Big SEO Agency vs Small SEO Agency: Does Bigger Mean Better?

Every single day, over 3.5 billion search queries are typed into Google. These search queries typically consist of common medical questions, videos of cute dog fails, celebrity deaths (Kardashians yet?) and even searches for businesses that can help the search user with everyday life. With this, comes the need for SEO. With this, comes the need for SEO. To sum it up in the most blatant words, Search Engine Optimization consist of feeding the search engine algorithms the metrics it uses to rank websites for related search terms. We could get more technical into what SEO is and how proper authority is built, but ain't nobody got time for that! Since the dot-com boom and the mainstream necessity of the online world, having that ever desiring online visibility has never been more important. To be harsh, if you do not have a successful online presence, your business will fail to grow. For this reason, it is typically an extremely wise choice to enlist the help of an SEO company. When you begin searching for an SEO company, you may run into When you begin searching for an SEO company, you may run into the various type of "agencies". As the owner of a highly successful SEO/Marketing agency, one of the big issues we typically notice among prospective clients is whether they prefer the big agency or the smaller agency. Over the course of this post, we are going to dive into the pros & cons of the big SEO agency and if it is the right fit for you.

Big National SEO Agencies: What To Expect

I am not going to be naming company names here, but we are all aware of the big national agencies. Moreover, what I am going to mention may not be the case for all big SEO agencies, this is just a collection of my thoughts after speaking with these companies, as well as prospective clients that were dissatisfied with the big wigs.

Transparency

Now, with these types of SEO agencies, you are either going to get full transparency or none at all. With full transparency, they will be detailing everything they do for you on a monthly basis. They will tell you how many manual hours were put into your campaign and send you extremely detailed

With full transparency, they will be detailing everything they do for you on a monthly basis. They will tell you how many manual hours were put into your campaign and send you extremely detailed 20-page reports. The issue with this is in regards to what you are getting during your campaign.

See, the biggest issue I notice among not only SEO companies but also SEO specialist is that they fail to evolve. SEO is ever-changing, and the Google algorithm updates & filters are kind of like Natural Selection. Companies that fail to adapt and grow their philosophies on SEO will simply be weeded out of the industry. This is further enforced by Google algorithm filters such as Panda & Penguin.

With full transparency, you will most likely notice some really old school tactics being used, including but not limited to, social bookmarks, massive search engine submissions, link directory submissions, spammy blog comments, nonauthoritative web 2.0's and much more. Are these the type of methods that get results? Ehhhh, 99% unlikely.

On the other hand, companies that keep everything from you a secret could be doing 1 of 2 things.

a. They are doing absolutely nothing, zilch, nada! They are taking your money and are refusing to show you the work being done because there simply is no work being done. They do this for a few months then accept that you will mostly likely cancel once your crappy contract ends, and they are happy because they had 00% profit margins.

b. Blackhat methods are being performed; Methods which are highly known to cause trouble to your websites. There are many many free SEO methods available on the web, but the question is, are these methods that actually work and raise the authority of your website? Most likely not and you will probably be sent into the Google penalty box.

Multiple Departments

When I first started my SEO agency, I inquired with the big wigs to see what would turn me off as a prospective client. What I have found was multiple departments not working synergistically to provide a successful SEO campaign.

They had the sales team, whose main mission was to collect commission and make that sale. They did not know much about SEO aside from the obvious script that they have learned. The had a writing team, which is a team that I personally praise, as valuable content is the forefront of a proper SEO strategy. They have a team of link builders, which primarily publish content on the web for each and every client, not taking into consideration the industry the client is in and how every industry reacts separately on the web. They have a customer service team which is unsure about what's going on anywhere and have the typically generic replies of "I do apologize for the inconvenience".

I rarely find that these departments work directly with each other with the clients' best interest in mind. I have heard stories of clients asking their service rep about one thing and then replied, "Oh, I am sorry. I did not know they did that. Let's fix it up!"

Contracts

Why? Just why?

Why is it necessary to lock-in a client into a contract? The SEO agencies services should be so good that they trust their customers will retain their services because they are getting great results.

One of the reasons why I believe many big SEO agencies require their clients sign a contract is for profit margins. Whether an SEO company provides the results or not, they are still going to get paid. This means that they are guaranteed to make $x/month, increasing their profit margins.

Budget/Cost of Services

Typically, big name SEO companies have much lower costs of services than the traditional local SEO company. At some big names, you can expect to pay anywhere from $200-$700/month for an SEO campaign. This ties into what I mentioned above in regards to contracts. Most of these agencies are looking into profits versus actually providing the most valuable service online. SEO agencies that aim to get quantity over quality will most likely make you regret the decision of hiring them for your SEO services.

Years back, a successful SEO campaign was as easy as pushing a button. At a time, you were able to build as many backlinks to your website as possible, with the text of that link being the primary search term you are aiming to target. There was software specially created for this, and this method is widely frowned upon, because frankly, it is super spammy.

This does not mean that you have to pay over $1k/month for a successful SEO campaign. It just ties into the old saying, "you get what you pay for!"

Does This Mean You Should Stay Away From The Big Names?

Absolutely not!

This post may come off as a hatred towards the big SEO agencies, but that is not intended. We are all too familiar with being scammed online and when it comes to SEO, there is no guarantee of results. Just be sure to perform your due diligence when researching the right company for you. Many big SEO agencies continually provide amazing results for their clients and can be trusted to the fullest extent.

To keep it simple, if you are trying to promote your local business online, Google the top SEO agency in your city. If an agency can rank their SEO site #1 in their city, a term which other SEO companies are fighting for, then they can surely provide you the results you need.

As an active member of the SEO community, I work diligently to bring a good name to SEO consultants. A name which has unfortunately been tarnished due to scammers, spammers and people who just fail to update themselves with the current practices of SEO.

About Jason Berkowitz — Jason is an online marketing/SEO consultant based out of New York City. Having been in the industry since 2010, Jason has formulated various styles of marketing & SEO to help him teach hundreds of up & coming SEO specialist in NYC each year. Jason has also spoken at various conferences and seminars, including The Small Business Expo.Aside from owning his own highly successful agency in NY, SEO Services New York, Jason has just launched his new agency, Break The Web, which will aim to provide a wide variety of marketing services to business in need of that online presence. You can reach Jason on LinkedIn.