Ben Goodman
Search Engine Optimisation remains an important channel for businesses looking to generate organic visibility, qualified traffic and leads.
With so many SEO agencies and consultants in the market, however, how can you determine which company has the expertise, processes and transparency required to support your business? Here are five questions to ask before choosing an SEO company in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
1. How do they rank?
How an SEO company performs in search can provide one indication of its capabilities. Search for relevant terms around its services and market to understand its own organic visibility. However, rankings alone should not determine your decision. Ask for relevant case studies, examples of previous work and measurable results from businesses with similar objectives, industries or markets.
2. Who will work on your account?
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SEO staff - A long time ago, Search Engine Optimisation would have been performed by one person with the tasks of structure and link building. This has changed wildly. Now the optimisation task has so many facets. You should be asking them who works for your account and what their roles are. Some key people are:
- SEO strategists
- Technical SEO specialists
- Content and SEO specialists
- Web developers
- Analytics and conversion specialists
Also ask who will actually be carrying out the work and where the team supporting your account is based. For businesses targeting Dubai, Abu Dhabi or the wider UAE, local market knowledge, search behaviour and language requirements can be important.
Whether work is completed in-house or with specialist partners, the agency should be transparent about who is responsible for your account and demonstrate that the team understands your target market.
3. What else are they talking to you about?
The processes involved in this technique span many mediums and platforms. At the very least, they should be talking to you about:
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Technical SEO – Can the agency identify and address issues affecting crawling, indexing, website architecture, internal linking and site performance? SEO should go beyond keywords and content alone.
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Mobile responsive websites & Website experience – Your website should work effectively across devices and make it easy for users to navigate, access content and complete important actions.
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Blogging & Content strategy – How will the agency identify what your audience is searching for and create or improve content that genuinely addresses those needs?
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Conversion - leads are nothing without conversion. Even if you drive thousands of people to your website, if they don't convert into sales, then what is the point? How is your agency converting your website traffic into leads?
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PPC - Although this won't impact your organic SEO rankings, search engine marketing works hand in hand with organic search. This can get you some quick wins (traffic and lead generation) and can compliment your other activities.
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AI search visibility – Can the agency explain how its SEO strategy supports visibility across evolving search experiences such as Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode? Any AEO or GEO recommendations should be grounded in established search best practices rather than promises of shortcuts.
4. What practices do they use?
SEO blackhat techniques
I mentioned earlier the sharks. Be careful here because many companies are being punished for the work that their agencies have performed. Google can reduce the visibility of websites that use 'black hat' techniques or violate its spam policies, and serious violations may also result in manual actions. How much would that cost your business?
The irony of this is that the very companies that have used these risky tactics are offering services to fix them, making you pay for their bad mistakes.
5. Are they talking to you about content marketing?
Organic search is an ever-evolving discipline, and Content Marketing remains an important part of the SEO world. This practice involves not only helping people find you through useful content, but also reaching and nurturing potential customers throughout their decision-making journey.
To find out more about Content Marketing, read this /content-marketing-does-it-work-in-dubai-abu-dhabi-and-the-uae
And finally...
Be careful when choosing the company that will help you get found on search engines. Poor SEO practices can cost you more than you bargained for. Make sure to ask these questions and choose someone who will act as your go-to digital partner rather than becoming a costly mistake. Need help choosing the right SEO approach for your business? Speak to NEXA’s SEO specialists to discuss a strategy built around your goals, market, and long-term growth.
