“Our company doesn’t appear in search results until page ten.”

“Our competitors are averaging thousands of dollars a month more than we are.”

Hundreds of small businesses are having these same issues. Worse, Google has made it increasingly difficult for SMBs and mid-sized businesses to outrank the “big guys” with million-dollar marketing budgets to spend on social media and advertising.

This is where the long game of search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. We advise clients to consider SEO as part of their marketing launch strategy. Optimizing their brand for SEO takes time, but it pays off in the long run.

Working with a B2B SEO agency early in your company’s life can also help with other aspects of your marketing strategy. It will help with site architecture, advertising, and finding and effectively communicating with your target audience.

Here’s how to work with a B2B SEO agency to ensure a successful partnership.

Define Your SEO Goals and Budget

It’s crucial that you set your goals. Specific, measurable goals provide a solid foundation for your B2B SEO strategy and help the agency tailor its efforts to your business needs.

Set Measurable SEO Objectives Before You Choose An Agency

Are you looking to increase organic traffic, improve lead generation, boost your brand visibility, or rank higher for specific keywords? Be specific. For example, set a goal: "I want to increase organic traffic by 30% over the next six months.”

Clear objectives help agencies understand what success looks like for you and enables them to create a roadmap.

Your SEO goals will align with broader business outcomes, so you must understand your goals before contacting potential agencies. They’ll align their SEO recommendations and strategy with your business objectives.

Establish a Realistic B2B SEO Budget

The backbone of B2B SEO is textual content. Text content includes:

Written content for your website
Advertising
Social media
Email
Landing pages
Blogs
Articles on websites other than yours
Video and podcast transcripts

It can also include offline writing, such as handouts during events or trade show marketing materials.

Your agency will have SEO packages based on how much content you’ll need them to produce monthly. Other factors affecting your monthly costs are the number of backlinks obtained and any pre-agreed-upon technical SEO updates.

So, you’ll want to plan ahead if you need content for events, marketing, or advertising campaigns. Or, if you want to build your company website’s content library, you can agree on a production schedule that works for you and the B2B SEO agency.

You’ll also need to determine your business's financial health to ensure you can afford to work with a B2B SEO agency for the long term.

Finally, you must understand the cost of SEO vs. postponing it. This is a good place to learn about brand building, how search engines view brands, and how SEO agencies will help with brand building.

Based on your budget, you can choose an SEO agency that fits your budget and needs.

Establish Clear Communication Channels

Clear and consistent communication channels ensure both parties are aligned, informed, and able to collaborate effectively. Clear communication also prevents mishaps and provides agility because search engine algorithms change frequently with little warning, and strategies may need sudden adjustment.

Here’s how to set up clear communication channels:

Define the Preferred Communication Methods and frequency to avoid any potential misunderstandings.
Set Up Regular Check-ins and Updates with your SEO agency to review progress, discuss challenges, and refine strategies. Do not skip these, even if the allotted time is unnecessary.
Use Collaborative Tools for Transparency to keep all stakeholders informed. This could be Slack or Google Chat. Instant messaging apps are highly effective and helpful.
Encourage Open Dialogue and Feedback. Let your agency know that you value their expertise and are open to hearing ideas, even if they challenge your assumptions or current content marketing practices and understanding. At the same time, provide constructive feedback when needed to keep the project aligned with your goals.
5. Ensure Reporting is Consistent so you begin to understand the impact of the SEO efforts and make data-driven decisions.

With clear communication channels, you can ensure that your SEO agency and you work in sync to achieve your business objectives.

Understand the Agency’s SEO Strategy and Tactics

SEO and content marketing involve a technical understanding of search engine algorithms, data analysis skills, an understanding of internet users, and logic and reasoning to create a content strategy. However, anyone with the time and interest can learn these skills.

Most SEOs and content marketers have honed these skills for years, but don’t be intimidated; anyone with the time and determination can learn. Keep this in mind when you start working with an SEO agency, and pick one that appreciates your willingness to learn.

Asking for explanations of the agency’s strategy and tactics allows you to learn terminology and concepts. Understanding these elements gives you an idea of how the agency tackles SEO and how these efforts will contribute to your overall goals.

We suggest asking these questions early:

Ask For an Overview and Explanation of Their Core SEO Strategies

These may include:

On-page SEO (optimizing content and meta tags),
Off-page SEO (building backlinks),
Technical SEO (improving website speed, mobile-friendliness, and site architecture),
Content marketing (creating valuable content to attract and engage your target audience).

These terms are used when an agency pitches its services and when a master services agreement or statement of work is created. Each involves smaller steps and skills that can become quite time-consuming, so feel free to dig into the details early.

Ask About Their Tactics and Implementation Plans

When you’re comfortable with the basics, delve deeper into the specific tactics the agency intends to use.

For example, ask how they will conduct keyword research and which tools they will use to identify high-value opportunities. Find out their link-building approach—are they relying on quality content to earn backlinks organically, or are they using outreach campaigns to gain links from reputable websites?

Understanding these tactics will help you assess whether their methods are ethical, effective, and aligned with your brand values.

Understand Their Approach to Content and Keywords

Content and keywords are at the heart of any SEO strategy. Finding them involves data analysis and a bit of psychology, and most agencies use one or more keyword tools that deliver data on how users access information in search engines. They’ll create a list of keywords relevant to your business and use them to create relevant content.

So, you’ll want to ask how the agency handles content creation and optimization.

Will they create new content, repurpose existing content, or both?
How do they plan to use keywords throughout your content, and how do they approach balancing keyword density with readability and user experience?

Clarifying these points will help you align the agency’s content strategy with your brand’s voice and objectives.

By understanding the agency’s SEO strategy and tactics, you position yourself as an informed partner who can effectively collaborate, ask the right questions, and ensure the strategy drives the desired results for your business.

Foster a Long-Term, Collaborative Relationship

This statement is important:

SEO is not a one-time project; it requires ongoing effort, adaptation, and collaboration.

Here’s how to foster a productive, lasting relationship with your SEO agency.

Treat the Agency as an Extension of Your Team. Involve them in your business discussions, share your company’s vision, and keep them updated on any changes in your strategic direction.
Maintain Open and Continuous Communication. Encourage honest dialogue where both parties feel comfortable sharing insights and concerns.
Be Patient. Understand the nature of SEO means that it is a long-term content strategy, not a quick fix, and it can take several months to see significant results, especially in competitive markets.
Commit to a Long-Term Partnership for Continuous Improvement because search engine algorithms constantly evolve, competitors change tactics, and your business goals may shift. A committed, long-term relationship allows for deeper understanding, more innovative strategies, and, ultimately, greater success.
Celebrate Wins and Learn from Challenges Together, whether it’s a jump in keyword rankings, increased traffic, or improved conversion rates.

The most successful B2B SEO campaigns occur when businesses view their B2B SEO agency as a part of their company that is interested in and focused on achieving the same goals. The good news is that working with an outside agency is more cost-effective than hiring an entire team in-house.

Important Points to Remember

The most important takeaways are:

SEO takes time, so form a relationship with a B2B SEO agency that you feel comfortable collaborating with.
SEO isn’t rocket science, so don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. A good agency will ensure you understand what it’s doing.

If you’re curious about creating a B2B SEO strategy for your small or mid-sized business, schedule a discovery session with Penpixel Creative here.

How To Work With a B2B SEO Agency