Is this SEO Agency for you? [Infographic]

A study of 101 SEO Agencies in the UK by a leading Social Media company, Browser Media, gave some interesting insight into many of the SEO Agencies which reside in the UK.

The study entailed a one-on-one inspection of the the highest ranking SEO Agencies in the UK to determine the following:

1. Were they using the power of Social Media and Social Networking within their own agency?
2. When they did have a social presence, what kind of interaction did they have?

This study follows very closely with the many Google search updates (Google Panda) released in the last 12 months, as well as the predicted changes to occur in 2012.

The question you need to ask is, "Is my SEO Agency doing for themselves what Google requires of my website?"

The fact is, Google is ever evolving. The algorithm used to assign authority or rank to a website has changed, and changed because the way of the internet is changing. This requires SEO Agencies to change with it, because the successful SEO strategies of last year can in fact ruin your site ranking this year.

The value of this study by Browser Media is enormous, because it shows you the essential elements to look for when choosing an SEO Agency.

The question which you should ask yourself after reading this article is, "Is my SEO Agency doing for themselves what Google requires of all other websites?" If not, then you may have an SEO firm which is no longer with the times and is doing what is now called black hat SEO techniques.

What are Google Changing in their search method?

Google's changes for 2012 are summed up in one simple phrase:

For Google to love you, you must be loved by others.

This simple but juggernaut statement is the new foundation from which every SEO Company in the world needs to work from. This is the age of social interaction. On every corner of the web you will find social websites which allow people to "like", "recommend", "rate" or "share". And included now in Google popular analytics system is Social Statistics.

How many people have shared your content?
How many people have like your content?
How many people are discussing your content on social platforms? (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Stumble, Digg, Reddit and a hundred more)

Why is Social being given so much weight in rankings now?

The answer is simple. Because it is all in the hands of real people.

Who buys your products? Who wants your services? That's right - the people who are actually online and looking for a service or product to help them.

These 2012 Google changes have an additional purpose: To weed out the years of garbage content online which we all hate.

In previous years, to get good ranking, all you had to do was spew keyword padded content all over the web and get linked back to your site. This has resulted in the "top results" of searches showing garbled pages reading something like this:

Huh? Not only is it not informative, but it is rather annoying right? There is no communication. Of course Google still requires intelligent SEO copywriting so that they know what you are talking about, but until now this has been abused of.

Real people like, share and interact with things that are communicative. So the next rule for good SEO in 2012 is:

If you communicate to your viewers like a real person, you will be rewarded by Google.

In fact, Matt Cutts, head of Google's search department said early this year, "Our engineers are working on a new system where we will be able to detect if your content is communicated well - this addition to our search algorithm will be included very soon."

Summary

When looking for an SEO Agency, don't just listen to the hype and get bedazzled by the accreditations, take a look through their site and social profiles (if any) and see if this is how you would want your company reflected. Look through their portfolios and check their client's websites. A good SEO Agency, using contemporary techniques will reflect the above in their clients and themselves.

Credit to Browser Media for infographic