I have had experience working in a small interactive marketing agency working with various Fortune 500 level clients. As you may or may not know I have been working on the ‘client” side over the last six months and have learned quite a bit.

 For all SEOs who make this move, understand that what you delivered while working on the agency side is much different than what you receive on the client side. However, having this experience helps immensely for obvious and not so obvious reasons. You have the knowledge of what your expecting from your agency, and when the agency falls down, you see very quickly their weaknesses and can very easily assess whether what they deliver is really contributing to your new company’s ROI. That is your new job as the client side SEO.

Over time I have become very dissatisfied with the agency of record, which shall remain nameless. The bi-weekly reports lack substance or strategy, no gap analysis has ever been done, keywords purchased with no logic or intelligence behind the choices. 

There are quite a few “top agencies” best of the best, whatever, bottom line is you need smart people within your team who have experience and time to dedicate to your account. Monthly management fees are expensive when you get little more than a PDF document show lackluster results and an account manager reading off exactly what you see on the sheet, adding no helpful talking points, or next steps.

 When you vet your agency, you should keep a few things in mind:

 Speak to those who will be working on your account

1. Speak to other clients, not necessarily the list they give you and ask what their expectations were and if their team has met those.
2. Do not begin any work unless a well thought out strategy has been put in place and everyone on your team is keyed in and has a clear understanding as to what they will expect.
3. Do not sign an agreement that doesn’t allow you out of the contract if you find that your not getting what your paying for.

 There are many other aspects I have not mentioned, but if you have had experience working for an agency it should do you well in your client side endeavors. Use your experiences and leverage your past mistakes to make you’re a better SEO for your company.