Expanding your business online by hiring a SEO agency can have positive effects on both the number of people who visit your site and store, as well as your bottom line. It is important to keep in mind though that in order to get the most out of an agency, you have to find the right one that knows how best to market your website.

Here’s what to look for when you begin searching for a SEO agency to hire:

Reliability

Former clients are a great place to start in determining whether or not you should hire a particular agency. Companies that have worked with large, well-known companies in the past are more likely to be reliable and able to get the job done than companies which have bad reviews or testimonials about them on the internet. Even if the agency you are looking at has not had any well-known clients, you may be able to find out more about them from the clients they have had in the past. It doesn’t hurt to try to contact the owner or marketing manager of a website to ask about their experience with the company, whether or not they would hire them again, and how good of a job they did.

Quality

Quality is another important trademark of a good SEO agency. If they are able to get other clients to the top of the SERPs through white-hat techniques they can probably do the same for you. Their website should be fairly high up in search engines when looking for internet marketing agencies in your area, and you should get a general feeling of professionalism from them. By making themselves appear professional, they will probably do a professional (as opposed to an amateur) job for you.

Do they practice what they preach?

If the SEO agency you are looking at does a lot of the things that they either tell others to do, or claim to do for their clients, there is a good chance that they can help you get positive results. SEO professionals will often tell you to update your website frequently, whether this is in the form of industry news or just a blog. If they do the same thing on their website it is a good sign. The same can be said for social media accounts. Just having a Twitter or Facebook page is not enough, you need to be active. SEO agencies that are active and practice what they preach reflects well on them.