When a company is growing for the first time, it makes sense to hire an external agency. You need help quickly and don’t have time to build your own team. You need a machine that is up and running, so it makes sense to turn to this third-party agency (even if only for a short time). Here’s where the tricky part comes in: you can either hire an SEO agency or a content marketing agency, or try to find one that claims to be both.
What’s so difficult about this concept is the idea that the two are often used synonymously, so many business owners don’t even realize there’s a difference. Once you learn this, it hits you like a ton of bricks: How do I find out which agency will deliver the best results for my business?
SEO Agency or Content Marketing Agency: The Differences and Why They Matter
Before weighing the pros and cons of each type of agency, you first need to understand how they differ (and how they are similar). Below are the definitions of the two different types of companies:
- SEO Agency. These agencies typically focus on data and metrics in the search world. It’s about calculating visibility and traffic and finding trends in searcher behavior so the company can create the best possible content. SEO agencies spend a lot of time completing keyword research to understand how a piece of content is optimized to appear at the top of a Google SERP (usually based on search volume and competition of specific terms/phrases).
- Content Marketing Agency. A content marketing agency thinks about your business and how it’s structured (e.g., buying cycle) and writes content based on what will most help your audience. The focus is not so much on search analysis, but on how things are written and why they are written that way (hint: articles are written to encourage engagement and education). In many cases, a content marketing agency goes to great lengths to truly market this content and make it the most relevant. This also means offline efforts.
What exactly are the differences? The main difference is that SEO makes its decisions based on search-driven data and analytics, whereas a content marketing agency makes its decisions based on more audience-driven data and general knowledge of content creation.
And what about the similarities? Both agencies use data to create the best possible content. In fact, SEO and content marketing should work together because they overlap. The data an SEO agency finds should be able to help content marketers and vice versa. Does this mean your company should hire both an SEO agency and a content marketing agency? Not necessarily.
How to determine the right agency for your company, service, and product
What type of agency you hire depends (obviously) on your company’s needs. In most cases, the job of a content marketing agency comes first. You want to understand your audience and the buying cycle and figure out how to create amazing content. After that, you want your content to really get noticed, and that’s where SEO comes in.
Agency is agency? Not really! A few things to consider
First, as explained above, there are many different companies and types of businesses you can work with for online marketing. SEO and content marketing are not your only choice; they are just two options that are often mistakenly merged into one. Second, it makes sense to either A) use an SEO agency and a content marketing agency or B) use an agency that claims to provide both SEO and content marketing services.
The difference between a digital marketing and an SEO agency
Both agencies work in the online space and strive to help your business grow by generating digital leads. Of course, your business will also gain more visibility as the agency opens up a targeted online audience for you.
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An average American spends 24 hours online weekly. In other words, there are numerous people online, and you can leverage these numbers to turn them into loyal customers. Although the scope of work for digital marketing and SEO agencies is the same, they target different regions.
Digital is the umbrella term for everything related to the internet. This includes internet ads, social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, and so on. For this reason, a digital marketing agency covers the digital zone, as the name suggests.
On the other hand, an SEO agency deals only with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is about getting your company page to the top of the search engine results page. In simple words, when you Google something, some results are displayed above others.
Your goal is top positioning in the browser. If you’re at the online party, you might as well take the front row. An SEO agency can therefore help you get a VIP position for the SERPs. However, you need to know that the SEO agency doesn’t just do that. Agencies may or may not offer content marketing services. But a digital marketing agency covers everything, including SEO, video advertising, Facebook advertising, email marketing, and mobile marketing, among others.
What does an SEO agency do?
An SEO company, unlike a digital marketing agency, has a very limited scope of work. It focuses on increasing the visibility of your business. Simply put, SEO strategists work to rank your business high in the SERPs. As a result, traffic to your website increases.
With the increase in traffic, your brand gains awareness and leads, which in turn can lead to an increase in your sales. A higher ranking in the search engine also increases the credibility of your company.
Some of the tasks that an SEO agency covers include:
- On-page optimization
On-page optimization refers to polishing your website’s content to make it search engine friendly. To this end, the agency may or may not provide you with content services, but will give you a list of keywords to add to your web content to improve ranking. - Keyword research for better ranking
SEO agencies conduct comprehensive keyword research according to your industry and help you identify these keywords specifically, so that your business appears in browsers when people search for them. Keywords are essentially the search terms that people enter into the search engine’s search box. The agency searches for these keywords and helps your business position itself accordingly in the browser. - Local SEO
You will be surprised that 97% of people search for local businesses according to HubSpot. In addition, 46% of all Google queries are for local information. If your business focuses on a specific region, an SEO agency will help you generate more leads and sales.
An SEO company and search engine optimization provider optimizes your website and webshop for both online and local visitors, so that you can generate more sales/leads and new customers.
In addition to these important tasks, an SEO agency also takes care of all the important details of improved search engine ranking, such as obtaining backlinks for your website.
What does a Digital Marketing Agency do?
The scope of work for a digital marketing agency is much broader than that of an SEO agency. It also addresses improved search engine rankings. Some of the main areas such an agency covers include:
- Facebook Advertising
An estimated 2.7 billion people use Facebook, making it a goldmine for leads for your business. By using its targeting features, an agency can help you leverage the platform for lead generation based on location, income, status updates, gender, education level, and more. - Mobile Marketing
Approximately 60% of searches are now conducted on mobile devices. Of these, 78% of local mobile searches culminate in offline purchases. A digital marketing agency can help your business leverage mobile marketing to your advantage by employing methods such as in-app advertising, YouTube ads, and more. - Email Marketing
For every dollar invested in email marketing, there is a return of $38. For this reason, email marketing is lauded as one of the best ways to achieve a significant ROI. An internet marketing agency can help you build and segment your email list, and also engage your target audience. - Content Marketing
A survey by the Custom Content Council found that 72% of marketers rated content marketing as having a better return on investment than magazine advertising. In the same survey, 69% of marketers also agreed that it is more effective than PR. In just three months of content marketing, ADP, a provider of outsourcing solutions for businesses, generated new leads that converted into $1 million in sales opportunities. This is where a digital marketing agency can help you.
In addition, digital marketing agencies also cover other services such as Google AdWords, SEO, and video advertising. Google AdWords helps to attract the audience’s attention by planning advertising campaigns. Furthermore, 80% of global internet users are expected to consume videos in the current year. An agency can help you reach a wider audience through video advertising.
Simply put, a digital marketing agency covers the vast ocean of the internet, including SEO. An SEO agency, however, focuses only on the sea of search engines, boosting your business page’s ranking for more traffic and leads. This distinguishes a digital marketing company from an SEO agency.
Or a SEO consultant?
SEO consultants (or groups of consultants) offer a more specialized and holistic service. They provide general advice, share techniques, and train you in specific SEO strategies. On the other hand, SEO agencies offer more general digital services but specialize in SEO. They usually work on a project basis and specialize in large or long-term projects.
While both SEO agencies and consultants can help improve your ranking and overall search performance, the methods by which each company operates, provides services, and charges fees differ.
Regardless of which option you choose, it is important to know that SEO requires patience, especially when it comes to long-term organic search optimization. You will not hire a consultant or agency and immediately become the top result on Google for relevant keyword searches.
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