Hiring a reputable SEO company is a big ask. Realistically, there are a lot of subpar agencies out there that simply don’t provide a great service, to begin with, and it’s very difficult to determine their quality level based on their website, featured portfolio, or first impressions from a mere short introductory call with one of their representatives.
You can offset this obstacle by educating yourself as much as you can before jumping in with both feet. In general, you want to work with experienced SEO agencies that’ve been around for a while. On top of that, they should also have a good reputation and an excellent track record with past SEO projects.
Thankfully, we’ve done the pre-screening part for you—every agency on our list is trustworthy and good at what they do, with slight variations with their specialties. However, all of them share one single trait: being the top players in their respective fields.
Ultimately, you can think of choosing an SEO service like hiring someone to join your team. It requires a great deal of patience, energy, and a fair amount of resources to find the ideal candidate, but it’s worth every penny.
Anyway, here’s a quick look at our top picks below.
The Best SEO Companies in Less Than 5 Minutes
Usually, there’s a clear winner in many of the digital resources we review, but that’s not necessarily the case here. Our favorite SEO agency is WebiMax, however, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the right choice for everyone.
The criteria we used to determine the best picks revolved around how long they’ve been operating on the market, their past track record in search engine optimization, as well as how clients felt about these SEO companies after using their services.
Aside from our favorite WebiMax, it came down to nine other agencies divided into three groups:
- Best for SEO content marketing—Neil Patel Digital, DashClicks, KlientBoost
- Best for local SEO—Intero Digital, SmartSites, StraightNorth
- Best for technical SEO, site audits, and one-off tasks—Page Prosper, WebFX, SmartBug
Let’s examine these SEO brands in more detail and see what made them earn their place on our list.
WebiMax—Our Favorite SEO Service
WebiMax is a versatile, reputable, and award-winning digital marketing agency with more than 15 years of experience in the field. Simply put, WebiMax offers a full search engine optimization experience, ranging from lead generation, social media marketing, and reputation management to pay-per-click marketing (PPC), online public relations, and website design.
WebiMax encourages two-way partnerships instead of getting trapped into lengthy contracts based on unclear goals, with a main focus on tangible results above all. Its team uses the latest tools in the digital space to achieve favorable outcomes—both for individual creatives trying to break through and seven-figure businesses that want to position themselves as industry leaders in their respective verticals.
WebiMax operates via precise marketing strategies as opposed to scattering its available resources in multiple different directions. As many satisfied clients have noted, WebiMax prefers executing narrow actions over enacting broad approaches.
Also, the company is surprisingly open to customer feedback and moves quickly when there’s a need to adjust existing strategies in order to accommodate any unforeseen gaps in the initial plan. It’s a delicate tightrope act that not many agencies manage to achieve, but WebiMax tries very hard to secure a planned contingency net to offset the unpredictability of the fast-paced SEO market.
In terms of downsides, one thing the agency could do better is more effective communication via its main digital channels, so interested parties can know exactly what they’re getting into if opting to work with its team.
Lastly, keep in mind that WebiMax is far from being the perfect choice for everyone. For example, it charges significantly more than working with other SEO agencies or enlisting the services of freelance professionals from gig-based platforms Still, the quality of its services typically matches the price, so it’s up to you to decide whether it’ll be worth it to enter into a partnership for what you’re trying to achieve with your projects.
The Best SEO Services for Content Creation
Content creation is one of those skills that many newcomers and sometimes even seasoned SEO professionals often get wrong for a variety of different reasons. For example, enacting a good content marketing strategy typically means working with experienced digital writers, not search engine marketing specialists. Sometimes, SEO content writers may also be excellent copywriters, social media managers, or project leads, but their dominant skill is putting together creative and snappy content that performs well in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Therefore, if you want help creating actual SEO-optimized content, a content marketing service provider or a digital writing hub is a better choice than working with a company whose offers are limited to strictly technical SEO. It also goes without saying, but it’s best to avoid content mills and content farms at all cost since their services are often detrimental to the health of your business in the long run.
With that said, here are our top three picks for the best content marketing agencies today.
Neil Patel Digital
Neil Patel Digital is a globally recognized, technology-driven digital marketing agency with a strong emphasis on providing cost-effective solutions in four main categories: data and analytics, earned media, paid media, and creative strategies.
NP Digital boasts a serious track record through working with renowned clients and engineering award-winning search marketing campaigns. More specifically, it has managed to expand the online reach for CNN Brasil, Ascent, NCSA, Adobe, ConnectWise, and Lantern by SoFi.
Concerning content marketing, the agency offers an educated approach stemming from authority, relevancy, and data-driven organic search. In 2022 alone, Google’s search algorithms experienced a cumulative change of 729 minor and major tweaks, further emphasizing the unpredictability of earned media in a rapidly evolving digital age. From our experience, Neil Patel Digital provides painstakingly crafted content campaigns that make use of this environment whilst preserving your brand’s voice, image, and reputation.
Regarding cons, Neil Patel Digital’s associated content marketing and keyword research tool Ubersuggest is long overdue for a modern rework of its main user interface (UI). Currently, business owners with limited SEO knowledge may get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information at first, which shouldn’t be a problem once they become more familiar with the application if they stick around for long enough.
Finally, if you’re trying to grow your website traffic organically—consider giving NP Digital a chance. Its team members are capable of delivering unique and highly engaging SEO-optimized content that performs well for a large number of relevant search queries, and meeting, if not exceeding your expectations.
DashClicks
DashClicks is an affordable, three-in-one digital marketing platform that offers fulfillment-based, software, and content creation solutions for small and medium-size businesses. DashClick’s main selling point comes from its all-encompassing web platform that streamlines the entire content fulfillment process from beginning to end, often with minimum input from the client apart from providing general content briefs and picking the article topics.
If you’re unfamiliar with this model, think about fulfillments as gigs or tasks, where each of them is accessible from the platform’s main dashboard or fulfillment center. You can add, edit, or remove fulfillments once you pass the onboarding process at the beginning of creating your business account. This process is automated and shouldn’t take more than a day to become a paying customer.
Aside from another agency which we’ll consider later, DashClicks is unique in that it doesn’t require you to sign a contract to start using its services. It operates on a month-to-month basis, so you’re allowed to cancel anytime you want.
In terms of limitations, it’s not very clear who the writers are and how their experience can help shape your content. However, given the exceedingly large number of positive reviews, and assuming most of them are authentic, we can safely conclude that DashClick employs legitimate professionals capable of delivering great results.
KlientBoost
KlientBoost is a B2B SaaS marketing agency whose expertise covers paid advertising, content marketing, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and lead generation. Some of its more notable clients include Signpost, ClearLight, Stanford Business, NPR, Segment, and Fashionphile.
In addition to its long list of clients, this agency is one of the most transparent companies out there, having featured the entirety of its team on a dedicated page on its website. If you decide to hire KlientBoost’s services, you’ll always know who you’ll be working with and in what capacity.
Here’s an extensive list of KlientBoost’s content services:
- Keyword research
- Topic ideation
- Gated content creation
- Content writing
- Content development, promotion, and distribution
- Creative copywriting
- Editing
- On-page SEO optimization
- Time on-site improvements
Pitfall-wise, some forum members have expressed a healthy dose of skepticism in regards to KlientBoost’s ability to conduct effective direct response (DA) advertising campaigns, claiming the agency had reduced their monthly volume and increased their cost per acquisition (CPA). Still, all these reviews come from anonymous users, so it’s advised to take their opinions with a grain of salt.
All things considered, KlientBoost is a capable digital marketing agency that might just be that extra thing you’re missing to put your business on the proverbial map.
The Best Local SEO Agencies
Local SEO refers to a collection of tactics, methods, and developed plans to get your digital presence seen in the right locations. Typically, agencies of this caliber tend to be hyper-focused on local search engine optimization, while there’s also a good chance some may be able to help with technical SEO as well. But, their focus is mostly on getting hyper-localized SEO wins.
Keep note of our top three picks in this category right below.
Intero Digital
Intero Digital is a digital marketing agency that divides its offers into four distinct funnels concerning reaching, attracting, converting, and re-engaging leads. Its full list of services includes national and local SEO, paid and organic social media, digital PR, content, email, and Amazon marketing, remarketing, email nurture, and technical SEO.
Intero is probably the oldest agency on this list, one that even predates the infamous dot-com bubble before the crash. Its patented technology, InteroBOT, can emulate spiders that Google, Bing, and other popular search engines use to crawl the web. In turn, this technology allows the agency’s dedicated department to monitor your digital properties from the perspective of how Google and the other crawlers see your site, suggesting fixes to existing issues and coming up with new ideas to improve your digital footprint.
ID offers comprehensive SEO packages, one of which centers on aligning your marketing plan with local search as demonstrated via its distributed online presence across multiple digital marketing review resources and the overall positive sentiment users leave after working with Intero Digital’s team together on a project.
For smaller businesses, Intero is likely not going to be a good mutual fit because its starting rate far exceeds the standard digital marketing budget of a typical startup or micro business. If, however, you feel confident spending more than $5,000 on local SEO, then you should try out its services to determine its viability for you.
SmartSites
The team behind SmartSites has a significant amount of experience building five-star Google reviews for local visibility and search, earning its agency multiple stamps of approval from several reputable directories in the past couple of years, including G2, Goodfirms, and Upcity. Aside from Google, SmartSites can also help you build citations on frequently visited travel itinerary resources like TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Yelp.
Some of the local SEO optimizations SmartSites can help you with are more than enough to keep your business thriving locally, such as developing a custom local search optimization strategy and incorporating location-centric keywords into your content. Additionally, SmartSites also claims to know how to add your business to every major map listing and make it easy for customers to start a conversation with your representatives after calling your offices.
Furthermore, it seems like SmartSites is a frequently reviewed organization. Out of all the publicly available client reviews, the majority of them are positive with a few exceptions. Past customers think SmartSites is doing an excellent job in key areas like affordability, service quality, and attentiveness, but could do better in others like improving its direct communication and being more transparent with contracts, non-disclosure agreements, and other legal forms.
However, given how the pros outweigh the cons, SmartSites deservedly ends up as the 2nd best digital marketing agency for local SEO on our list.
Straight North
Straight North’s team offers an expansive list of services ranging from search engine optimization and paid advertising to web design and creative solutions. Their featured list of clients includes Affy Tapple, Donnelley Financial Solutions, NAF NAF, Clover, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Straight North has thousands of successful local SEO campaigns under its belt, conducting both creative and highly technical solutions for businesses of all types and sizes. It employs a team of dedicated local SEO professionals, specializing in keyword research, technical optimization, Google Business Profile optimization, white-label backlinks, and local citations.
To keep things grounded, less than a handful of users weren’t entirely satisfied with Straight North’s PPC campaigns and thought the approach it used could’ve been better. However, the clients chose to run the PPC campaigns for a short duration, so their performance could be more indicative of the limited time frame rather than the quality of the campaigns.
Lastly, if you’re on the fence about using Straight North’s services, you can enter your URL, email, and name to get a free SEO audit of your site.
The Best SEO Services for One-Off Tasks, Audits, and Technical SEO
Agencies that deal with technical search engine optimization know the ins and outs of performing comprehensive site audits, identifying any underlying technical issues, and proposing solutions that match your budget.
This discipline can include both local and global SEO optimizations, while it mostly focuses on technical elements such as improving page speed, correctly indexing XML sitemaps, and optimizing the site architecture.
Technical SEO professionals usually come from coding or programming backgrounds, although they can also be creatives with an interest in problem-solving and have an enthusiasm for prolonged work with comprehensive spreadsheets and some experience with A/B testing as well.
On that note, here are our top three technical SEO company picks below.
Page Prosper
Page Prosper is a digital and creative marketing agency that enlists a crew of technical SEO, lead generation, and website design professionals with almost a decade of experience in their respective fields.
More extensively, their services encompass:
- Creating custom landing pages—conversion-friendly landing pages are key to any company’s success. They represent the first point of contact that prospective customers will see, therefore serving as a sort of billboard that should drive leads into your sales funnel if done right.
- Advertisement management—social media advertisement is getting more complex by the day, with organic search closely following suit. Page Prosper can create, optimize, and monitor your ads across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) integration—this agency uses high-level software whose functionalities include CRM, SMS, email, online scheduling, call recording, outbound calling, and campaign automation analysis and integration.
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO)—comprehensive A/B testing is an integral part of improving your landing page conversions, as well as getting more eyeballs back to your money-making pages. In turn, this strategy opens the door for achieving a realistic uptick in your return on investment (ROI).
- Website design—covers the implementation of technical fixes, SEO-friendly meta descriptions, innovative ad designs, and website copy that sells.
Page Prosper doesn’t require signing a legally binding, long-term contract to start collaborating on a project, and it offers a guarantee to continue working with its team members if you’re satisfied with its services or leave the agreement if you’re not.
This SEO company has been operating since 2016, so it could be considered to be the youngest agency on our list. However, its relative freshness could be also seen as a potential upside, as many clients could likely use a young and energetic agency to fulfill their SEO requirements and build strong partnerships that could last for many years in the future.
If this sounds like you, Page Prosper will likely be a good mutual fit.
WebFX
WebFX is a digital powerhouse that leverages data-driven marketing to improve your company’s chances of being seen by the right people, at the right time. Here’s a small taste of some organizations it has worked with in the past: HydroWorx, Centrak, KOA, and Net Friends, resulting in organic traffic boosts across all brands.
Furthermore, WebFX has been on the receiving end of a hefty amount of accolades from some of the biggest names in the industry, including nurturing long-term partnerships with Google Cloud, Shopify, Microsoft Advertising, Meta, and Amazon Ads. When it comes to services, the agency offers professional interventions, consultation, and technical fixes for digital advertising, organic search, ecommerce, and lead generation.
If you’re looking for downsides, you won’t find many within the working parameters of WebFX. However, the agency is expensive to work with if you decide to opt for two or more different programs like organic search and website design. In other words, the pricing plans could be reworked to offer smaller clients a chance to test out its services before fully committing to an extensive paid plan.
SmartBug Media
SmartBug Media is a quirky and smart digital agency that stands out from the other entries thanks to its creative approach to solving search challenges. Additionally, the organization has a dedicated team devoted to technical search optimization work, as reflected through their work with high-caliber names like Southern Nazarene University, TestMonitor, and MW Components.
SmartBug Media can help you with:
- Digital marketing—covers gathering leads, boosting conversions, and strengthening your brand’s authority
- Web content management—includes content creation, website management, and website design
- Technical SEO—consists of website architecture, URL health, proper redirections, website speed, and mobile responsiveness
On the more critical side, the strategies employed by SmartBug can take a while to materialize into tangible results. Then again, this fact rings true for all projects concerning technical SEO, so it’s no surprise that you need to have some amount of patience to see them through.
Hiring an SEO Company Isn’t a Magic Bullet to Page One Rankings
At this point, it’s important to note that search engine optimization takes time to implement and do well, so it’s not a strategy you would expect results from immediately the day after it’s been worked on for the first time. In fact, the best results happen when you’ve already gotten deep into the trenches of SEO yourself and know exactly what you need help with, knowing how to communicate your requirements and expectations to the agency. In other words, if you’re unfamiliar with how keyword research, rank tracking, link building, and other common SEO activities work, you’re likely not ready to outsource this part yet.
At a minimum, you need a general understanding of search marketing to see through the noise and to spot agencies, team members, or individuals who are pretending to know what they’re doing when in fact they don’t. The more you learn about SEO and the more you’ve done it yourself in practice, the better your relationship with your selected agency will be.
Lastly, make sure you’re operating on a healthy budget, especially if you’re ready to pay premium rates for the services of a more sought-after SEO company. Good marketers can easily make up to $100k per year, but the agency ends up costing roughly 30% more than that with included benefits and insurance on top. In this case, remember that you’ll be paying a portion of that person’s salary. However, since the agency also needs to make a profit, plan to add 50% on top of their base salary, and also try to consider the fact that multiple people will be working for you at once.
What to Look for When Hiring an SEO Agency
All the SEO companies we recommended are exceptional at what they do. They treat their employees well, which, more often than not, results in better project outputs. Additionally, these companies have been around for awhile, which is a testament to their longevity.
Still, apart from doing the pre-vetting to give you a good place to start, the real work is all the stuff we can’t do on your behalf, such as talking to an agency’s team members and assessing their compatibility with your project’s requirements.
With that said, here are some general pointers of the things you should look at when hiring an SEO agency, including what to avoid.
Treat it Like Hiring Someone to Join Your Team
Entering into a working partnership with talented professionals from an SEO company is like onboarding a new team member to join your business, and both should be treated as seriously as possible. You should ask them questions about their previous projects to get to know them better and make sure you’ll be a good mutual fit. In fact, if they’re any good, they’ll be posing the same questions back to you.
Get Clarity for Deliverables
The agency should be able to tell you exactly what you’re going to get for your budget. How many blog posts? What does the technical audit entrail? How big of a website and when? Whatever the project, the agency should be able to tell you exactly what you’re getting and when.
If deliverables are unclear, that’s a red flag. Great agencies go above and beyond to set perfectly clear expectations.
Get on the Same Page About How You’ll Work Together
You should be able to get the names of the exact people who will be working with you, if not from the initial introductory call, then from looking them up or talking to them directly before making any final decisions.
Additionally, ensure to ask how the process works, how much of their time will be dedicated to your business, and how you’ll communicate with each other to avoid future misunderstandings.
The more specific you can get with your questions, the easier it’ll be to tell if they’re a good fit.
Ask if They Can Guarantee Results
This one is a trick question. If you know anything about SEO, you’ll know it’s often unpredictable and nothing is guaranteed except, well, death, taxes, and backlinks breaking from time to time.
Joking aside, asking for guarantees is a good way to determine if the agency’s willing to lie to you to make you feel good. An experienced SEO agency should set clear expectations and not be afraid to say no to an unreasonable request like that.
Finally, don’t hire anyone who doesn’t hold themselves liable for organic lead conversions and direct sales. Unreliable SEO companies will try to impress you with questionable metrics like out-of-context impressions, website traffic for search queries having little impact on your brand, or the total number of ranking keywords. If you’re not getting leads, these metrics do nothing but serve as empty vanity metrics.