This is the right question to ask and it is usually answered by looking at the agency rather than at the business. Whether hiring is sensible depends on four facts you can establish yourself in an afternoon: whether anybody is searching for what you sell, what a customer is worth, whether you could serve more of them, and how hard the competition is. If any of the four goes the wrong way, the best agency in the country cannot help you.
Is anybody actually searching for what you sell
Some things are bought without being searched for: genuinely new products, purchases made through relationships, categories where a marketplace takes all the demand. If there is little search volume for the problem you solve, search work cannot create it and the money belongs in a channel where the audience is. This is the first check and it disqualifies more businesses than any other.
What is a customer worth over their lifetime
Average value, repeat rate and how long they stay. If a customer is worth a modest one-off amount, the arithmetic of a monthly retainer rarely works, whatever the traffic does. If a customer is worth thousands and stays for years, quite a lot of spending is justified. Most businesses can produce this number in an hour and very few bring it to the first agency meeting.
Could you serve more customers if you had them
If you are booked for four months, more enquiries produce annoyed people and a worse reputation, and the useful work is raising prices or adding capacity. Marketing spend against a capacity constraint is a common and expensive error, and an agency will rarely be the one to raise it. Check your own diary before you check anybody's proposal.
How hard is the competition, honestly
Search the three things you most want to be found for and look at who is there. If the first page is national brands, marketplaces and directories, a small business is not going to displace them and the winnable ground is narrower and more specific. That does not mean do nothing; it means the plan should aim at what can be won rather than at the obvious phrase.
If three of four are yes, hire; if not, spend elsewhere
Real demand, a customer worth having, capacity to serve them and a winnable position is the case for hiring, and it is a strong one. Missing any of those is a reason to fix that first. The honest answer for a fair number of businesses is not yet, and an agency that tells you so is worth remembering for when the answer changes.
Questions people ask about should i hire seo company
How do I know if SEO is worth it for my business?
Check four things: whether people search for what you sell, what a customer is worth, whether you could serve more, and how hard the competition is. Three of four positive is a strong case for hiring.
Can I do it myself instead?
The basics, yes, and for many small local businesses the basics are most of the available gain: an accurate profile, a real page per service, and a routine for asking customers for reviews. Hiring makes sense beyond that.
What if we are already at capacity?
Then more enquiries make things worse, and the useful moves are raising prices or adding capacity. Marketing against a capacity constraint is common and expensive, and an agency will rarely raise it for you.
What if the first page is all national brands?
Then the obvious phrase is not winnable and the plan should aim at narrower, more specific ground where you can actually compete. That is a real strategy rather than a consolation.