If you’ve ever scrolled across the mention of “marketing SEO agency,” and wondered at the differences from either a traditional marketing agency or an SEO agency, well, you’re not alone.
The following provides an easy overview of what they actually do, and more importantly, if you should hire one for your business.
A marketing SEO agency combines two activities that complement each other if performed well: ensuring your website shows up on Google (the SEO part) and making sure the rest of your marketing helps your cause (the marketing part).
Think about it: possibly, you can pay someone who specializes in SEO, bringing you to the top of the list for something like “garage doors Northampton.” However, if your site looks as outdated as something from 2003, and visitors have no idea what to do once they arrive, they won’t just be converting into customers; they’ll be converting into bounce-offs.
Conversely, while a conventional marketing agency may be successful in creating successful branding and running Facebook advertisements, forget that if you cannot be found with Google, you are missing the largest slice of the market.
A good marketing SEO company—to say the obvious—does both well: you rank high and you sell high.
What they actually spend their time doing
Let’s break it down, as marketing and SEO encompass a wide spectrum.
The SEO side:
Getting your site to show up in search results means fixing the technical basics (speed, mobile-friendliness, etc.), figuring out what people search for, crafting content around those things users search for, and earning authority from links and mentions.
For instance, a kitchen fitter in Northampton could aim to rank for terms such as “kitchen renovations Northampton,” “kitchen fitters near me,” or “bespoke kitchens Northamptonshire”—all the terms that customers might enter into Google under the influence after deciding they want a new kitchen.
The marketing side:
Ensuring that visitors take action when they land on your website. Book a consultation, request a quote, or give you a call. That’s conversion optimization—effective headlines, clear calls to action, good photos of your work, and real customer testimonials.
And then the overall marketing strategy. Maybe some email campaigns to past customers, maybe some social media, although the organic reach of Facebook has diminished somewhat, or some Google Ads to target people who are currently searching for this, while waiting for SEO to build up.
When It Makes Sense to Hire One
The truth is, you don’t always need a marketing SEO agency.
If you’re brand new and on a tight budget, it’s perfectly okay to teach yourself the basics until you’re able to afford one-on-one lessons or classes. There’s plenty of free information available (some of which is actually helpful) to get you off the ground: Optimize your Google Business Profile, throw up a simple site, gather reviews. This should keep you busy until about the first six months.
In certain niches, especially B2B niches, it may be the case that everything is done by referrals and business shows, and in this case, it is not worth investing in something you don’t need.
And yes, it does make sense in these situations:
- You’re getting visitors but not much interest in your business.
- Competitors are already dominating you on Google, and you are nowhere to be found locally.
- You’ve already tried doing it yourself for a while, and nothing is improving. Not because of low intelligence; it’s simply not your forte.
- You’re getting inquiries, but from the wrong audience.
- Your targeting is off.
The difference between a good one and a mediocre one
There are many marketing SEO agencies around. Some are great, while others are simply automated systems with some account management added for convenience.
What sets the good ones apart:
- Your targeting is off.
- They ask a whole lot of questions. Questions about your business, your customers, what you’ve attempted, what you’ve failed at, and what you want to achieve. They create a plan, not a package.
- They tell you what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. You should understand the strategy, although not necessarily the technical details.
- The metrics are meaningful. The results are things that matter, not just increases in traffic volume, but increases in qualified leads or sales.
- They’re honest about timelines. It takes months for SEO to develop, so if someone promises overnight success, be wary.
The local business angle
If you’re a local business like many SMEs within Northampton, for example, you want a agency that really gets local search.
Similarly, the essence of local SEO is not about the ranking on a national scale. Rather, the focus is on the Google business profile, citations, reviews, and geo-content, which should also be emphasized in the marketing campaign, including the work done in familiar local locations, testimonials mentioning specific home locations, and content about local service locations.
If they guarantee top rankings in national searches related to “builder” or “electrician” terms, then they probably can’t service your business. Everyone wants local calls, or at least local inquiries.
What it actually costs
Pricing can differ substantially based on various requirements, market competition, and scale.
For a local business looking for a good local SEO package, some tweaks to the website, and even managing Google Ads, the cost would be around £750-£1,500 a month from a decent agency. This would include content, technical issues, links, and even a reporting package for the month.
Anything less than that is usually a basic level, while anything more than that indicates a very competitive niche or a good volume of work.
One-off projects, such as rebuilding the whole website from scratch and enabling it to be SEO friendly or completing an audit and strategy, could be anything from £2,000 to £10,000.
If it feels like it’s worth it in terms of value for the things you’re receiving, then you’re obviously on the right track. If you’re paying £1,200 a month and receiving a report once a month, a couple of blog posts, and nothing physical, then something’s not right.
The working relationship
This is more important than you might think. There will be a need for constant communication between you (at least once a month), they’ll need access to your site and analytics, and they should want to understand your business.
If the initial vibe isn’t right, it only gets worse. You want someone who listens, understands your goals, and speaks plain English, not corporate-itis.
And it’s a collaboration. They’re going to need access to your own content, to customer feedback, to be sure they’re understanding what’s going on from a real-world perspective as opposed to what the numbers say. It’s not some kind of “here’s 1,000 quid, fix my rankings while I ignore your questions kind of deal.”
The DIY question
Can you do this for yourself?
Technically, yes. People do. But it takes time to learn, implement, and keep track of updates (Google updates things constantly).
If you are a one-man show or have a tiny team, chances are you are better off focusing on providing your service and getting paid for it, as against spending time learning technical SEO.
Well, if you have someone within your organization who can do it, then so be it, and you can train him or her or sign him or her up for a class. The reality, however, is that small businesses often realize economic benefits from
Making the decision
Here’s how I’d approach it:
The first step is defining exactly what your need really is. Is it visibility? Are you getting found but somehow failing to convert? Or are you getting found by the wrong customer? The problem is different from the solution. – “Get in touch with a few agencies, see who really listens and asks good questions, versus those agencies that only present the same old cookie-cutter packages.” – Check out their track record with firms similar to yours. An SEO agency that excels at e-commerce SEO work may not be the right choice for a small trades business, and vice versa. – Make sure you understand exactly what you are getting, what success looks like, and how long it should take. Then decide if the investment makes sense in your current situation. The answer may be yes, or it may be no – yet maybe the first thing to fix should be X. Either way, you’ve made an informed decision, as opposed to a panic decision due to a rival placing higher than yourself and your cold email being deleted due to your panic. This kind of clarity alone is worth more than most businesses realize.