How to Get SEO Clients: 6 Proven Ways & Tips to Grow Your Client Base
Ever feel like your SEO agency is getting lost in the crowd?
With so many businesses now realizing the importance of ranking high in search results, the demand for SEO services is through the roof. That’s obviously great news for SEO agencies—except it means you’re up against a lot of competition. It’s not enough to just be good at SEO anymore; you’ve got to know how to attract and keep your clients.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- The global market for SEO services was valued at $43.3 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $170 billion by 2028, showcasing immense growth opportunities.
- Top-ranking pages on Google have 3.8 times more backlinks than lower-ranking pages, emphasizing the importance of backlink strategies in SEO audits.
- The SEO industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% between 2023 and 2032, making strategic collaborations vital for agency growth.
- The #1 result in Google gets approximately 27.6% of all clicks.
- Google is responsible for 57.8% of the web traffic worldwide.
- Small businesses in the U.S. spend an average of $497.16 per month on SEO services, reflecting their willingness to invest in measurable results.
- LinkedIn, with over 65 million business decision-makers and a network spanning 1 billion members globally, is an ideal platform for networking and hosting webinars to build authority in the SEO field.
As the market expands, so does the need for SEO agencies to differentiate themselves and implement strategies to both attract and retain clients.
What’s Inside?
- How to Land SEO Clients: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Finding the Right Marketplaces: Where to Be Seen
- Offering Free SEO Audits: The Key to Opening Conversations
- Partnering with Web Development Agencies: A Strategic Collaboration
- Networking in Industry-Specific Events: Building Relationships That Matter
- Identifying Your Ideal Client: The Foundation of Success
- Hosting Educational Webinars: Positioning Yourself as an Industry Expert
- How to Get More SEO Clients (Opportunities with Cross-Selling)
How to Land SEO Clients: A Step-by-Step Guide
Yes, you should be providing great service. It’s the key answer to how to get seo clients for your digital marketing agency; however, you should also know where and how to get SEO clients by reaching the right audience.
You might be just starting out or looking to expand, but the key to both is strategically positioning your agency in front of businesses actively seeking SEO services. The following list breaks down the most effective steps to help you both find SEO clients and turn them into long-term partners.
1. Finding the Right Marketplaces: Where to Be Seen
If you’re serious about attracting clients, you need to be where they are searching for your services. To get clients for SEO business, one of the effective ways is to have a strong profile on related platforms.
The SEO & Internet Marketing Consultants industry had a market size of £19.2 billion in 2023, with a compound growth rate of 11.2% over five years. This demonstrates the growing demand for SEO services and highlights the importance of establishing a visible presence on relevant platforms. While also a hub for businesses looking for SEO services, marketplaces also provide a field for agencies of all sizes to introduce their agency and expertise, whether it’s an SEO agency in London or located elsewhere.
📌 Choose the Right Platforms: Not all marketplaces are created equal. We recommend focusing on those that cater specifically to your businesses looking for SEO services. Evaluate which marketplace aligns best with your target clients. If you have a specific industry that you specialize in, perhaps you can try to find a platform that also caters to an audience in that specific niche.
For example, if you’re an expert on healthcare SEO, you might want to consider having a profile in a platform where they focus on the healthcare industry as well.
📌 Optimize Your Agency Profile: Your profile should do more than just list your services. In fact, you should be able to use it as a mini-website that highlights your unique value proposition. This can include niche expertise, your successful case studies with results for different clients, and maybe even client testimonials. Thus, finding a platform that can offer you to have a strong profile might be the go-to option.
📌 Engage Actively: Don’t just set up your profile and leave it, though. It’s equally important to update it with new case studies and content. Also, if the platform offers community engagement activities, participate in those! These actions are the ones that can set you apart from other agencies, including the top SEO companies in your field.
📌 Reviews and Ratings: Most of these platforms display agency reviews and ratings. Obviously, the first step you should take is to choose one that does provide ratings for your agency. But more importantly, you must encourage your clients to leave detailed reviews on your marketplace profiles or Google reviews. High ratings and positive feedback increase your credibility and can lead to higher visibility within the platform’s search results.
2. Offering Free SEO Audits: The Key to Opening Conversations
You already probably know that offering free SEO audits can be meaningful when thinking about how to find new SEO clients. But to make free SEO audits effective, you need to go beyond the basics. Thus, we recommend that instead of delivering a standard analysis, focus on what really matters to each client. According to Backlinko, top-ranking pages on Google have 3.8 times more backlinks than lower-ranked pages. By offering a free audit that highlights such critical opportunities, you can immediately showcase the value your agency brings.
Is their site speed dragging down their performance? Are they missing out on key opportunities to rank?
When you provide insights that lead to quick wins, like improving on-page SEO or optimizing keywords, you’re doing more than just giving them a report, instead you show them what’s possible with your help.
3. Partnering with Web Development Agencies: A Strategic Collaboration
Growing your client base is never easy, but partnering with web development agencies is a smart way to expand your reach. Since they often work with companies or brands that need help building or updating their websites, web development agencies are a good fit for agencies like yours. By working together, you can create opportunities for both of you.
Instead of just trading referrals, perhaps you can think about offering combined services. You could team up to create packages that include both web development and SEO, or you could work on case studies together that show how well your partnership works.
4. Networking in Industry-Specific Events: Building Relationships That Matter
Connecting with potential clients online is important, but sometimes, meeting face-to-face at industry-specific events can make a bigger impact. SEO or digital marketing-related conferences are great opportunities to build relationships and network with people. Also, LinkedIn is a great place to build relationships – your answer to how to find SEO clients online. LinkedIn reports there are over 65 million business decision-makers on its platform, emphasizing the immense networking potential both online and offline!
Though, your goal to attend these events shouldn’t just be about promoting your services. Instead, we recommend you focus on engaging in genuine conversations and sharing useful insights. Your aim should be to position your agency as a reliable and knowledgeable resource in the SEO field when participating in a panel or mingling during a networking session.
5. Identifying Your Ideal Client: The Foundation of Success
Before you start attracting clients, the first thing you need to do is to clearly identify who your ideal client is.
Why?
Because knowing exactly who you’re targeting – it could be a small business, eCommerce companies etc. – helps you to craft messaging, strategies, and services that directly resonate with their specific needs.
When you know your ideal client, you can speak their language and address their challenges. If you understand their pain points, goals, and motivations, you create detailed buyer personas more easily. For example, if you’re focusing on eCommerce businesses, you can highlight your approach and ability to boost their online sales through advanced SEO strategies.
6. Hosting Educational Webinars: Positioning Yourself as an Industry Expert
Another effective way to attract clients can be hosting educational webinars. With these events you can share your expertise, yes. But you can also have the opportunity to solve real problems for your audience and prove to them exactly how you can help.
You might wonder why this matters. Trust is an important element of SEO because, to many, it can seem like an abstract concept. While we know SEO is grounded in real results, your potential clients might not see it that way. A webinar is your opportunity to both educate and prove your value in a concrete, understandable way. Webinars also give you a chance to directly interact with the audience. Sometimes, real-time engagement is way better than dull emails or blog posts.
How to Get More SEO Clients (Opportunities with Cross-Selling)
Expanding your client base doesn’t always mean finding new businesses. Sometimes, the best opportunities are with your current clients.
Many businesses focus on a single SEO service—like on-page optimization—without exploring what else they need to maximize results. By offering additional services that complement their current strategy, you can create more value for your clients, which means to get more seo clients, while strengthening your partnership.
1. Explore Opportunities for Improvement
Look for areas in their SEO strategy that could use additional support. For instance:
👉A client relying on on-page SEO might benefit from a link-building campaign to improve domain authority.
👉If they’re targeting keywords effectively but haven’t considered local visibility, suggest optimizing their Google My Business profile or other local SEO initiatives.
👉A business with strong technical SEO may need a content marketing plan to attract more traffic and engage their audience.
These suggestions should come from a detailed analysis of their current efforts and future goals.
2. Present Clear, Practical Recommendations
Instead of overwhelming clients with multiple options, focus on a specific next step that aligns with their priorities.
For example, during a progress review, you might suggest adding high-quality backlinks to support their existing keyword strategy. Using data or a simple example can help them understand the impact of expanding their efforts.
3. Simplify Decisions with Bundled Services
Sometimes, clients don’t want to pick individual services. They want a comprehensive plan. Bundling related offerings makes it easier for them to move forward.
For instance, combine keyword optimization with content updates and a technical audit into one package. This approach is straightforward and shows that you’re thinking holistically about their needs.
4. Stay Consistent with Communication
Regular updates and follow-ups are key.
During check-ins, highlight what’s been achieved so far and recommend logical next steps. For example, if your on-page SEO work has improved their rankings, talk about how adding targeted backlinks can help maintain that momentum. These conversations build trust and make it clear that you’re invested in their success.
Conclusion: A Roadmap to Success
Running an SEO agency today isn’t easy with so many other competitors. But the thing is it’s more important to have meaningful conversations rather than having the loudest voice. When you think about it you’ll realize that SEO clients are looking for more than just another service provider – they’re looking for a partner who can understand their challenges and guide them through the complexities of SEO with confidence.
Take the insights you’ve gathered above and put them into action; they’ll guide you on how to get clients for SEO business. Don’t be afraid to tweak and refine your approach as you go.
And here’s an actionable step: don’t let this be just another article you read. Pick one strategy, implement it this week, and see the difference it makes. Whether it’s planning to host a webinar to address client pain points or joining a platform to build an agency profile, take that step!
Your future clients are waiting for the expertise only you can provide. So, go out there, and show them what sets your SEO agency apart.
