Introduction

Whether you’re a small business owner, or someone that works within digital marketing, it’s important to keep your online marketing knowledge up to scratch.

As most of us already know, when it comes to Google’s algorithm, things don’t stay the same for very long at all.

That’s to say the seo methods that you may have used for a long time, well they may simply become outdated. So, this means that most of us will spend ample amounts of time reading seo news websites for help and advice.

And sometimes this also means taking advice from respected seo agencies websites. Yet, we pose this question to you- why not obtain advice straight from the horse’s mouth?

What we mean by this, is if Google was to publish a document which provided us with some insight into how they rate a company’s website, well that would be a pretty useful document to read, right?

You’re not wrong!

That is why countless seo consultants will be spending many hours studying “Google’s quality guidelines”.

This is a document published by Google that was issued to quality assessors. Yet, as you can imagine is also pretty useful to us SEO’s.

You can follow the link to read the PDF format of this document.

What can us SEO’s learn from this document?

Well, one thing is for sure, you need to stick the kettle on before you start having a read. That’s because there is useful pieces of advice, yet as you would expect it’s quite a lengthy document, and one which provides many examples.

Now, that you have a coffee firmly planted into your mitts, let’s start understanding why this document was created in the first place.

This document has been created for Google’s team of quality assessors. Which are kind of like judges of how good a websites content marketing actually is.

Yet, you have to remember that the “judges” verdicts will not have any direct impact on that particular websites rankings.

As you would expect there are simply far too many websites out there for an assessor to sit down and manually review every single one.

Yet, with that said, it is our opinion that Google uses these assessors to evaluate various websites so that they can further fine tune their own algorithm. So you got it, its kind of like testing how good their own algorithm is.

Which kind of makes sense, that’s because if the algorithm now has AI technology (RankBrain), and is now making judgements on its own, well you would naturally want to keep it in check every now and then.

So, as you can imagine, somewhere at Google HQ will presumably be set of boffins which will be comparing what the algorithm calculated a websites quality score to be, and what the bunch of assessors thought.

And yes, you got it, when there’s enough data to say that the algorithm needs to be enhanced an update could possibly be rolled-out.

All interesting stuff.

How does Google measure the quality of a website?

It has been stated that Google ranks the quality of content marketing on a five-tier scale. The scale therefore reads as follows, lowest, low, medium, high and also the highest.

Sounds rather simple, right?

Well it does, but how Google, or should we say the quality assessors arrive at this verdict is rather complex.

For example, the document references “E-A-T” countless times throughout the entire document. This acronym stands for “Expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

Now even though the document cites many examples throughout the long winded article, as you can imagine Google’s not going to state exactly how the algorithm works.

Otherwise this document would be in the hands of all those SEO agencies that want to cut corners, and fool Google’s algorithm.

Yet, with that said it does provide us with some pearls of wisdom, like for example the E.A.T model makes us believe that Google’s algorithm is possibly giving more weight to articles when it knows a bit more about the author.

This then had our cogs turning, and this had us thinking could the expertise of the author be further enhanced via entity building?

For example, if Google’s algorithm knew more about the author, could this mean the website would rank more highly? We think that this a ranking signal that could increase in terms of its importance.

For example, if someone was an expert on a subject, say SEO for example, would the algorithm increase the ranking of that page if the algorithm could validate the knowledge of the author somehow? For example, the author may have listed a long career working in SEO on a linkedin page, or even has a separate website that details the authors extensive career history for example.

Exciting possibilities this document alludes to.

The other attributes being authoritativeness, and trustworthiness- well we could only guess that at this current time your conventional forms of backlinking to a website would indicate this.

So, for example, a website with 100 backlinks from other trusted websites would mean that page could also be deemed as a high authority and trustworthy page.

Focus more on the “beneficial purpose”

Okay, so it will come as no surprise when we say the quality of a business’s content marketing matters.

This notion is as old as the hills. Yet what is confirmed is the author must place their focus and energy on making the content marketing valuable to the user.

This makes sense, as most seo agencies now know that if your create content marketing for pure seo benefit, well that work is then set-up to fail.

To conclude

The document doesn’t really inform us of any new insights that would drastically change how most white hat agencies implement their work.

Yet, for us we think the document does provide somewhat of a glimpse into the not too distant future.

What we mean is we think pages will become ranked more heavily on how authoritative that author is, and their knowledge inline with what is known about the entities described.

Which basically means we can see a future with less reliance on backlinks as the primary ranking factor, and more on how much does the author know about what they are talking about?

Will behavioural signals then become even more important as the voting factor as to who gets to the top spot? Well we think so.

 

Introduction

If you run a small business, then there’s a pretty good chance your also paying a local seo agency to help promote your business.

Yet, this is where many business owners can also get worried over whether or not they are paying the right fee.

After all, seo is very different from other forms of marketing. That’s to say if you were to send out a request for a quote, say to ten different agencies, well they are more than likely to all come back with different costs.

The reason being is seo agencies implement their work in different ways. Also, if the agency has been around for quite a while, and is respected at implementing good quality white hat work, well the fees are normally much higher.

So, with all these prices varying so wildly, how on earth is a business owner supposed to know how much they should be paying?

Well do not fear, that’s because as always, we can offer some valuable advice that will allow you an idea of how some agencies arrive at the prices that they charge.

How established are the competition?

It’s fair to say that some businessowners do not have the foggiest idea about seo, that’s to say they think of this form of marketing as kind of like a lightbulb. This means that when they start paying for the service, bang they expect it to be switched on and working.

But seo is the total opposite to other forms of digital marketing which can appear instantly, like PPC adds for example.

The reason being is this, as you know you will have competitors that are ranked on the first page right now, and the reason being is they may have invested in organic seo for a very long time.

So, this means that the businesses ranking signals, the signals that the search engines like Google read will be strong.

So that’s right, you guessed it the backlinks will most likely be strong, the content marketing, the technical seo elements as well.

So, there you have it, expecting instant results when the competition are likely to be very strong, and have a head start is often unrealistic.

And this brings us back in a full circle to our original question, that is your seo agency should gauge how strong your competitors are from the very start. This should then dictate the level of work that is needed.

So, if your digital marketing agency plucks a figure out of the air, or states that you can opt for a series of cheap seo packages, well they might not have considered how strong the competition are.

And your marketing investment may just benefit the agency, and in all likelihood be a drop in the ocean.

Which seo elements are needed

Just as a mechanic provides a quote for what work is needed in order to fix a car, well so should your seo agency.

If you got a new website, well the whole lot is going to need work. However, if you have a strong website, yet it may just need improvements in a few key areas, well your agency should quote accordingly.

With that said, the work that is needed will dictate the price, as different seo tasks will take longer than others. For example, building backlinks takes a great deal of time, and then on the other hand some business citations can be built relatively easily.

So, in a nutshell the seo agency should run an audit on your website, see what work is needed then offer a quote.

Why do I need to pay each and every month?

A lot of business owners recognise the need to invest in local seo, after all if a business is not listed on the first page, well it’s more than likely to be missing out on business.

So once a business decides it does require to invest in organic and local seo, a lot of business owners can quickly become perplexed by why they need to pay a monthly fee.

The reason being is most business owners would like to pay a one off fee, and that’s to say no ongoing costs.

But the reason that most seo agencies, including ours charge a monthly fee is because your competitors will be constantly looking to increase their businesses rankings as well.

So, this means that once your business is ranked number one, the competition will want to knock you off your top spot.

The reason being is rather simple, and that is the business that is ranked at the very top will normally receive the most visitors. That’s to say even the businesses that are ranked second and third normally do not receive the same amount of visitors.

So, in a nutshell, most businesses don’t just want to be listed on the first page, they want to be listed on the first page at the number one position.

This is why constant effort must be made to improve or maintain where a business ranks, and this is why most businesses pay a monthly fee.

How much does your business charge?

If you would like to obtain a no obligation quote, why not give us a ring?

Introduction

No matter which city your business is based, you will be swamped with choice in terms of the number of seo agencies that want your b.

There are agencies that cater for big businesses, and then on the other end of scale there are agencies that offer very low prices.

This means that for some business owners, it can be a difficult time knowing which agency to choose.

But don’t worry too much about this, as our team of experts have had their penny’s worth on the matter and stated their top tips below.

Marketing jargon just simply doesn’t cut it anymore

As stated earlier, there are simply so many agencies out there. Most have funky names, and bright office spaces, that are constantly shared on social media.

So, from an outside perspective, and getting into a customer’s shoes for just a second, you can begin to see the difficultly as who to choose.

Then once you’ve sat down with a perspective seo agency, your mind may start to boggle at the amount of marketing jargon that you have just heard.

Normally a business owner now will go one of two ways, they are either thinking wow that agency knows its stuff, or alternatively wow that agency is full of it.

We think there’s no place for the overuse of seo jargon. Instead we think its far better to explain things clearly, and for a client to feel part of the process, rather than feeling totally alienated.

Big fees don’t necessarily mean big results

When it comes to seo, it all boils down to how much knowledge the agency has. Now a business owner would be forgiven for thinking that the largest agency in their area must be the best.

This is an approach that a lot of business think, and that is if they are the largest, well they must have the brightest and best marketing minds working there.

This may well be so, yet for those in the know will know this as well, and that is sometimes in some agencies there may well be only a handful of really knowledgeable staff.

Sometimes these absolute seo masterminds only get assigned the largest, and most profitable accounts.

For what the agency may deem as less important accounts, well they may be assigned to someone with the word “junior” within their job title.

They may be ambitious, polite and responsive to your messages, yet their seo knowledge may well be lacking or non-existent.

The reason being is really talented and expert seo consultants are few and far between. If they haven’t been gobbled up by a large business, they may just be few in number, or too expensive for some agencies.

So, our best, and most important advice is this, meet the person who is managing your account, and pick their brains, make sure they know there stuff.

If they delay answering your questions there and then use delay tactics such as I will have to check the answer to that, then alarm bells should be ringing.

White hat is a must

The term “white hat” is probably the most overused phrase there is within the seo profession.

And for those that don’t know what this means, it simply means that the agency doesn’t cut corners.

That the agency, or the marketing consultant will do things properly. However, some agencies state they are white hat when they are anything but.

So, do get a second opinion, perhaps ask a knowledgeable website designer, or another agency to provide an opinion on your marketing strategy.

If the business is implementing any part of the strategy incorrectly, then this could result in a penalty.

Now a penalty can be an algorithmic or a manual penalty, which can mean that a businesses rankings drop, and sometimes by a lot.

So, do make sure that you partner with the right agency.

Affordable

Our digital marketing agency offers affordable prices, and we always offer high quality seo, to receive a quote, why not give us a ring?