three things – insight, progress, and recommendations. 

What should be include in monthly report?

1. Report summary
2. SEO health overview
3. Channel wise traffic overview
4. Keyword ranking
5. Click-through rate
6. Backlink profile
7. Ranking history

Online Reputation Optimization

Reputation management is a way of controlling an individual or a group’s reputation.

Before buying any goods or service we check its performance by viewing star ranking and feedback of other customers about it, social media posts, blogs, and much more.

All these are ways of reputation management. SEO agencies provide you a chance to counter negative feedback. It also creates an opportunity to promote the experience of your positive member.

Importance Of Technical SEO

Technical optimization is a way of enhancing the technical aspects of a website to increase the ranking of its page in the search engine.

Making websites faster and easier to crawl and more understandable for search engines are the main aspects of technical optimization.

Technical Optimization is an important part of SEO because it allows search engines to easily crawl and index your website. It makes your website rank higher.

It works on the principle of presenting the user with the best possible experience on the page by ensuring all technical SEO key factors.

No search engine likes a webpage that is slow, non-responsive, or confusing to navigate. If it does so its users would move to the other search engine for their search query.

An easily loading website that is secure and has no dead links get an extra boost in search engine ranking. So, if you create a strong technical foundation for your website, it will satisfy your users.

Technical SEO is a vital part of SEO. It should be taken seriously, here are the things you should do to optimize the technical SEO of your site

Mobile Optimization

This is a very important point and you cannot afford to ignore it. Nowadays users browse the internet on their smartphones. Google and other search engines prioritize the website that offers a great browsing experience.

You must include an SSL(Secure Socket Layer) certificate on your website, these certificates provide extra security for visitors to your website. It protects data, confirms identities, and improves customers’ trust.

So, having an SSL certificate on your website not only improves your SEO ranking but also add extra security to your website.

Sitemap Submission

It is very essential to submit your sitemap to search engines. Sitemaps are crucial because they let the search engine find and index your website.

If you use WordPress as your content management system, you can easily find a plugin that will create a sitemap for you. As your sitemap is ready, submit it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster tools. Doing this makes it easier for the search engine to crawl your website.

Importance Of On-Page Optimization

On-Page Optimization means activities that can be done within the website to improve its position in the search ranking.

On-page optimization is a very essential part of SEO. This can be done by analyzing and regularly monitoring website performance.

There is no specific rule for on-page optimization. However, the following steps can be an attempt to improve the On-page aspect of websites

Structure Your Content

Use of paragraphs or bullet points list, heading tags, and bolding or italicizing individual text elements or words.

Use Graphics

Images are important content elements that can be optimized. An attractive image gallery can increase the time users spend on the site. File names of graphics are an important part of image optimization.

Embedding Videos

Audiovisual content offered on the page is much viewed by the users this fact should be given particular attention.

Meta Tags

Meta titles as page elements relevant for ranking and meta description as an indirect factor impact the (Click Through Rate) CTR in the search engine are the two important components of On-page optimization.

This ensures that the keywords and topics covered in the contents and those used in the Meta tags are related.

Internal Links

Internal linking can be used to optimize navigation for users and guide a bot’s visit to your domain.

Logical structure means that website hierarchy may not have more than four levels. more number of levels make boot slow. The fewer the level, the quick a boot can reach and crawl all subpages.

Canonicalization

It is a way of avoiding duplicate content that includes the appropriate use of existing canonical tags and or assigning pages with a noindex attribute.

URL Structure

This involves checking whether search engine friendly URLs are being used and whether the existing URLs are logically related to one another.

Design

Web design mainly depends on usability. Complex graphics these days are replaced with simple alternatives to increase the functionality of the page.

File Sizes

Too large images or graphics increases the size of the file as a result the loading time of the page increases. SEO and graphic designers should focus on the file size and try to keep it as small as possible.

A call to action is a part of an advertisement that tells your audience what they should be doing once they click on your ad or hit your website link. The more information you provide with your CTA the better the chance of your audience to connect with you.

OFF-Page Optimization

Off–page optimization means all the measures that can be taken outside the actual website to improve its position in search ranking.

It includes all essential SEO factors to rank high in search engines like backlinks, these are a vital part of digital marketing strategy.

Off-page SEO is extremely important because it tells the search engine that your website is important to others on the web.

Every link that you receive acts as an endorsement from another source that your website is quality. There are mainly three types of links that you should consider.

3 Types of Links

Natural Links

These links come to your website naturally, you don’t have to take any action to earn these links. The person writing that content decided to link to your content, whether because they follow your brand or discovered your content via search and found it valuable for his readers.

Outreach Based Links

These links come to your website from outreach, your team worked to earn these links, whether by reaching out to webmasters, publishers, or journalists.

Even though you have built this link, you still have to create valuable content for users.

Self-Created Links

These links come to your website from self-submission on directories forum or press releases.

These links are created by your team initially and without conducting any outreach.

Factors influencing link value for off-page SEO:

1. The anchor text used to link to your
2. The freshness or age of the link to your site
3. The number of links on the linking page
4. The relevance of the linking site
5. The trustworthiness of the linking site
6. The authority of the linking site and the linking page

Local SEO

Local SEO is a way of optimizing your online presence to grow your business by attracting customers from local searches.

People use different search engines like Google, Bing, Yelp, etc to search for local businesses. Among that Google occupies nearly 87% market share.

This clears that Google is the widely used search engine to search for local businesses. Local SEO is very important for a smaller business that works on a regional level.

Let’s look at the ways to make your local SEO successful

• Create Google my business account

• Get regular review from your happy customers

• Optimize for voice search

• Create content based on local news, stories, or events

• Optimize your website for mobile

• Target local keywords

• Use location pages or a location-specific ”About us page”

Additionally, you can also include store working hours, name, address, phone number, testimonials, promotions, and many more.

Voice Search SEO

Voice search nowadays is the most demanding in the search industry and it can’t be overlooked.

The concept of voice search which was once started with smartphones has now reached smart speakers and smart voice assistants worldwide. It is a phase of the voice search revolution and it is the choice of every generation.

What Should I Spend on SEO as a Service?

Digital advertising spend reached an estimated $325 billion in 2019 and, after a brief stall due to COVID-19, is expected to increase to $389 billion in 2021.

Chances are, you’ll contribute to that with your SEO budget. But how much should you spend on SEO services?

Don’t worry — you’re not alone. For many companies, digital is their primary marketing channel. Even so, many owners and executives still have a difficult time budgeting for online marketing.

It’s just as difficult on the provider’s side to develop a winning strategy and put the right price tag on it.

In short, it comes down to a matter of positioning – how does your website compare to competitors? Your existing position and how fast you want to make progress are the top variables for determining a budget for SEO.

Expectations and Reality

One recent survey found that less than half of all small businesses have any money earmarked for SEO. For businesses that do invest in SEO services, they average just under $500/month.

In the end, it turns out that SEO is one of those things where you actually do get what you pay for.

Businesses spending more than $500/month are 53.3% more likely to be “extremely satisfied.”

Is it any surprise that so many business owners are reluctant to invest in SEO? Most business owners have no idea how search marketing works. They are far too busy running their businesses to spend time learning SEO.

In most businesses, there is a standardized step-by-step process to get from point A to point B.

Many assume that SEO works the same way. They treat it as a commodity and fall victim to the $99/month, “guaranteed page one” spammers, and scammers.

The Cost of Cheap SEO

I belong to a number of Internet Marketing Groups on Facebook. It’s truly frightening, the number of noobs posing as SEO professionals and taking on clients.

It’s not uncommon to see a question like: “I just landed a client that wants to rank for [keyword x] – how do I do it?”

A close second is the use of link schemes, specifically Private Blog Networks, without ever explaining the risk to clients.

If business owners were just throwing money away by hiring an incompetent SEO, that would be bad enough. Unfortunately, the collateral damage from “cheap SEO” can go much deeper.

It can draw a Google penalty and virtually wipe out a website’s visibility on the web.

Business owners need to keep in mind they’re ultimately responsible for any SEO work performed on their site. They should discuss the specific tactics to be used before entering into an agreement.

Developing a Budget

Your goals will determine what tactics are needed for success. This, in turn, sets up a framework for developing an action plan and the budget necessary to support that plan.

This brings us full circle to positioning and paying attention to those factors that move the dial.

• How does your information architecture stack up against competitors?
• How does your content strategy fare as compared to the competition?
• How does your backlink profile stack up against the top-ranked websites?

The answers to those questions will determine priorities as well as the volume of work needed to reach your goals.

In many cases, the actual work performed will be the same – regardless of budget level. The difference is the volume of work performed.

If you’re adding twice the content and twice the links at budget level “B” vs budget level “A” you have a higher likelihood of achieving earlier success at the higher budget.

That said, the right budget is one you can afford, without losing sleep, for a minimum of six and ideally twelve months.

It takes time to properly plan, implement and tweak a campaign in order to evaluate its success.

Also, keep in mind the lower the budget, the longer the journey.

How much can you expect to spend on SEO?

If you are hiring a top-level SEO company to execute a local campaign, expect to pay $500.00+ per month.

A national or international campaign will require a minimum budget of $2,500 to $5,000 a month.

Some firms offer a “trial package” at a lower price, with no contract. This allows prospective clients an opportunity to test their services, by minimizing risk.

If you can’t afford to retain a top-level SEO pro, there are some options. The most common is a one-time website SEO audit with actionable recommendations.

Just fixing your website will often lead to a meaningful boost in organic traffic. Content development and keyword analysis are other areas where you can get help from a pro for a one-time fixed rate.

Another option is to become an expert and do it yourself. We have a course available that can teach you how to improve your SEO as a time poor business owner.

SEO Cost Calculator – Measuring Organic Search (SEO) ROI

Following is a calculator commonly used for (incorrectly) measuring Return on Investment for SEO.

Organic Search ROI Calculation Assuming “One Shots”

Example: selling IT Services
Number of new customers acquired via organic search in a given month	10
Average net income (profit) per order	$100
Total profits from new organic search customers in a given month	$1,000
Monthly marketing budget (expense)	$2,500
Monthly profits from new customers ($1,000) divided by monthly organic marketing spend ($2,500)	ROI = -60%

The flaw in the above calculator is that it fails to take into consideration the lifetime value of a new customer.

Online retailers need repeat business, in order to grow. By not calculating the lifetime value of a new customer the true ROI is grossly understated.

The right way to calculate ROI is to build lifetime value into the calculator as seen here:

Organic Search ROI Calculation Assuming Lifetime Value

Same example: selling IT Services
Number of new customers acquired via organic search in a given month	10
Average net income (profit) per order	$100
Total profits from new organic search customers in a given month	$1,000
Average number of orders per customer over a “lifetime”	5
Total average lifetime profit	$5,000
Monthly marketing budget (expense)	$2,500
Average lifetime profits from new customers ($5,000) divided by monthly organic marketing spend ($2,500)	ROI = 200%

 As you can see, that one variable makes a huge difference in how the ROI is stated.

The Serial Seller, Final Words…

SEO is an extremely powerful way to increase leads into your business.

When embarking on SEO services you need to allow for up to 6-12 months.

We always do and always will suggest getting some quick wins through high ROI activities before attempting SEO as it takes longer to see an ROI.

If you are convinced in doing SEO and want to start the journey, Book A Call With Us Now!