Ok, so when you hear an “SEO Company” tell you something that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. For those of you looking to outsource your SEO efforts, here’s a quick list of times you should question your SEO consultant or online marketing agency.
Question getting links by auto-generation of content or by blog commenting and forum posting
Auto-generated content was popular in the past, it came by the creation of doorway pages and submitting an article in multiple forms to different article directories. It is well known that duplicate content will in fact lower your website’s ranking, and whatever you post, or have posted for you, reflects on your company, so it must be professional. As for blog commenting and forum posting, yes, these are both viable marketing options which I recommend. The concern is that there needs to be a relationship established in most of these communities, and to spam a blog or forum will be seen as a hostile act. It is important to offer advice, and provide useful information, and sure, add a link back to your site with a promise to provide additional help. But no, don’t spam.
Question when someone says that they can guaranteed results within a specific timeframe
The only thing that can be guaranteed as far as placement within a search engine is an advertisement through Google AdWords or similar program. If the company is willing to offer a moneyback guarantee (and they are established and reputable) then I would at least consider their claim as worthy of interest, but it is important to note that no SEO experts I have ever worked with, or know of, promise results. What they do promise is that they will do their best to optimize your site, and market it per the budget parameters than have been set forth. Beyond this, it is really a matter of time on the web, quality indexable content, an engaging website, quality inbound links that results in more traffic over time, etc.
Question any so-called SEO expert that doesn’t provide contact information and a website
As I noted above, any reputable company will have their contact information provided in an email, and especially on their website. If they don’t have a website, well, then they can’t be trusted. Furthermore, SEO experts will do more than just tell you that they will get you highly ranked, they will offer case studies, and other evidentiary proof to support this claim.
Question someone who doesn’t tell you clearly what you are paying for, and who charges an ongoing fee
I often hear from new clients how they paid someone for SEO, and were being charged a monthly fee. My question is always, “Ok, so what did they do for you each month?”. Not one client was ever provided a report of where there website was submitted, or had any clear idea of the work that was being done. Any reputable SEO company will be able to tell you exactly where your website should and will be submitted if you use them. They will have a predefined list of the important online marketing options to choose from, and will do the research for your specific industry to ensure that all important options are considered. Note that some “less reputable” companies will promise to submit your website to hundreds of search engines, which in fact they can do. They will use software for automatic submission, or an online option, and this case YES, they probablly can give you a list of where your site was submitted since this is a feature of such software. The problem is that the quality websites and directories require manual submission (using captcha), and those that don’t are known to prefer direct submission, will require one to select a directory category, etc. The long and short is that “NO”, you don’t need to submit your website to more than a handful of search engines, and a dozen or so directories. The others are either of no consequence, or they draw their results from Google, Yahoo or Bing.
Important SEO marketing considerations will include the optimization of your website, both the page titles (unique and keyword rich), heading tags, keyword rich text, keyword rich meta-descriptions, quality page content that is optimized for keyword relational density per each page (title, description, headings), and “alt” and “title” tags, and other accessibility considerations. Next, they will submit your website to the top ranked search engines (if you’re not already on them), the top ranked directories, and other highly ranked industry specific websites/directories that will be of benefit.
I would want to see the results for each inclusion, as you should as well. Did they simply add your company name and contact info, or did they work with you to create a good description of your business services, upload images, provide links, etc? Next, be sure that you are provided the login access for each of these websites. A common problem is that many clients will have someone submit their website to a directory, and then not provide the client the access information so that they, or another designer on their behalf, can edit their listing.
Next, if your SEO marketing person provides additional services, such as AD marketing (Google, Yahoo, etc) be sure that you work with them with regard to the budget for the AdWords, and whenever possible get your own Google/Bing Account so that you can manage, or at least view, the Google and Bing Analytics reports, access Google Webmaster tools yourself, and most importantly, manage/view your Google AdWords account. In no case should you be paying for AdWords via proxy, be sure that any fees are coming from your credit card so that you know that what you are being charged is legitimate (and look for Free Google AdWords coupon code online).
Other marketing options include review website inclusion, creating a social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others), posting industry related articles, posting to related forums, blogging, etc. In each of these cases, you are entitled to an accurate list of where your site was listed or referenced, what was exactly done in a given timeframe, and the time required for each inclusion.
On a final note, it is rare that any website will need ongoing SEO work. Once a website is optimized and has been submitted, there will be the occasional keyword tweak needed within the metatags and the body content (Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools are good for this), but with the exception of a blog, Facebook, and Twitter, the primary website pages don’t need much updating over time. I am not saying that you shouldn’t continue to develop your website, of course new useful content is needed, but once you have pages that have good content, that are popular, don’t just edit them without a good reason since even small changes can hurt a site ranking.
In summation, when someone tells you that they charge a monthly fee, ask them to give you a break-down of where your site will be submitted, links to where your site has been submitted, the time required for every change/addition, and most importantly, what work will be performed in the subsequent months since most SEO professionals will have your site fully optimized, and submitted in a one month period.
I’ve talked a lot about SEO on this blog, and on my website, since getting ranked well is very important for any business. There are many effective strategies that do work, many which you can do yourself, so if you are unclear on what to do, then read some of my posts on SEO, or visit my website, … or call me for some honest, free advice.
