What Is an SEO Company? (And What Do SEO Companies Do?)

Key Takeaways

• Definition: An SEO company performs search engine optimization services to improve a site’s visibility, traffic, and revenue from organic search results. Learn more →
• Benefits: SEO companies help businesses grow rankings, traffic, and revenue through audits, on-page optimizations, content creation, link building, keyword research, and more. Learn more →
• Cost: SEO services cost $2,500 per month, but it’s important to be cautious of cheap SEO scams. Learn more →

🎥Video: What SEO specialists do for businesses

What is an SEO company? Your timesaving, traffic-generating hero. Search engine optimization companies, better known as SEO agencies, help businesses generate more traffic from the web by improving the business’s visibility in organic search results on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Looking to learn more about SEO companies? Keep reading and get answers to:

• What is an SEO company?
• What does an SEO company do?
• How much does an SEO firm cost?
• What should an SEO firm’s services include?
• How do I find a top SEO agency to hire?

P.S. Want to learn how to improve your SEO rankings without an SEO company? Enter your URL here!

What is an SEO company?

An SEO company helps businesses grow rankings, traffic, and revenue from organic search. SEO companies perform multiple tasks to achieve these goals, including SEO audits, content creation, link building, keyword research, and technical optimizations.

When you partner with an SEO agency for SEO services, their goal is to make SEO work for you, like by:

• Ensuring search engines can crawl and index your website
• Targeting relevant keywords that attract qualified website traffic
• Optimizing website content for on-site SEO to improve search engine rankings
• Adapting SEO campaigns based on algorithm updates
• Providing recommendations for improving and scaling your SEO strategy

What does an SEO company do?

Search engine optimization is the optimization of a website to improve its online visibility in organic search engine results. With SEO services from an experienced SEO company, businesses get professional help developing, implementing, and optimizing an SEO campaign that generates visibility, traffic, and revenue.

SEO companies facilitate this by offering deliverables like:

• Traditional SEO, which optimizes your site for non-localized searches.
• Local SEO, which optimizes your site for local searches.
• Ecommerce SEO, which optimizes your site’s online store for search.
• Enterprise SEO, which optimizes your site for competitive keywords with high search volumes.
• Voice SEO, which optimizes your site for voice searches.
• SEO audits, which analyze your site for issues affecting its rankings.
• SEO consulting services, which assist during projects, like a website redesign.

Why do businesses use SEO services?

Businesses use SEO services to help them rank better in search results, appear in more AI responses, earn more website traffic, and ultimately drive more revenue. The reason they get SEO companies to help them with this instead of doing it all themselves is that SEO companies offer the following:

• Greater expertise from years of experience
• More time available to spend on the campaigns
• A larger team of SEO specialists
• Better SEO tools and resources

What is the workflow of an SEO agency?

The exact workflow of an SEO company varies from agency to agency. However, it will often look something like this:

1. Strategy and goal setting: The agency will work with you to define your goals and audience, setting the foundation for your campaigns.
2. Research and analysis: Your agency will conduct keyword research, competitor analysis, and an SEO audit to see what your current SEO landscape looks like.
3. Optimization and implementation: The agency will implement technical SEO fixes and create content for your website.
4. Off-page SEO and link building: The agency will work to earn you backlinks from trusted, relevant, third-party websites.
5. Monitoring and reporting: You’ll receive regular reports on the status of your SEO and the results the agency has been driving for you.

What are the benefits of hiring an SEO company?

Hiring an SEO company comes with several notable advantages over managing your SEO in-house, including:

• It gives you access to a higher degree of SEO expertise
• It puts your SEO in the hands of a larger team
• It ensures that more time is spent on your SEO
• It gives you access to better SEO tools and resources

All of those are things you might not get if you tried to handle your SEO all on your own.

How much does an SEO firm cost?

Pricing

Typically, SEO companies will cost $2,500 per month.

Typically, SEO companies will cost $2,500 per month. However, not all agencies charge by the month — some charge per project, while others charge based on the results driven.

The good news is, SEO delivers an average ROI of $22 for every $1 spent. So, the more you are able to invest, the higher your ROI will be on average.

In any case, how much an SEO firm costs depends on your business needs and your choice of agency. While you can find SEO firms for cheaper, you need to watch for SEO scams, which often lure businesses with the promise of cheap SEO services.

Some firm-related pricing factors include:

• Location
• Experience
• Deliverables
• Payment structure

Some business-related pricing factors include:

• Timeline
• Project scope
• Goals

Request a quote for the most accurate answer to how much SEO companies cost. After reviewing your request and speaking with your team, the agency will provide custom pricing — and a list of deliverables — that you can use to decide if this is the right SEO company for your business.

How do I choose an SEO company?

You know the definition of an SEO company, and now you want to hire one.

Hiring an SEO agency can take several months, especially if you need buy-in from other departments. However, educating yourself on how to choose an SEO company can help you find the best SEO service provider for your business.

To start with, you should make sure you only consider agencies that meet your requirements. Look for agencies that match your budget and work with businesses in your industry, for example.

Here are some additional tips for picking an SEO agency (for even more advice, read our SEO Hiring Guide):

• Outline your expectations: Get together with your stakeholders and determine what you want from an SEO firm. Do you want a company that can develop and execute? Are you looking for a firm to help with a specific project? How are you planning to measure their performance?
• Determine your budget: Before getting into discussions with an SEO service provider, determine your budget. How much is management willing to invest in SEO services? What do these services have to include for that budget to make sense?
• Ask your network for recommendations: Use your network connections for initial agency recommendations. They can help you build a list of companies to check out (or avoid), which can save you a tremendous amount of time.
• Review your candidate’s case studies: Look at case studies from your list of SEO candidates. How do they measure SEO results? What strategies do they use to achieve results? Why are clients happy with this agency? What SEO success have they had?
• Ask your top agencies for a meeting: Contact your top candidates and meet with them! How do they manage SEO projects? What is their SEO framework? How are they keeping ahead of the industry? You should also ask questions related to pricing, timelines, and deliverables.
• Get your custom proposal: Once you have a list of your favorite SEO companies, ask for a proposal. This proposal should include pricing, deliverables, and anything specific you and the agency discussed, like a requested task or start date.

If you go through the hiring process and haven’t found an agency you like, don’t settle. You want an SEO company you can trust with your site — and your business.

Keep looking and talking with agencies to find the best one for your business.

FAQs about SEO companies

Learn more about SEO companies (and even SEO) with these FAQs:

See what an SEO company can do for you

What is an SEO company? They’re your answer to capturing more traffic and revenue from the web.

With more than 30 years of experience (and more than $10 billion in revenue generated in the past five years for our clients), WebFX is a trusted choice for SEO services.

Whether you’re in need of Philadelphia SEO services, New York City SEO services, Tampa SEO services, or any other location in the world, we’ve got you covered.

So, if you’re looking for a custom strategy, diverse experts, and cutting-edge digital marketing technology, contact us online today!