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Search engine optimization has become one of the most important channels in online marketing. So it's no wonder that digital marketing agency services have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years: The market is flooded with service providers - both good and bad. How can you find the right SEO agency there ?

We at SEO-Vergleich.de have taken on this challenge and made it our task to support and support you as a company in your search for good SEO advice. With well over 600 listed SEO agencies , clear profiles with detailed agency presentations and a large number of filter options, we enable you to better compare the players relevant on the market.

Behind SEO-Vergleich.de as a neutral platform are the two brothers Christopher and Alexander Walz , who founded the portal in 2018 and have since built it into what is probably the most important brokerage portal for SEO services. With the annual publication of our visibility study , our SEO contest , which was carried out for the first time in 2020, and our agency awards, the SEO-Vergleich.de brand has established itself in the SEO industry in a short time.

Why search engine optimization is so important

We are often asked by companies whether search engine optimization would be worthwhile at all. Our answer to this is always the same: Anyone who takes search engine optimization seriously with a good SEO advertising agency, has a little patience and is willing to make an advance financial contribution, will almost always pay off the work on their own Google rankings. In our eyes, SEO is the most important channel in online marketing , maybe even the most important channel in modern marketing at all.

Every day in Germany millions and millions of searches are carried out online via the market leader Google. Whether searching for a product, information or a local business on site - search engines have become indispensable for us humans. But the competition in the search results is strong, because only the first 10 results on Google count , as many studies have already confirmed. If you land on page 2 in the search results with your website, you can't hope for a large number of visitors.

Search engine optimization is extremely complex , however , because many factors from different areas of knowledge play a role in the success of SEO optimization. However, with a suitable SEO company and the right SEO strategy, you can face this challenge and play at the very top of Google search results.

The 3 most important SEO ranking factors on Google & Co.

What know-how does a good SEO agency need to position itself successfully on Google in comparison to other SEO companies? Basically, we differentiate between three different areas that can affect the rankings in Google & Co.:

Technical ranking factors: SEO is often categorized as a technical marketing discipline. Questions about, for example, page speed, indexing or the URL structure are in the foreground. Technical SEO is an important part of the SEO strategy, but you cannot achieve top rankings with that alone. Technical ranking factors deserve attention, but your SEO strategy will fail without considering the following two areas.

Content as a ranking factor: The focus of all SEO measures should be on content creation. High-quality, unique content in text, image, video and audio format, which is perfectly tailored to the needs of the user, is a prerequisite for top positions on Google. The basis for such content is extensive keyword research, which aims to find and define relevant search queries for one's own target group. A content marketing agency , for example, can support professional content creation .

Backlinks as a ranking factor: Backlinks, i.e. links that refer to your own website from third parties, are still no less relevant than Google ranking factors. Google evaluates this as a kind of recommendation, which has a positive effect on the rankings of your own website. Compared to before, the quality of the backlinks in particular has gained in importance: Natural references from relevant, trustworthy and strong sites bring a ranking push - in contrast, inferior spam links can in the worst case even have the opposite effect. Anyone who needs help in this area should approach a link building agency that specializes in link building .

SEO companies or SEO freelancers who can demonstrate know-how and experience in all three areas should therefore be your first point of contact when optimizing your website.

Everything that belongs to good SEO advice

Have you decided on a suitable SEO agency on our platform and are wondering what the next steps are? As a rule, all search engine optimization agencies proceed similarly and are based on the model described below:

As-is analysis: The first step is to examine the status quo of the website to be optimized and the corresponding competitive environment as part of an SEO audit, taking into account all important SEO aspects. These include in particular:

SEO strategy & catalog of measures: Based on the analysis of the current situation, you develop a strategy together with your SEO agency that should help to achieve the previously defined SEO goals. Once the SEO strategy is in place, specific measures must be defined.

Ongoing support: Only now does the operative search engine optimization begin. The specified measures are implemented month after month, including mainly:

Monitoring and reporting: Regular monitoring is part of good search engine optimization. The task of your SEO provider is to monitor the measures taken and to check whether the previously defined goals have been achieved. Monthly reporting for the customer is also part of this.

Ranking analysis: Which rankings already exist and with which keywords can I be found where?

On-page analysis: what about the technical ranking factors? Where was good work done and in which areas is there some catching up to do?

Backlink analysis: what about my current backlink profile? Is there already a good foundation or are there even harmful backlinks?

Competition analysis: How strong is the competition in my industry from an SEO perspective? Am I doing well or badly compared to my main competitors?

Keyword research: At the very beginning of the operational work, search queries must be defined with which you want to be found on your own website.

Implementation of the technical aspects: The problem areas found in the on-page analysis must be resolved and optimization carried out.

Content creation: A large part of operational search engine optimization consists of the creation of high-quality content and the optimization of existing content.

Backlink building: Gaining new backlinks can be an important task for your SEO agency, depending on the industry. In some circumstances, inferior spam links must also be canceled.

As you can see: SEO is more complex than some might think. The procedure described here applies to classic SEO support, but can differ from it in other circumstances. If the main task of your SEO agency is, for example, Google News optimization, relaunch support or content marketing , a different procedure can be useful.

How Do I Know the Best SEO Agencies?

When looking for the best SEO agency for you, there are a multitude of criteria that you should consider in your research. With the following list we have created an initial overview for you:

References: Check the SEO references on the website of the potential SEO firm. If you have appropriate SEO tools at your disposal, you can even track the development of the Google visibility of the reference pages since optimization began. If in doubt, a call to the reference company can be useful, as a personal conversation usually quickly shows whether the SEO agency has done a good job.

SEO certifications: In the SEO industry, the BVDW (Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft) issues the most important certifications. SEO service providers who have signed the Code of Conduct for Search Engine Optimization as a voluntary commitment or have even been awarded the SEO quality certificate can usually be shown to have a certain degree of trust. But cooperation with such SEO agencies should also be carefully checked beforehand.

Qualification of employees: Whether on the agency website or in a personal conversation: Try to find out more about the qualifications of the employees involved. In addition to special training in online marketing and SEO, the amount of experience you have gained plays an important role.

SEO tools used: Search engine optimization without high level SEO tools is an impossibility. Therefore, find out which tools your potential SEO marketing agency is working with. If this is only free software, you should question the work of the service provider. Because top SEO agencies also work with the top tools.

Visibility of the agency website: Even if it shouldn't be a decisive criterion: An examination of the website of the potential SEO agency for their rankings can also provide information on their know-how. If the website is found well, the agency seems to have mastered its craft. If the visibility is low, talk about this in person and ask why. Not every SEO agency needs to optimize its own website, as customer acquisition works, for example, via recommendation marketing.

Personal interview: None of the above criteria can replace a personal interview. Get to know the responsible employees by phone or, ideally, even on site and check whether the chemistry between you is right. A professionally good agency will not help you if the interpersonal does not fit.

Whether references, certifications or the visibility of the agency website - SEO-Vergleich.de provides you with all this information so that you can easily compare the SEO agencies.

SEO costs: What SEO costs at a search engine optimization agency

There is no general answer to the question of the costs of search engine optimization. A variety of factors play a role in influencing the price of SEO :

Status quo of the website

Industry environment and competitive situation

Local, national or international optimization goals

Scope of the keyword set to be optimized

Distribution of tasks: What is done in-house, what does the SEO company take over?

Agency or freelancer hourly rates

Most agencies bill according to the hours worked, others put together packages with clearly defined services at a fixed price. Success-based billing is also a model that some agencies offer. If certain ranking positions or a certain traffic level are reached, then a success payment is due. Regardless of which compensation model you choose: The hourly rates of SEO service providers are usually around 75 to 150 euros, depending on experience and existing specialist knowledge.

But what costs can actually be expected? In the first step, a distinction should be made between one-off costs for creating the as-is analysis and developing an SEO strategy and the ongoing support costs, which are to be paid monthly:

One-off costs at the beginning: From approx. 1,500 euros up to 10,000 euros, depending on the scope

Ongoing care costs: starting at 500 euros per month up to 5,000 euros or even higher

This cost overview may seem frightening to one or the other due to the amount. But an investment in SEO should never be viewed in isolation, rather the added value achieved should always be included in the approach. And here applies: If search engine optimization is implemented correctly by your SEO agency, SEO is probably one of the most efficient online channels .

How long does SEO take with an SEO company?

Search engine optimization is probably not the way to go for anyone who hopes for quick success in online marketing. Because with SEO you should always be patient. Depending on the level of optimization, the competitive situation and the time invested, the first major positive ranking developments can be expected after around three months after the start of the SEO consultation. Sometimes it can take up to a year to achieve SEO success.

The cooperation with an SEO agency should therefore be designed for a longer period of time. Depending on the scope of the project, at least six months is recommended, but companies often work with your SEO company for years. Such cooperation can become costly over time, but the success of a successful SEO consultation speaks for itself.

If you would like to achieve the first results tomorrow, for example because you want to advertise a special offer, then you should use other channels. Google Ads would be such a channel, through which large streams of visitors can be directed to your website very quickly. An SEA campaign is ideally created in a few hours by a capable Google Ads agency , but costs you more money in the long term than a well-run SEO campaign.

SEO tools: compulsory for SEO agencies and companies

With or without an SEO agency: If you want to successfully operate search engine optimization, you should use various SEO tools. There are now hundreds of different SEO programs on the market , which often differ from one another in terms of functionality, but can basically be classified into these categories:

Ranking tools : If you want to keep an eye on your own Google rankings, you can use a ranking tool. In addition to the temporal ranking development of individual keywords, the development of the entire website visibility can usually also be traced.

Keyword tools : A good keyword research without a keyword tool is not possible. Find the right keywords and also take a look at the top keywords of the competition.

On-page tools : To optimize technical ranking factors, an on-page tool is a must for every SEO agency. As part of a comprehensive on-page analysis, the entire website is crawled and examined for SEO errors and optimization potential.

Backlink tools : A backlink tool is the right choice to keep an eye on your own backlinks and build new references at the same time. You can even use it to analyze the backlinks of competing websites and find untapped potential for your off-page SEO.

The SEO tools available on the market can often be assigned to one of the categories mentioned, while other SEO software is referred to as an all-rounder tool, as it covers all essential tool functions. Our SEO tool comparison also offers a good overview of the best programs - a test of the programs listed there is worthwhile!

Let's go: find the right SEO agency now