When looking for an SEO agency to help you work on your digital marketing, it can be difficult to know where to begin. For example, what constitutes a reliable SEO firm? And if you are based in New York City, should you hire a local agency? Does proximity matter or can you work with an overseas agency and get similar results? Read on and we’ll tell you everything you need to know…
Does proximity to your agency matter in SEO?
So, does proximity matter? Do you need to be close to your SEO agency to get the results you need? The short answer is no. It really does not matter where your SEO firm is located – so long as they are the real deal.
If you take your time, do your due diligence, and invest only in a reputable SEO agency that has plenty of 5* reviews, loads of social proof, and all-manner of real life case studies for you to review, then their location really does not matter.
They could be on the moon and it wouldn’t matter – so long as they are delivering you the results that you need. If your hard-earned cash is being invested well and you climb the rankings for the most relevant keywords and thus start making a sustainable ROI, that’s all that you need to concern yourself with.
What are the benefits of being close to your SEO agency?
All that being said, just because being close to your SEO agency isn’t a deal-breaker, that’s not to say that there aren’t any benefits to proximity. For example, if you are based in NYC and you look for SEO services in New York City, you could benefit from the following:
- Face to face consultations: it’s definitely not the be all and end all, particularly given how powerful video conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) and collaboration software is nowadays, however, being able to sit face to face with your prospective SEO agency and look them in the eye before signing on the dotted line and parting with your cash certainly can’t hurt.
- No time difference complications: another benefit to being in the same location as your SEO firm is the fact that you are working in the same time zone. For example, if you are NYC based and you invest in an agency in Melbourne, Australia, you’ll be about 14-hours behind. While this isn’t necessarily the end of the world and there are many awesome tools you can use to overcome it, it’s much preferable to be (more or less) on the same working day schedule.
- Local knowledge: it doesn’t matter how good a writer is, it’s hard to beat content written about a specific location by someone who was born and raised there. For example, if you are working on your local SEO in NYC, there’s a good chance that an SEO agency based in New York will have a competitive edge over an overseas agency due to the fact that they have a deeper understanding of the location and its residents. Then again, it’s nothing that a little research and input on your part can’t fix.
Conclusion: Reputation and results trumps location
While it can be argued that there are some benefits to being close to your chosen SEO agency, it’s not enough to trump reputation and results.
In other words, don’t get too caught up in being in the same location as your SEO agency that you end up making costly sacrifices.
Instead, shop on reputation and results: find an agency that has tonnes of social proof and a multitude of happy clients who will happily testify to their ability to deliver superior, long-lasting results.
Do that, and you’ll have no trouble smashing your SEO and outperforming the competition.
