Timothy Carter

Search engine optimization (SEO) results are nearly impossible without at least some link building. The high-level view of link building strategies is simple enough; place or earn more links pointing back to your domain so your domain-level and page-level authority grow, at which point you’ll naturally rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). The truth is this exhaustive list of link building strategies should only be used to give your ideas. It can all be intimidating and difficult for a link building newcomer, and frustrating to a seasoned veteran who just can’t break past their most recent traffic plateau. These link building strategies include some of the best ways to get free backlinks. We’ll also answer the following questions: What tactics should I focus on for my niche? What tactics should I avoid, or which are too costly or time-consuming to be worth my time? SEO pricing can be expensive, but repairing poor SEO is worse. What are the easiest ways to acquire quality backlinks? How do you make your blog posts and other on-site content irresistibly link worthy? How do you avoid spammy link building strategies? What are the best link building strategies for new websites? How long does it take for even the best link building strategies to work? Once you get a good system in place for link building, how do you scale it up? How many of of my backlink strategies should involve guest blogging or guest post outreach? Should I manually acquire high quality links or rely on passive link acquisition strategies? How do I effectively outsource my link building? In this post, we delve into 77 link building strategies most likely to help you boost the visibility of your own site in the SERPs. In the rest of this article, we’ll be exploring link building strategies in different categories, from earning backlinks naturally with attractive content to best practices for managing publisher relationships. Curious about your site’s existing backlinks compared to your competitors? Use our backlink checker to view your profile and get information about how you can improve. These backlink strategies will help you ensure that the links you build are the highest possible quality: Backlink Quality > Backlink Quantity And quality is typically time-consuming and more expensive. This first strategy is more about what you shouldn’t do. Newcomers are often tempted to build as many links as possible, without putting much thought into which types of links they build or how they build them. Before you even start link building, make sure you have a clear vision. What are you trying to accomplish? Which links will help you the most? What links could hurt? Based on technical keyword research, what phrases do you want to rank for? Have you developed an anchor text strategy for your outreach? It’s much better to build a small number of extremely helpful links than a large number of links that might hurt you in the long run. Be VERY picky about the links you work to acquire manually: Work to be that guy or gal in your organization that won’t take or stand for acquiring garbage backlinks! Backlink Relevance > Referring Domain Authority Good links exist in context. A lengthy URL existing by itself in a forum comment isn’t going to get much positive attention; it isn’t helpful, valuable, or even natural. But a link embedded as a citation to a resource page, or a solidly written article is a different story. When building links, your first priority should be the content housing your link, and the context that justifies its existence. Focus on: Links from quality sites Links embedded in quality content Links using appropriate anchor text (depending on your existing profile) Links that point to a relevant page to the content topic AND the referring domain Without good content as a backbone, your link building strategy won’t get far. High DA > Low DA (duh) Google judges not just the number of linking domains to your site, but also the quality of those linking domains. Domain authority (DA) is a relative measure of the trustworthiness of a given site. Source: Moz The higher the DA of a domain is, the more authority its links will pass. Your rankings will increase with 1) enough high DA mixed with low DA sites and 2) enough time for those links to vest. Accordingly, getting a link on a high-DA site is better than a comparable link on a low-DA site. As an added bonus, high-DA sites tend to get more traffic on their own, which means they’ll have a higher likelihood of passing referral traffic your way. Favor new domains and IP addresses over already-linked domains Links pass authority from one site to another, but there are diminishing returns for links on the same domain. In other words, the first link you build on a 78 DA website will pass significant authority to your site, but the second link you build there will pass much, much less. As a general rule, getting a link on a new domain is a better use of your time, even if its DA is slightly lower. In this example, a link on a new 55 DA site will be superior to a second link on the 78 DA site. Of course, this isn’t written in stone; even if you aren’t getting as much authority, new links on already-link domains will still increase your brand visibility and may forward additional referral traffic your way. Add value to user experience, not just anchor text What function is your link serving? The best links exist to provide additional value to readers. There are many possible approaches here, but you’ll need a good one if you want your link to succeed. For example, your link can serve as additional reading material on a topic, or it could serve as a citation to back up the facts you report. It could also provide resources in line with what a reader is seeking, or even add a

The fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO) are relatively easy to understand. Make good content, establish trust, have a stronger presence than your competitors, and you should rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). However, the technical aspects of SEO can sometimes be confusing – and challenging to act on. When you say something like rel=noreferrer as a non-technical expert, you may feel the tinge of a headache coming on. But the reality is, the noreferrer tag is a relatively simple concept that’s easy to understand and implement in your SEO strategy. What exactly is this tag and why is it relevant to your SEO strategy? How can you add the noreferrer tag yourself without having to hire an SEO company? What Is Noreferrer? The rel=noreferrer tag is an HTML attribute that deals with web privacy and security. It’s typically used with external links, providing instructions to a user’s browser to ignore the HTTP referrer header when moving from website A to website B; this also prevents external websites from tracking traffic sources. Essentially, using the noreferrer tag allows you to mask the referring source when a browser attempts to track it. It’s a way of disguising or anonymizing where a user is coming from. If you use this tag on your website, people who click the links on your website to travel to other pages will have their origin source hidden. Other websites won’t be able to tell, through their analytics, that they came from your website. This obviously works for other websites as well. If some other website is using the noreferrer tag on links pointed to your website, you won’t be able to tell where those visitors are coming from. Noreferrer vs. Nofollow If you have any link building or general SEO experience, you’re probably somewhat familiar with the “nofollow” tag. While similar in nature and function, these two tags are distinct in how they work and how they apply to your SEO strategy. A nofollow tag informs Google bots that a certain link should not be weighted as part of its search engine algorithm evaluations. In other words, the link is marked to be ignored in the context of PageRank. Links with the nofollow tag aren’t going to pass any link juice to your website. That doesn’t mean they’re useless, of course; they can still give you website visibility and referral traffic. However, nofollow tags are typically detrimental to a link building strategy. In contrast, the noreferrer tag doesn’t affect link juice or link evaluation at all. If a link is marked with the noreferrer tag, some visitor information will be obscured, but the link still counts in an SEO context. Why Use a Noreferrer Tag? Why should you consider using a noreferrer tag on your website?       Risk reduction. For some businesses, it’s all about reducing risk. Any amount of data exposure is a potential vulnerability, and reducing vulnerabilities reduces your exposure to risk. It’s a general strategy that doesn’t have much of A downside, but could protect you or your users if any of that information is threatened.       Page speed. You likely know that page speed is important for SEO (and for user experience beyond SEO). If you improve page loading speed, your users will be happier, Google will rate your website as more authoritative, and you’ll probably rise in the rankings for multiple reasons. While the effect is somewhat minor, using noreferrer tags can partially accelerate page speed.       User privacy protection. If your brand is committed to user privacy, noreferrer tags can help you adhere to that philosophy. These tags prevent other websites from knowing where your users came from, so you’re essentially functioning as a gigantic privacy shield for them. If you advertise this, your users may be grateful.       Maintaining distance from other sites. This strategy is also valuable if you want to maintain some distance from other websites. For example, if you’re linking to websites with controversial content or if you’re linking to sources that may engage in questionable practices in the future, a noreferrer tag can block some degree of affiliation.       Analytics shielding. For one reason or another, you may want to prevent your website or brand name from appearing in the analytics of other websites. Referral traffic is a big deal in the realm of digital marketing. Most website owners love digging into analytics to see how much referral traffic they’re getting and where that referral traffic is coming from. With a noreferrer tag, your name will be blocked, so you won’t show up in any analytics reports. Noreferrer Tags in an SEO Context Why is it so important to consider noreferrer tags in the context of SEO?       Indirect (and future) SEO benefits. We should start by saying that using these tags or having links pointed to your website with this tag applied has almost no direct impact on SEO whatsoever. It’s not a direct SEO benefit to implement the noreferrer tag, nor is it a benefit or detriment to have the noreferrer tag applied to your inbound links. That said, there are some possible indirect benefits of using the noreferrer tag whenever appropriate. For starters, this is a way of protecting user data and therefore user safety. Google always prioritizes websites with high levels of security, so this is a great way to strategically position yourself. Additionally, page speed acceleration can help you rank a bit higher as well. Keep in mind that Google may use the noreferrer tag as a ranking signal in the future, but we don’t know exactly how likely this is.       Visitor dwell time. Higher dwell time is also good for SEO. If your pages load quickly, if users know you’re protecting their privacy, and if you have good linking infrastructure in general, those users will be much more likely to stick around on your website. This, in turn, can support higher

SEO (search engine optimization) is the heartbeat of online marketing. Without a sound SEO foundation in place, it’s nearly impossible to generate the kind of results your business needs to enjoy sustained growth and success. But SEO can be highly technical. It’s a skill that requires knowledge, practice, and careful execution. As such, SEO can also be expensive. If you want to grow as a professional and simultaneously maximize resources, becoming an expert in the SEO field is a must. The question is, how do you make it happen? What is an SEO Expert? An SEO expert isn’t someone who works for Google or has some secret formula that takes advantage of a weakness in the search giant’s algorithm. It doesn’t even mean that you need to start a successful SEO agency and have high-dollar clients. Being an SEO expert is about understanding how the search engines work and knowing what it takes to grow organic search traffic on a consistent and repeatable basis. But, unlike other industries where “experts” might be regulated by exams, certifications and a governing body, anyone can read enough to be dangerous and subsequently claim “SEO expert” status. Filtering out the inexperienced can be difficult, especially among those who may be great at selling, but lackluster at delivery. When you’re an SEO expert, the internet becomes your playground. You’re able to breathe life into blogs, websites, and businesses. You also have a thorough understanding of other aspects of marketing – like content, design, and social media – which makes your skillset highly transferrable. The 2 Main SEO Options Before we dive into what it looks like to become your own SEO expert, we would be remiss not to mention the other two options you, as a business owner have: outsourcing SEO to an agency/contractor, or hiring an in-house SEO expert. Advantages of Outsourcing to an SEO Agency An SEO agency is beneficial for numerous reasons, including: It’s cheaper than hiring someone. When you hire someone in-house, you have to pay a salary (regardless of output). You’re also required to cover payroll taxes, benefits, etc. With an agency, you simply pay for what you get – no added fees or expenses. When managed properly, this can make it a cost-effective solution. It’s flexible and scalable. An outsourced SEO agency is more scalable than anything else. As you grow, you simply up your monthly retainer or service needs. You get an outside perspective. Sometimes it’s helpful to work with people outside of your company. They can provide a unique perspective that’s impossible to see when you’re on the inside. You can fire an agency easier. Firing an employee is complicated, emotional, and fraught with legal and financial consequences. An agency, on the other hand, can easily be fired when they don’t live up to their promises. Disadvantages of Outsourcing to an SEO Agency Working with an agency isn’t perfect. There are some disadvantages, such as: Communication can be tough. One of the biggest disadvantages of working with an SEO agency is that you might not ever meet face-to-face. While this can save time in some regards, it can lead to unnecessary friction and frustration in other areas. It all depends on how good the agency is at handling communication. You’re not their only focus. Most agencies won’t sign an agreement of exclusivity with you. This means they have the right to work with your competitors, or any other company. You lose some control. Even if you provide clear instructions, there will always be some lack of control when you outsource to an agency. You must learn to be comfortable with this. You may lose some niche-specific expertise. While there are marketing experts that cover specific niches, broad-based SEO agencies often fail. That’s one of the reasons we’ve honed-in to become experts in lawyer SEO. Advantages of Hiring an In-House SEO Expert In-house SEOs can help your business in many ways: You’ll remain in full control of the process at all times. Most SEO agencies will offer transparency to their clients and strive to get direction and guidance from business owners. However, most agencies also have tried-and-true operations and practices that aren’t easily movable. An in-house SEO expert guarantees you some level of transparency, and gives you near-full control over what strategies get implemented (and how). As long as you trust your expert, you’ll be in a good position. You’re guaranteed to have a representative fully immersed in your brand. Intimate knowledge of your brand is necessary to complete SEO work successfully. Ideally, you’ll be producing content, social media posts, and maintaining relationships with external sites throughout the entirety of your campaign, so if you’re using someone who lives and breathes your brand, you’ll have a greater chance of keeping everything consistent. This advantage is weakened if you also use contractors for your work. You can always outsource parts of the work. Using other contractors is also an inherent advantage of having an in-house SEO agent. Because agencies generally take on all SEO responsibilities at once, you don’t have many options when it comes to work orders. With an in-house agent, you can find other experts and contractors to bring on for portions of your strategy. For example, you can mix, match and hire a team of SEO writers and link builders to suit your strategy best. In-house SEOs can collaborate with your team. The best SEO strategies involve the entire team—designers can make more appealing websites, developers can include more SEO-friendly architecture, and even account managers can help your social media and external link building efforts. Having an in-house SEO means hosting more SEO-related collaboration within your organization. You’ll benefit from cross-training. Your in-house SEO expert might be able to take on some peripheral responsibilities, giving them a dual role, or might be able to impart some knowledge on another one of your team members. Either way, your team will improve through cross-training. Disadvantages of Hiring an In-House SEO Expert There are also some serious disadvantages

The infographic is certainly not a new tool for those looking to boost search engine optimization. In fact, the popular infographic is close to celebrating its 10th birthday as a useful and meaningful way to provide readers with new knowledge and real value while boosting a website’s overall profile in the process. This leads many people to simply assume that the infographic is yesterday’s news, last year’s tool, and no longer a valuable part of SEO strategy and planning. That simply could not be further from the truth. While many tried and true methods of search engine optimization have fallen by the wayside during the infographic’s rise and reign, the graphic itself still contributes meaningfully to user experiences, website SEO performance, and backend processes for website owners. Consider the following key reasons to keep researching, assembling, and publishing these engaging visual masterpieces. 1. Infographics Contribute to Other SEO Resources To create an effective infographic, today’s website owners need to conduct a large amount of research so that they can present new and quirky information in an engaging way. That research is not a one-off thing. In fact, good research can pay dividends when creating an infographic and it can actually lay the foundation for further publications that draw even more users in. Consider that this information could also be published in the form of a valuable blog entry, a useful and authoritative whitepaper, or a series of social media posts that help the website build its engagement levels and create a viral following on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and other networks. Working on infographic research is a long-term commitment to publishing valuable content on a given topic. For this reason, the process should be considered an investment in SEO that can extend to social publishing, blog use, paid whitepaper marketing, and much more. 2. Infographics Typically Become “Evergreen” Content After Publishing A blog entry that breaks controversial news or discusses quirky statistics tends to explode in popularity upon publishing but fizzle out soon thereafter. Users read the content, comment on it, and perhaps share it with a friend or two. The process that ensues after publication of a popular infographic is somewhat different. While there’s certainly a burst of initial publicity and interaction, infographics tend to be shared for far longer periods of time than their blog post counterparts. In fact, infographics whose basic statistics and factoids remain current can be shared for years at a time. Since the company’s logo or URL is included in the infographic, this acts as a long-term promotional material that increases visits from social media and external websites. That’s exactly what search engines like Google are looking for, and it’s a fantastic way to commit to a long-term elevation in a site’s search rankings and total performance. 3. An Infographic is a Visual Representation of a Website’s Brand The great thing about an infographic is that it can be built by designers to deliberately reflect a company’s visual aesthetic and overall tone. Does the website typically engage in sarcastic references and quirky jokes? An infographic can reflect this very well. Does the site have a given color scheme or attractive logo? These things can also be worked into a great infographic by the most highly skilled designers currently honing their craft. Think of an infographic not just as a way to virally communicate with outside users and websites, but also as a way to engage in product placement. With the right design philosophy, the image can serve as a source for natural link building to share or as a more compact version of the site’s message, mission, tone of voice, and branding decisions. Combined with its evergreen content tendencies, this gives the creator a great deal of virtual staying power after publication. 4. A Great Graphic Can Gain Traction Where Other Methods Fail One of the biggest hurdles facing upstart websites is their inability to connect with more seasoned resources and draw users who feel that their needs are already being met by an established online content hub. Infographics, with their visual appeal and alluring way of presenting information, can change all that. In some cases, they might serve as impromptu guest posts on other blogs with a great deal more authority. Some companies might “steal” the infographic and publish it as part of their own social media feeds. They’ll give appropriate credit, of course, but this action is largely seen as an endorsement of the publishing website’s authority and legitimacy. Increased user visits may follow and, with consistent publishing of new content that exudes the same level of information and attitude, those users will likely stick around and be proud to have found a new resource. It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the online world, where text is common and “Too Long Did Not Read” is a popular acronym, infographics break through the noise and cause both users and other publishers to take notice. Traction is important online, and this is one of the best ways to gain some. 5. In Studies, Users Overwhelmingly Responded More to Visual Content Ever notice that a newspaper’s biggest element above the fold is an image and not the headline? There’s a reason for that: In study after study, over multiple decades and several generations, researchers have found that people are up to 40 percent more likely to respond to visual content than they are to respond in the same way to the written word. Sure, people like to read when it concerns their interests or the way they do things on a daily basis. They need to be enticed, however, and the best way to do that is with useful and informative visuals. It is this tendency to respond with greater frequency to visual stimuli that makes infographics such an appealing part of a broader SEO strategy services. As mentioned above, a photo can be worth a thousand words. An infographic that sits above the “noise” of written blog

There are many topics in content marketing open for debate, but few have been as elusive to evidentiary proof as the length of the “perfect” blog post. To some, the longer a blog post the better, and there’s a clear argumentative case for it; more words in an article mean more “guts” for web crawlers and readers, and indicate that an article is thorough and in-depth. But, let’s look at some high-level stats related to blog post and content length that will be applicable: The average 1st result on Google has a blog length of 1,500 words. Source: Backlinko Content with >7,000 words gets more than 3x the number of shares and links. Source: MarketingCharts Blog posts are getting longer: the average blog post length is now over 1,400 words long. Source: OrbitMedia When it comes to the first five positions in Google, shorter length appears to have a higher correlation to first page rankings. Source: CognitiveSEO  Longer posts (2,000 words+) tend to rank higher and more readily appear in the top 10. Source: CapsicumMediaworks While a correlation exists between longer length, the correlation is small and gets even less important as you look at larger data set (i.e. beyond the top 10 search results), likely due to the fact that more content is getting longer overall. Source: CanIRank  There is a strong correlation between content length and the number of acquired backlinks to a particular blog post. Source: Hubspot Longer content (>10,000 words) can actually hurt your rankings, especially when content is not “on point” and fails to nail search intent for users. Source: SurferSEO 75% of content on the internet is never shared, referenced or linked to. Source: Moz On the other hand, constantly shooting for super-high word counts can leave you with fluff, or can alienate the vast portions of your audience who are interested in a quick read. So what’s the answer? The evidence suggests the reality of an “ideal” blog length is much more complicated than a simple answer of “long” or “short.” Ambiguous Results of Ideal Content Length More important than word count is this: Your article should answer the intended query of the visitor. If it does that in 100 words better than another site can do in 10,000, then you win. Unfortunately, a thorough answer is typically not 100 words long. Having a popular blog is all about keeping your content updated with fresh and informative content. Your visitors are going to like seeing that the blog is kept updated and that the articles they are reading provide them with some information that they happen to be seeking. Whether you make the decision to write your own blog entries or hire someone to do this for you, it is a good idea to carefully consider the word count so that your visitors are kept entertained when reading the content on your site each and every time they happen to visit your blog. For some examples please visit the SEO blog to learn more. Keep in mind, many of our blog articles range from 500 words to nearly 20,000. The ultimate length of a given blog post may differ depending on many factors, including: Industry niche. Some queries might require a long, detailed explanation while others could be a simple answer in 200 words or less. Search intent. The intent of the searcher has a sway on how a given piece of content might rank visa-a-vis competitors. Sometimes search intent can be answered quickly. Sometimes not. Website domain authority. You might have the most extensive post or page on a subject, but if your content remains untested and lacks the right signals (e.g. backlinks) it’s less likely to outrank competing pages. Internal signals. Shorter posts with a lot of internal links, including header/footer links, are more likely to rank than orphaned pages buried deep with no internal links. Length has less of a sway in such cases. Average Content Length of Top 10 Google Search Results There’s no simple answer for the “ideal” length of a blog post, but there are some interesting trends when it comes to post length for SEO. According to this recent analysis, about 85 percent of the articles in this golden 25 percent contained fewer than 1,000 words. About 12 percent of articles shared had between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and less than 2.7 percent contained more than 2,000 words. According to this information, the shorter your article is, the better. However, when it comes to the number of shares an article gets, the longer an article is, the better. Average Article Page Views & Shares by Length Articles of under 1,000 words tended to get an average of 3.47 shares and links, with 1,000-2,000 word articles getting an average of 6.92, and articles of 3,000 words or more getting a massive 11.07! According to this information, the longer your article is, the better. This leads to a tricky conundrum, but let me try and simplify it: shorter articles have a higher likelihood of getting shares, but they also tend to attract a fewer number of shares. Longer articles have a lower likelihood of getting shares, but when they do, they attract large numbers of shares. Average Word Count of a Post by Rank But, when it comes to the top 5 results in Google, the length tends to shorten, compared to those further down in the search rankings: Median Content Length by Rank for Top 40 Results When you expand out the view for the top 40 results, the results clearly conclude there is a small (but still evident) correlation between length and rank: Word Count vs. Average Linking Domains There is also a strong correlation between the length of your post and the number of backlinks pointing to it: Average Total Content Shares The vast majority of content online is never shared or referenced: So What is the Ideal Blog Post Length? If you have a niche that specializes in one type of content over another,

The online marketing and SEO industry is a highly competitive arena. Businesses from all niches vie for the top spot to place their products and services before a target audience doing search. With their techno savvy, competitors could easily swallow you up. If you’re running a business that operates only online, you need to master effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Time is probably not on your side, especially if you don’t have the necessary resources to run a team of Internet marketing specialists. If that’s the case, you would probably benefit from professional SEO services. Hiring an SEO agency will save you time and money, and will ensure you compete well in the cutthroat world of digital marketing. This is definitely a time to proceed with caution, however. Plenty of entities out there claim to be “experts in the field” of digital marketing or SEO. With hundreds of SEO companies on the market, how do you choose the right one? To simplify your search for the right SEO service, you need to ask the right questions. That will enable you to zero in on the company that can help you achieve your marketing goals —  without bogging you down in the details and possibly breaking the bank. But first: What is SEO? SEO is the process of improving the online visibility of a website in a search engine’s organic section. It costs nothing to get listed, but to get to the top requires a thorough understanding of the process. SEO requires significant chunks of time and consistent labor to achieve first-page ranking on Google. With the rise of Social SEO — the inclusion of Social Media Signals in SEO calculations — there’s even more work to do now, just to be able to compete in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing. Can companies simply ignore SEO? Certainly not! Tests have shown that users pretty much depend only on the information that appears on the first page of Google and Bing searches. The rest usually go unregarded. So if web searchers don’t see you on Google’s first page, they’ll go to your competitors instead. That’s why you need to hire the right SEO company. Let’s look at some of the key questions you need to ask an SEO provider before you choose to hire them. Question Why It Matters What is your overall SEO philosophy? Understand whether they focus on ethical, long-term SEO versus shortcuts that could risk penalties. How do you approach keyword research? Gauge their strategy for balancing volume, competition, and intent using keyword research tools. What SEO tools and technologies do you use? Look for use of reputable tools (e.g., Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Ahrefs, SEMrush). Can you explain your technical SEO process? Assess their ability to fix site structure, page speed, mobile-friendliness, schema, and more. What’s your strategy for content marketing? Learn how they plan to create content that ranks, converts, and satisfies user intent. How do you handle link building? Evaluate whether their off-page SEO tactics are white-hat and sustainable. How do you measure SEO performance? Ensure they report on metrics that matter (organic traffic, conversions, rankings—not vanity metrics). How will you customize the SEO strategy for our business? Look for a tailored, not cookie-cutter, approach. How do you stay updated on Google’s algorithm changes? Confirm they stay current on important Google ranking factors. What’s your process for auditing a new client site? Their audit should cover technical SEO, content gaps, backlinks, and competitors. Can you provide case studies or examples of past success? Request proof of results in search engine rankings, traffic, or conversions. How do you approach local SEO? Important if you serve specific regions and want better local search results. What is your stance on AI tools in SEO? Learn if they’re integrating AI in smart, ethical ways. Do you offer help with Google Analytics and reporting? See if they can help interpret your web analytics and align it to business goals. How do you approach SEO for e-commerce sites? E-commerce SEO has unique challenges; confirm experience. What experience do you have in our industry? Niche expertise can fast-track success. Will you work with our internal SEO team or marketing staff? Clarify collaboration processes. How do you handle referral traffic tracking? Make sure they measure more than just search. Do you help with meta descriptions and on-page tags? Critical for CTR and relevance in search engine results. How do you avoid over-optimization (e.g., keyword density) penalties? A good agency knows how to balance on-page signals. Can you help with technical SEO interview questions for our hires? Helpful if you’re building an internal team. What’s your approach to competitor analysis? They should assess inbound links, content, domain authority, and gaps. How do you handle site migrations or redesigns? A botched migration can devastate rankings. Will you provide regular reports? What will be in them? Ensure transparency on rankings, traffic, conversions, SEO factors. How do you approach search engine crawlers optimization? Ensure they know how to help search bots index your content properly. What is your timeline for seeing results? Set realistic expectations; avoid guarantees of quick wins. How do you handle penalties or sudden traffic drops? Look for experience with Google penalty recovery. What’s your pricing structure? Clarify costs, scope, and whether you’re paying for results, hours, or deliverables. How will you ensure our site is compliant with search engines’ best practices? They should prioritize guidelines from Google and other search engines. Do you offer help with digital marketing beyond SEO? See if they integrate with PPC, social, content marketing, etc. What will you do if the initial strategy fails? Assess flexibility and willingness to pivot. Can you assist with Google Search Console setup and maintenance? Important for monitoring health and indexing. How do you optimize for AI-driven search (e.g., Google SGE)? Shows they’re thinking ahead about AI and search engine optimization SEO future.   What marketing services do you offer? Some SEO agencies have a bench that is both deep and wide. Some