Search Engine People

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Marketing Manager of Homesalive.ca

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Premium pet supplies retailer servicing Canadian pet owners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Search Engine People to accomplish?

• Enhance our e-comm and content SEO strategy

SOLUTION

How did you find Search Engine People?

Online Search

Why did you select Search Engine People over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Search Engine People were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

After auditing our existing SEO strategy and overall site performance, SEP helped us identify areas of opportunity and supported us in targeting keywords and optimizing pages that have the largest impact on click rate and conversion. SEP has contributed to improved organic rankings and traffic for our core keywords through on-page improvements, growing our backlink profile, and assisting with local SEO campaigns to support our brick-and-mortar visibility in our target markets. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have seen a noticeable improvement in overall organic rankings for branded and non-branded keywords leading to an increase in traffic and revenue.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team is responsive and provides consistent and up-to-date reporting. They consistently modify and personalize our reports to help us identify successes and areas of opportunity. Brian and Alistair are always willing to research and provide helpful feedback and recommendations on the fly and come prepared to meetings with updated metrics and highlights of our progress so far.

What was your primary form of communication with Search Engine People?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team is great at troubleshooting and providing fast and helpful recommendations as we try to diversify our SEO strategy.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Search Engine People could have done differently?

We focused a lot on YoY growth in our reporting this year, which is great, but we did end up pushing for a more granular style of reporting so that we can keep a closer eye on trends and competitor movements. I think it comes down to understanding that different types of businesses and industries have to measure success and monitor growth a little differently. That being said, SEP was very good about helping us customize our reporting to help us track indicators that can easily get lost in the natural ebb and flow of SEO in our industry.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Fractional CMO of Think Mitch Think

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I am a fractional CMO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Search Engine People to accomplish?

• Rank in Top 5 position in Canada and US for our top 5 non-branded keywords

SOLUTION

How did you find Search Engine People?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Search Engine People over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Demonstrated that they understood our core challenge and provided outstanding communication

How many teammates from Search Engine People were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

As a fractional CMO I brought in SEP to very specifically help my client get into Top 5 ranking position in Canada and the US for our top 5 non-branded keywords.  This was the driving goal of all our actions.
As our website was extremely well laid out and technically strong, their primary role was aggressively building out backlinks for us.  They also provided very detailed recommendations for us to take to optimize our core landing pages where most of the backlinks would point.  
Specifically, they delivered detailed on-page optimization recommendations for the 4 core backlink pages as well as 8 other pages on our site and have delivered over 80 backlinks for us.
The goal was to get to Page 1 position in 4 months and Top 5 position in 6 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

All of their reporting, backlinking and on-site optimization recommendations were delivered on time as planned and in an extremely thoughtful way.   
Importantly, we are tracking exactly against our goals/targets as we see our rankings move up from the depths of search towards the first page (we had a long way to go in a competitive space).

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They had a fantastic spreasheet that covered every section of their work, their outcomes and links to other important documents.  It was obvious that this was a system that has been developed over time as it was very well thought out and easy to use.
The spreadsheet included a blocking chart that showed their deliverables and due dates for each month - marketing them from red to green once they were completed.
Every one of their items were delivered on time as promised.  They were also extremely responsive to all of our questions and occassional needs to move calls.  They never missed a call or ever failed to respond to any email or message in an extremely timely and helpful manner.

What was your primary form of communication with Search Engine People?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What was most impressive was their willingness to stay lazer focused with us on the outcomes, vs just the deliverables.  They were very happy to be accountable, along with us, for the impact of thier work vs just getting their jobs done.
They were also just a lot of fun to work with as people. It's always nice to work with friendly people who obviously care about your results and who do great work on time and on plan.  Alistair and Brian were our key reps and they were fantastic.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Search Engine People could have done differently?

Anything I would say for improvement would just be a niggle - overall it was a great experience from A to Z.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of Fragrance Canada

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Fragrance Canada is Canada's Largest Online Fragrance Distributor Offering Wholesale Prices Direct To Consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Search Engine People to accomplish?

• Organic Ranking
• E-Commerce Traffic
• More Sales

SOLUTION

How did you find Search Engine People?

Online Search

Why did you select Search Engine People over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Search Engine People were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Search Engine People helped us optimize our product pages brand pages and other seo strategies for us to organically rank higher. They also provide banklinking services and other various strategies which are ongoing monthly helping us rank higher organically.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Monthly increase in traffic and sales. Continued growth in all aspects month over month compared to previous year since we began our partnership. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Response times are same day. SEO takes some time to see results but after a few months results spoke for themselves as sales and traffic organially grew. We are ranking on first page for many keywords and brands. 

What was your primary form of communication with Search Engine People?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The results and their professionalism are impressive. Monthly meetings showing results is what we were looking for and what they have delivered. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Search Engine People could have done differently?

We are very happy with the way things have gone and could not ask for more. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President, National Business Development Leader of Aon

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Aon is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Search Engine People to accomplish?

• Drive brand awareness
• Market the Personal Lines offering
• Increase new business revenue

SOLUTION

How did you find Search Engine People?

• Online Search
• Other

Why did you select Search Engine People over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from Search Engine People were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We have been working with SEP to drive brand awareness and increase new business sales.   We are and continue to implement targetted strategies for brand awareness, group and program awareness as well as drive personal lines awareness.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• the amount of impressions delivered, high CTR's and conversions

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Everything has been delivered on time.  The are helpful with working with our internal teams to get tracking set up, etc.

What was your primary form of communication with Search Engine People?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I'm impressed by Search Engine People's knowledge of our industry.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Search Engine People could have done differently?

2024 was a year where we pivoted from the norm an were and still are figuring out our overall strategy.   We hope to have direction in 2025 to deliver positive impact and results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Digital Marketing Specialist of a Saas company. We are Intuitive mobile forms for a deeply connected field team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Search Engine People?

Our company has been working with SEP for the past 7 years. They helped us grow and manage our PPC and SEO ever since. They advise us on how to adapt and change. The goal is to get high quality leads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I was not part of the selection for this vendor.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

During my time working with SEP, they helped us with new ideas. Geo location, retargeting, Google responsive ads, etc. Always with creative ideas and keeping up with the trends.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with Alex our account manager and Chetan the campaign manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A great outcome from a project is able to separate competitor campaign with high performers and low performances resulting into a low Cost per a conversion.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Alex and Chetan are great to work with. We used teams for quick response. We also use Google sheet to track all of the projects.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What is the most unique about this company is how it is a Canada-based company with great people!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Something they can improve on is proactively new ideas for projects, double checking all of the work because at the beginning there was a lot of errors that happened.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Marketing & Communications Manager for a financial services business, and I have been building our digital strategy with SEP for nearly 10 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Search Engine People, and what were your goals?

We were at the point of growing our business nation wide and needed a full digital services agency to support our SEO, CRO and PPC goals to help us grow online.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

After having multiple meetings with the onboarding coordinator, we were excited to jump into a relationship with SEP, knowing their background, goals and professionalism.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

SEP helped us build out a new brand SEO plan that would span across several years. Down the road they introduced CRO strategies onto our customer facing digital platform to help us with our customer conversion rate. Our final step was recently introducing a PPC strategy which has been a growing pillar within my department.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work with an account manager, account director, PPC/CRO/SEO strategist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Each month since launching our PPC campaign in Q2 of this year, we've seen an ROI positive return, with continued growth.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet bi-weekly to go over all pillars of our strategy. My account manager is also available on Teams for quick questions/answers.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The number of team members dedicated to my account was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Providing monthly reporting ahead of time to allow for more review.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Pro-Bel is a high rise fall protection equipment manufacturer. We are based in Canada but operate globally with the bulk of our business coming from the US. I am currently the Ontario Inspection Manager but originally started as a Marketing Representative and have maintained this vendor relationship for several years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Search Engine People, and what were your goals?

We are a very niche B2B company. Although we are the industry leader our website was not ranking well, and we were not bringing in business from digital channels. We were spending a fortune on trade shows with mixed results. In an effort to continue our growth we hired Search Engine People to help with SEO. We have since also had them help with our PPC campaigns and some technical aspects on our website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We initially found them online and invited them through an RFP. They had the most detailed plan and a track record of success with other niche B2B companies. Not in our industry but similar with the challenges they face. As an added bonus they are local to us which was nice as we occasionally meet in person.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

The scope has evolved dramatically over the years. We initially started with technical SEO work (our website was a mess) and then we moved on to other SEO work such as on-page and link building. We have had several website iterations over the years with them and they have often helped with the technical transition. They occasionally run paid campaigns for us when the funnel is running low. This is not a primary channel for us, but it has worked very well in each instance.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work with an Account Manager and a SEO Specialist. They are both great. In ten plus years working with them we have had the same Account Manager which is an added bonus (Shoutout Matt). The SEO Specialist has changed a couple of times over the years but whoever we get has always been great to deal with and our results have never slowed down.

As mentioned, we run PPC campaigns periodically. The PPC person is often different given that it is not ongoing, but it is always an extra person on the team and not the Account Manager or SEO Specialist. Regardless of the PPC person we have always stayed on budget and come extremely close to our lead forecasts.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have experienced consistent growth. Improved keyword rankings are the most obvious positive but the fact that we have measurable revenue from these efforts is the biggest win. As much as we love the team we work with if this was not driving revenue for us, we would not continue, especially for as long as we have.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They are very proactive. We have a scheduled monthly and quarterly meeting. We use a lot of email, phone calls and Zoom plus some in person meetings. They have offered to setup Teams or Slack, but I chose to stick with what we have. I have a live report plus they send one with more details every month. They are on the ball.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Results first and foremost. The have really delivered for us. Beyond that, we have been working with together for over ten years, but they still show a strong interest in our success.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None at all. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

GhostRetail is part of an exciting growing field of live video shopping platforms that help retailers deliver an elevated online shopping experience. As a department director, I'm responsible for generating demand, brand positioning, and content development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Search Engine People, and what were your goals?

GhostRetail is part of a relatively nascent industry, meaning we're responsible for both creating and capturing demand. We engaged Search Engine People to assist with both of these areas of expertise, including building out an SEO and PPC strategy and managing our PPC advertising rollout and optimization.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed approximately 6-7 different agencies. The strong track record, ability to provide both SEO and PPC services under one roof, and willingness to dig into the trenches with us were some of the main reasons we selected Search Engine People. We also found their pricing pretty transparent, upfront, and fair.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

We started off with an in-depth discovery session to dig into our company, positioning, and goals. Search Engine People's team also attended a demo to get a feel for how our product worked and what platforms were similar or differentiated from others.

From there, the Search Engine People team delivered two primary strategies. One was for our PPC approach, the other for SEO. On the PPC side we have continually been testing new creative, budgets, audiences, channels, and overall strategies. Meanwhile on the SEO side, we've delivered new on-site recommendations over the last few months based on Search Engine People's prescribed outline, and are continually working on backlinking.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We primarily work with an Account Manager, as well as an ad administrator. We occasionally check in with Search Engine People's Account Director and VP of Accounts, and hear reference to Search Engine People looping in experts from other teams.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since we started working with Search Engine People, we increased our monthly SEO impressions by ~800% in approximately 6 months. On the PPC side, we've directly driven a solid number of opportunities and have also dramatically increased our impression shares.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We have a direct line into our Account Manager at Search Engine People at any time, via Slack, as well as our account administrator. We have at least one regularly scheduled check-in with Search Engine People per month, but will often hop on calls in between these monthly calls to review specific initiatives, changes, programs, or goals. In general, they are super timely at getting back to us and troubleshooting issues.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It's interesting to see an agency stick around for as long as SEP has - pretty much since the dawn of SEO and PPC optimization. They've got a massive backlog of knowledge and cross-pollination they bring to their strategies.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Our results with SEP tend to work best when they really probe our team for insights and ideas - we are walking a fine line where we fit market-wise and I advocate for them to learn as much as possible from us to continue to understand how to best market us going forward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Seller Interactive is an eCommerce focused agency that helps with PPC and SEO on eCommerce platforms like Amazon. I am the Director of Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Search Engine People?

Our biggest challenge was getting our PPC stood up from an organizational standpoint. We struggled with identifying the correct keywords for specific campaigns that were catered toward bottom of funnel. SEP has helped us identify, and optimize our campaigns in order to gain more quality leads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I have used them previously, after vetting them against 5 other agencies. I knew that they had quick turnaround times and could get us on the right track before the end of the year.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They did a full digital audit of both organic and paid, and started to identify cannibalization that was happening with our keywords. They proposed new campaign structures that were segmented into verticals and allowed us to do more in depth analysis and accurate changes.

What was the team composition?

I worked closely with Alex, one of their account managers, and Chetan, one of their account workers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have seen an increase in high quality leads, despite still being in the Google learning phase.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is great - we have frequently dialogue on Slack, and will be having bi-weekly and monthly calls, with bi-weekly reports.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I like how quickly and effectively they work and make changes.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

None that I know of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m VP of marketing for Cosmo Music. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Search Engine People?

We moved our e-commerce store from Magento to Workarea, but it wasn’t properly executed. As a result, we had several product pages that led to 404 errors, and our website traffic dropped significantly. 

We were selling 120,000 SKUs, and we couldn’t fix the errors manually. We needed help repairing the errors on our site and recovering our lost traffic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Search Engine People worked with our developers to salvage our redirects and correct our links. They then evaluated our on-page content to ensure it was marked correctly, checking metatags so Google could easily index our pages.  

After that, Search Engine People helped us improve the on-page SEO of the brands we’re selling. They went through landing pages and pages for our top products, and they integrated Google Analytics into our site. Their team also changed our target keywords, content, and menu structure.

They’ve recently concluded their SEO work, and we’re currently improving our performance on YouTube. Additionally, they’re also managing our PPC campaigns on Google Ads account.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with their CEO and at least a dozen teammates. 

How did you come to work with Search Engine People?

There was a personal connection between their CEO and our CEO.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2021, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve lost 70%–80% of our traffic due to the errors after migrating our website. In just eight months, Search Engine People has been able to return us to our old traffic levels. 

Further, their SEO and PPC campaigns are successful. They’ve made our website the top-ranked site for our target keyword. Additionally, our return on ad spend (ROAS) has been around $9–$11 for every $1, which far exceeds our target. 

The process has been educational for us. We learned what can and cannot be done, and they’ve helped us understand what we can do for the immediate future. They’ve set us up for long-term success.

How did Search Engine People perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m very pleased with Search Engine People’s project management. They’ve learned how to best communicate with our team. Their presentation skills are excellent, and I can see how they are helping us in just one picture.

They’re also good at resolving outstanding tasks. I’m never confused about knowing where we are with our campaigns. They’re very organized and good at putting all the information in one place. In addition, their team is extremely responsive — they even reply outside of business hours. 

We communicate using Zoom and emails. We are thankful that we’re working with Search Engine People. We look forward to meeting with them, and we feel great after speaking with their team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise and organizational skills can be relied upon.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. I’m very pleased working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They work well when you’re responsive, so ensure you have a dedicated point of contact from your organization that can spend time with them.