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Tags – Inconsistency in SEO Services
Have you ever thought why are some SEO agencies more expensive than others?
The simplest answer here is quality. But, quality in itself doesn’t answer the question.
Therefore, in this blog, we are not only covering the differences between various SEO services but also outlining the effects of going for a lower quality service. Let’s begin with the simplest reason.
Geographical Differences
This point is easier to understand.
If you talk to 2 agencies, providing the same quality service, but based in 2 drastically different economic zones, chances are that the one in the more prosperous area will be more expensive. This difference in price is not universal and possibly includes other related factors too.
For instance, an SEO agency in London may understand the local market and mood better than one in Liverpool for instance. Here, we are assuming that you are not looking for a purely technical job, and, at least initial conversion, is as important for you as bringing people on the site – the original job of SEO.
In any case, finding 2 identical agencies, especially at the higher end of service, is quite rare. In addition, more than the SEO service itself, you need to click with your SEO provider at an intellectual, or at least social level. Otherwise, you will not be truly benefitting from each other’s company. Keep in mind that money comes second in service-based relationships.
Therefore, you are more likely to pick a local service or a service that can stay in touch with you effectively in the first place.
Next, the differences are more drastic.
We Come Back to Quality
We have come back to quality. But, we are going to explicitly explain what we mean.
However, in order to understand this point, let’s break down the main ingredients of SEO. Here, we are assuming that you are already aware of keyword research, user experience, and other commonly known areas within SEO.
For us, SEO includes 3 main ingredients:
1. Technical SEO
Technical is a strong word and throws most people off. And, I don’t blame you here.
In reality, ‘technical’ SEO isn’t really ‘technical’ and you can generally find bit by bit guides on how to do it. Therefore, there is no standardisation of service across the individuals and agencies that provide this service.
So, with a bit of research, you can learn about alt tags, meta-descriptions, and even indexability.
In fact, we have reached a point where if you want to use schema to make your website coding more structured, and hence better readable by search engines, you can learn to edit a few scripts and go on your merry way. Such scripts are provided by Google itself.
Then, once you have setup the pages, you can check for any errors by simply submitting your links to Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
Once again, even though all of this sounds ‘technical’. But, I can assure you that, from an SEO perspective, this is child’s play. That is why most of the SEO services at the lower end, provide technical SEO exclusively. As a result, they are not touching the higher levels of SEO and are therefore cheaper.
2. Content Creation
The content creation bit of SEO is a bit better known. Put simply, in order to rank well and demonstrate that you are an authority in what you are selling, you need to be producing relevant content.
On face value, all this makes sense. However, there are finer details that need to be understood too.
For instance, the same manner in which the prices of SEO services may differ, content writers come with different levels of writing too. In our experience, we have come across everything from writers who charge £5 an article to £800 an article. This difference in the quality of writing also plays a major part in how much you are paying for your SEO services.
From an SEO agency perspective, we do not take any under £50 writer seriously, unless they are just beginning.
From Axies Digital perspective, the only time we will consider outsourcing our writing is if we do not have the inhouse capability to write on a specific topic. And, even when we outsource, we keep the necessary editing internal to maintain our high standards. Doing so allows us to use specialists for a job, while making sure that our quality of service is maintained.
An Extra Consideration
You may not realise this but most of the content writing, especially for new sites is more search engine focused rather than reader focused. And, there is a simple logic behind this.
Businesses working on their SEO, especially in cases where there is no traffic yet, need to understand that most of their content will not be read by a human reader. Therefore, the importance of keywords or writing styles is simply relative. We can make an argument here that search engines are trying to apply social principles of writing, and you will be right, but, knowing that you do not have an audience yet allows you to play with choices a bit more. Pressures of audience come a bit later and is a completely different ball game.
3. Backlinking
Backlinking is where the major price differences come.
We talk about the different levels of backlinking in another blog, which you can check here:
Marketing Lies – Pursuing High Domain Authority Backlinks
Cutting to the chase, most low cost SEO services may skip true backlinking in the first place. Then, if they are creating backlinks for you, they will be doing so through directories, most of which are free in the first place. And, finally, a proportion of your backlink builders are using paid services. As you can imagine, none of these options are of the highest quality. And, we believe that this is where we stand out too.
Our backlinks come through guest blogging. Specifically, every time we get a new client, we set out to build connections within the related fields. For instance, if we sign up an accounting agency in Leicester, as we did in the case of MV Chartered Accountants, we will set out to build relationships with the target audience of MV Chartered Accountants. (The receiving party is getting free, optimised content).
Doing so not only allows us to build backlinks but also helps in introducing the two businesses to each other. Therefore, along with the backlink which is a positive in itself, we also set the foundations for potential business together. And, if you are thinking of how we do this, we use our own LinkedIn expertise. We talk more about this here:
From Digital to Physical Connections – the LinkedIn Example
Concluding Remarks
So, the difference in price comes from how much effort has been put into gaining backlinks, in our case from real businesses in parallel sectors.
And, overall, the differences in each ingredient of your SEO service create the ultimate difference in the quality, and hence prices. Problems arise when the true quality is not achieved. Here, matters get even worse when your service provider is not even aware of where they are lagging, constructing the dark side of SEO.
To learn more, get in touch with us today.
And, to learn about other SEO areas, check:
- Measuring Digital Marketing Success in an Extended SEO Effort
- Money Saving in Digital Marketing – the Exaggeration
- The Rise of Personal Searches – Google Getting Personal?
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