What Do You Need to Know Before You Buy SEO?

Posted on : June, 14 2021 Author : Serpclix 8 min read

A cursory search online will reveal thousands of articles that pitch SEO (search engine optimization) as the “secret sauce” or a “tailored solution” for websites that want to be more prominent in SERPs (search engine results pages) for relevant search keywords.

As you can appreciate, there are many facets to SEO. Before you buy SEO, it’s worth learning more about your options so that you can make an informed decision to buy SEO software or services. Here’s what you need to know on the subject:

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Is SEO Worth It in 2021?

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If you have a website for your business or organization, or you’ve got an online presence for your personal brand, you might be wondering whether SEO is worth it in 2021. After all, times are tough due to the economic fall-out caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plus, you don’t want to spend any money on marketing or advertising-related services and software unless they are essential. With that in mind, is SEO worth it in 2021? In short, the answer is yes. Here’s why:

Organic Traffic Is Still Important

Before paid online advertising became popular, web users looked for relevant content by querying a search engine like Google or Yahoo! and clicking on a relevant link. The thing is, organic traffic is still as important in 2021 as it was in 2001 and earlier.

Many, if not most, of today’s Internet users, have a basic understanding of how search engines work. They also understand that “sponsored,” or PPC (pay-per-click) ads are placements paid for by advertisers.

With those thoughts in mind, Internet users will often trust organic search results page links than sponsored ones. It’s also worth noting that many Internet users have ad-blocking browser extensions, so PPC ads might not even show up in search results.

Most Organic Traffic Occurs via a Web Search

Did you know that most website traffic occurs from organic web searches? A study from Brightside Research points out that just over 53% of all site traffic originates from an organic search in Google or other search engines.

That same study also concludes that organic search continues to dominate, despite more people visiting websites from other means like PPC advertising on search engines or other websites and organic search media links.

One of the reasons organic traffic is still the leader for link referrals is due to Google’s heavy investment in its search technology. As you’ve probably guessed, Google is the premier search engine, with a whopping 92% global market share.

SEO Helps Site Owners Create a Good User Experience

Another reason SEO is still worth it in 2021 is that it helps site owners create a good user experience. Google and other search engines include user experience as part of their search algorithms, and they can influence a link’s standing in relevant search engine results pages.

For example, Google announced in May 2020 that page experience has now become part of its ranking algorithm. The “signals” that form part of this algorithm update include page loading speed, interactivity, mobile-friendliness, and visual stability.

What that means for site owners is they have to ensure all page content makes sense to visitors and that it loads quickly and easily, both on desktop and mobile platforms. Essentially, SEO is helping site owners deliver a positive user experience.

If you don’t want your visitors to go elsewhere or complain about the quality of the content they view on your site, SEO is one way to keep your content in check.

How Much Does SEO Cost?

SEO is quite a broad topic and is a term that covers a range of techniques website owners can use to improve the perception of their sites to visitors and search engines alike. Because of that fact, there’s no single unit price you can attach to SEO.

The following explains some of the elements that form part of the overall cost of search engine optimization:

SEO Work Carried Out

One of the leading factors that influence the cost of SEO is the type of service you buy. As you can imagine, you can buy SEO software, or you can buy SEO links if you want to increase the number of external sites linking back to yours.

You can buy SEO services online tailored for specific purposes. However, the one fact that sets them all apart is what they offer for the money. Some companies provide managed solutions where they carry out various techniques on your behalf to improve your site’s SEO.

There are also various options available where you can apply a DIY approach to search engine optimization. For example, you can buy SEO tools that you run on your computer or in a web browser, and you do any on-site or off-site changes yourself.

Cost Structure

Another element that influences how much you pay for optimization is how you get charged when you buy SEO services. There are four main ways that you might get charged for any SEO work:

  1. One lump-sum price, applicable to both software and services;
  2. An hourly rate, if you work with a multi-technique SEO consultant or agency;
  3. An ongoing subscription where you pay per month, quarterly, or annually;
  4. A “freemium” cost structure, where you only pay for specific features.

There is also no set price for each type or category of SEO software or service that you use, so it can be tricky to determine an average cost given the different pricing models that every provider uses.

When considering the cost of buying SEO services, it’s also worth pointing out that the prices you pay could be subject to seasonal discounts or promotions.

Ongoing Costs

Lastly, ongoing costs can also influence the overall price of SEO and how much a website or project’s SEO is likely to cost. Many SEO service providers offer “maintenance” packages as search engine optimization is seldom a “fix it and forget it” technique.

A Guide to Buying SEO Services Online

When it comes to buying SEO services online, you might be unsure which options or techniques are right for you, your website, and your organization. The following is a breakdown of the types of SEO services that might benefit your website and business:

Website Redesign

It’s not just enough to have people visit your website. You must also keep them on your site and aim to have them follow your CTA (call-to-action). One of the ways to achieve that goal is with a clean, clear website design that works well on desktop and mobile platforms.

If you use a content management system like WordPress, you can have a custom “theme” designed for your website. Alternatively, it’s possible to buy off-the-shelf themes and customize them according to your requirements.

Content Creation

You might have a stunning website design, but what content have you got on there? If you’ve only got minimal or basic content, one SEO service that will be useful to you is content creation.

In a nutshell, this is where you hire a professional copywriter to curate relevant content that packs a punch and keeps your audience hooked. They can also write content around your CTAs, such as sign-up forms or “Buy Now” buttons.

Generally speaking, the more relevant content you’ve got on your website, the higher the likelihood of boosting organic clicks from search engines like Google.

Web Server Optimization

Another SEO service offered by many industry professionals is web server optimization. This is where the technical aspects of your hosting platform get tweaked and help improve the speed at which your content loads.

Examples of web server optimization services include enabling file compression, implementing a CDN (content delivery network), and stripping out unnecessary HTML code from your website pages.

Link Building

Having relevant links to your pages from high-quality websites is essential to boosting your organic SEO. Some optimization professionals offer a link-building service that helps you achieve that goal.

It’s crucial you avoid any blackhat SEO providers, as you’ll only get low-quality links, and they could even get your site penalized by Google. An SEO professional would approach the owners of high-quality sites and ask them to link to your site from relevant pages.

Never pay for backlinks, especially from providers that do not disclose the sites used.

Targeted Organic Traffic

Lastly, your SEO campaign should involve a targeted organic traffic service, such as what we offer at SerpClix. Part of Google’s algorithm for defining link placement on SERPs includes measuring the number of visits made from each link.

At SerpClix, we only use 100% real people to click on the desired links to your site from SERPs. There are no “bots” allowed or used, and our service ensures you have an increased CTR (click-through rate) to boost organic traffic from Google.

We have over 100,000 real human beings that help us provide this service, and you can choose clickers from any country or language.

Conclusion

The Internet is awash with SEO services. It makes sense to choose the right ones for your needs, and hopefully, with our handy guide above, you can select the best ones that offer excellent value for money.

Please note: there are no guarantees in search engine optimization, ever. There are innumerable factors that can affect search engine rankings. And, realistically, most sites should focus their efforts on traditional SEO before even thinking about using non-traditional techniques like SerpClix. All SEO efforts can involve an element of risk. Some techniques are certainly more risky than others. SerpClix employs real human clickers, so we think our service is far less risky than trying to use automated or robotic click methods. But, like all SEO strategies, there is an element of risk because Google’s algorithm is unknown and subject to change at any time. For more information please see our Buyer FAQs.

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