Sep 13 2011

What Should You Expect From An SEO Company?

The world of search engine optimization can be incredibly frustrating. There are numerous companies offering SEO services, but it can be difficult to know whether you are receiving a quality service.

It’s often hard to compare competitors, there’s little independent information available to you and prices vary wildly. In many industries, it’s suggested that “you get what you pay for”. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always hold true when it comes to SEO. As a result, the current situation is a real minefield for buyers.

Starting your search

So how can you find a good SEO company? Ideally, you should probably be looking for a personal recommendation or a company who have a positive profile online. This way, at least you stand a good chance of getting a promising service.

The alternative, which might be to simply approach SEO providers that you find online, could leave you bewildered. How will you know what you’re getting for your money.

One of the big problems, of course, is that SEO providers are unable to guarantee you positioning within Google. Only Google are able to influence the search engine results. This means that search engine placement services are aimed at influencing those rankings, but can’t possibly control positioning.

Fortunately, this is useful information for a buyer. If an SEO consultant suggests that they can guarantee you particular positioning, then that’s a good way for you to identify that they may not have the most honest approach to sales!

Clear SEO deliverables

The fact that guarantees can’t be offered in terms of positioning should not detract from the possibilities that exist. It’s clear that intelligent use of search engine placement opportunities can help your business to compete online. This means that there’s plenty to play for.

You should certainly expect any search agency to be clear about what you will be receiving. You should be told exactly what will be delivered and when.

For example, you should expect to be given a detailed report about your existing website and any changes that are necessary. It’s reasonable to expect such a report within the first week of the project.

Without making on-page changes, it’s extremely difficult to improve search engine positioning. If no report or advice is forthcoming, you might want to start worrying!

Do things feel automated?

It’s also important that you feel like a client who is valued. This means that you should expect a personal service, with a core concentration on the needs of your business. Any link building campaign, for example, should reflect your own business aims and ideals.

If an SEO provider starts talking about providing thousands of links, then it may once again be time to worry. Building links on a grand scale may sound impressive, but it does not hint at a high quality approach.

Instead, it suggests that the agency may be seeking to confuse you with numbers. This is unlikely to lead to sustainable results in terms of your search engine positioning.

You should expect your chosen SEO company to give you a quality service, with results at the end of the process.

If you’re simply not receiving this level of service, it’s time to look elsewhere.

Keith Barrett works at Search South, providing Hampshire SEO services to a wide range of clients.

7 Responses to “What Should You Expect From An SEO Company?”

  1. Wasim Ismail says:
    September 13, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    There needs to be a good plan of ROI, and a good relationship with your SEO company. SEO is also a two way thing, there will be certain tasks and points that the business owner needs to work with the SEO team so that they can get targeted results. All in all, the practises need to be White Hat, and if you feel that your SEO company is not clearly answering your questions, you need to rethink your choice.

  2. Henry Louis says:
    September 14, 2011 at 11:53 am

    Thanks for the tips. It did cover almost complete information.

  3. Dgaluppi says:
    September 14, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    This was a helpful article. Thanks! Comment by Wasim was helpful also.
    I’ve been very happy with a company I’ve been working with. These guys have been able to boost my SEO and educate me along the way.

  4. Nick Stamoulis says:
    September 14, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    One way to check if an SEO provider knows what they are doing is to see how they rank in the search engines. If they can’t be found, that’s a red flag. It’s also a good idea to check out case study and testimonial pages of their site.

  5. Jeff D. Indianapolis says:
    September 14, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Good points. Hardly a day goes by without my getting a phone call from some fly by night SEO operation. With so many ham handed cold callers promising the stars and moon with their Google “partnerships”, iIt is good to be forewarned about these scam artists and their ploys.

  6. Sujan Patel says:
    September 16, 2011 at 4:23 am

    Great tips. I would add transparency and education

  7. stamping tooling says:
    September 21, 2011 at 8:38 am

    than you for your information post, as a seo, i think i will always support you!