Ten tips to find out if you are managing SEO such that it is set for success

Managing SEO for your website is not an easy task, but it is certainly not impossible to manage it, and implement the best practices of SEO so that your website is set up for success.

Whether you are managing SEO in-house or employing the services of an external agency, you may want to  ensure that you have the best team working for your website’s success:-

1. Before beginning any SEO work, the SEO agency or your in-house SEO should understand your website’s objective.

2. They will ask for your product details. They may want to have detailed discussions with the product  team and the off-line marketing team. Which is a good things, and it is essential that you provide them  as much detail as possible.

3. If you already have an existing website, a competent SEO will first have a look at the website that  exists even before asking for data such as your traffic sources. This is good because, just looking at  data without actually going through the website may not result in the best conclusive SEO plan.

4. They will want to know about your competitors, your website’s USP, and other details such as, social networking activities.

5. SEO is a blend of on-page and off-page activities, and your team should be proficient in all the aspects, and very specifically in optimizing the content of your website.

6. They should be able to work with the design team, and the developers, and recommend any changes if required.

7. They should possess analytical skills; this is one of the key factors that you might want to consider  before finalizing your team.

8. They will need to come up with future plans, and strategies for your website.

9. They will never promise ranking within top ten (because that will be wrong commitment), but they will  focus on providing you higher and relevant traffic for a broad set of keywords/key phrase.

10. Last, but not the least, they will be very involved with the project, and meet you often to discuss  progress, and recommend changes. And they will never ever do anything without your consent, and they will be transparent about the strategies that they are considering implementing for your website.

Remember, long after your team has moved on, you are still the owner of the website, any activities that  are not the best practices will do your website more harm than good. It is always better to have a team  that reports and consults with you before implementing any changes.