1. Are they a Google Premier Partner?
A Google Premier Partner satisfies Google’s stringent requirements by proving they can deliver Google-certified service and support to many business clients.
Engage a company displaying the Google Premier Partner website badge and you can expect a return on your investment. They specialise in advertising without guesswork. And you would get an advertising solution customised for your business.
A Google Premier Partner would exploit keywords and best placements to target audiences for your products and services. Their marketing campaigns would be optimised to increase brand awareness and foster better customer relationships.
2. Do they offer cross-device lead tracking?
Tracking interactions is vital now that consumers use multiple devices to get online.
User behaviour differs, depending on the device (channel) used. Advertising to prospective customers on mobile devices needs to be relevant and targeted, given the small timeframe open for interaction.
Better engagement happens when messages are created specific to the channel being viewed.
Cross-device lead tracking reveals channel preferences and helps determine how channels can best be used to convert visitors to buyers. Taking in channel preferences leads to more useful client profiles and fewer wasted page views.
3. Do they give monthly reports?
Without proper reports, how would you know the results of your SEO and online marketing efforts or which keywords are working for you? How would you know what’s needed to tweak your SEO campaign for success?
A Google Premier Partner will gather data from several sources (e.g. Google Analytics) to provide easy-to-understand snapshots of current performance and reveal trends that are expected to improve over time.
A good report will show you how many visits your website gets and the interactions made. Among other things, you’d see the average time a visitor spends at your website, as well as the number of visitors who ‘convert’—that is, perform an action on your website, such as subscribing via a form or completing an online transaction.
You could also learn which of your web pages gets the most attention in search results. High performing pages can then be optimised to convert more visitors to customers. Similarly, under-performing pages can be updated or refocused.
4. Do they track calls?
When it comes to seeing how well your ads are doing, call conversion tracking shows the phone calls generated from your website.
This tracking reveals which specific keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns are leading to call conversions.
5. Do they offer a live results dashboard?
With a live results dashboard, you can instantly check the progress of your goals, your views and your active user rates.
A live results dashboard gives you a great vantage point to make decisions about your products and services. It helps you make informed decisions about your prices and stock levels.
It enables you to incorporate data-driven workflows in your business.
The insights you gain will also enable you to refine your marketing in response to factors such as age, gender, what your visitors are buying, and more.
6. Are they contactable for discussion?
A Google Premier Partner is invariably strong on communication. Theirs is a business based on fast turnaround with decisions and acting quickly with changes or additions.
7. Do they have a local search marketing specialist in your area?
Local search marketing is targeted and timely. When people search for a business, they do so at moment they need it. It doesn’t get much more personalised than that.
Close to half of all Google search queries have “local intent,” with searchers focusing on what’s nearby. It’s increasingly about “near me” searches local intent.
Local SEO helps you promote to customers within a geographic area.
8. Do they have experience in online marketing?
Online marketing done right, will boost your brand’s reach, search visibility, conversion rates and ROI (Return On Investment).
A good marketing strategy will create a strong online presence and build relationships with all who come into contact with your brand. It will reflect who you are and what you stand for.
Aside from your Google Premier Partner’s cutting edge online marketing skills, another bonus is their exposure to a wide range of industries. It could work in your favour, for example, to know that your industry responds well to infographics; likewise that videos work particularly well for conversions.
9. Do they have good reviews?
Reviews—along with testimonials and case studies—provide an insight into the level of expertise, as well as the customer care, your potential Google Partner is offering.
Under Australian law, it is a breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to publish fake or misleading reviews. The ACCC regards as misleading, paid reviews and reviews that are not genuinely-held opinions.
Learn more: Only Review Best Practices
It can be deemed misleading if a review is presented as impartial but is written by the reviewed business, a competitor, someone paid to write the review who has not used the product, or someone who has used the product and who has written an inflated review for financial or non-financial benefit.
10. Do they have case studies and client testimonials?
The question on everyone’s lips, before hiring a service, is: “How do I know my money will be well spent?” It’s in your interest to learn what an online marketing or SEO service has previously done for businesses similar to yours.
You can learn a lot from listening to them describe their best client experience and their worst client experience. Importantly with the latter, how they handled it and how they’ve improved since.
A Google Premier Partner will be able to talk freely about their background, experience, successes and failures.