It’s easy to think that SEO work — whether it’s doing the work yourself or working with an SEO agency — will result in a boost in search engine rankings immediately. The truth is far different, as solid SEO work does not happen overnight. Effective search engine optimization strategy is a process that involves multiple steps; each of these steps needs to be executed flawlessly in order for real improvements in search engine rankings to occur.

A cornerstone of much of this early work will be the “under the hood” work that goes into ensuring that a site is ready to be indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. This infrastructure work is far from sexy and it won’t lead to immediate results but making sure that issues such as broken links, site maps and redirects are in place are critical if any future progress is going to be made in implementing an SEO campaign.

If you are doing your own SEO work on your site, there’s a good chance that you’ll be overwhelmed at some point with the sheer amount of behind the scenes work that needs to go into getting a website completely ready for search engine optimization. In many cases, it makes sense to work with an SEO agency like eVisible, which has helped countless companies get through the initial steps needed to launch an SEO campaign. SEO firms understand the challenges of improving a website’s infrastructure and working with one from the start can help you to avoid some of the common pitfalls that can delay positive ranking results.

If you have made the decision to work with an SEO agency, it’s important to have patience through the early steps of the campaign as the firm deals with the infrastructure of your site. The changes that need to be made in order to make a site SEO friendly often can’t happen in a few weeks. It may take several weeks or even months before it’s time to develop content that will improve your search engine ranking. Having a plan in place from the start with your SEO firm that has a timeline with set deadlines will help you make sure your agency is staying on track while alleviating your concerns.

As Google and other search engines change their algorithms and refine the ways that they present search engine results, outsiders might think that SEO isn’t as important as it once was. After all, many of the strategies to boost search engine rankings no longer work under the new methods used by search engines. Some people might believe that this means that the amount of influence that an SEO expert can have over a company’s online success has been greatly diminished.

In fact, the opposite might be true. In many ways, it takes an SEO expert to fully understand the possibilities that exist for online marketing through search engine optimization. By utilizing a complete online marketing strategy that ties SEO into aspects such as social media, public relations and advertising, an SEO expert can still play a major role in shaping and perfecting a company’s online marketing efforts.

There are many ways that an SEO expert can provide unique value to a business:

Develop a strategy to boost search traffic. SEO agencies can draw from their experience to understand how similar businesses in a particular industries have failed or succeeded with organic search marketing. They can then use this knowledge to craft a unique strategy based on the strengths of their client.

Help convert visitors into revenue. It’s one thing to get people to your site; it’s another to have them become customers. Having a solid landing page and eCommerce setup can make this happen.

Identify and target the right keywords for a campaign. It’s still critical to identify the keywords and phrases that will attract the attention of your potential customers. The fact that Google has restricted access to referral data complicates things for non-SEO experts.

Assist with reputation management. An SEO expert is the right person to handle a situation when negative links are appearing highly in search results.

Fix lost traffic issues. When a site’s traffic numbers suddenly drop, it’s usually for a reason. An SEO expert can diagnose if there is a technical problem or other issue that is leading to a drop off in visitors. An SEO expert can also perform an audit at any time to find problems such as slow loading times or incorrect sitemaps that could be hampering overall traffic.

Leverage every outlet to spread content. You need to consider every possible outlet to get your message across and reach potential customers. SEO experts can utilize search engines, social media sites, content marketing opportunities and more to get people to know about your site.