Finding the Right SEO For You
Choosing a company to assist you with search engine optimization can a slightly tricky process. First off, you want to make sure that they are reputable and know what they are doing. With the right set of questions in mind, you can sift through all the potential SEO companies to find the right fit for you.
How Will You Help Me Rank?
When meeting with a SEO company, many won’t get you detailed and in-depth explanations about the techniques that they use. Additionally, some strategies may be proprietary, such as databases of friendly publications and contacts. However, they should be more than happy to give you a broad overview of their strategy, including technical changes to the site, details of the type of content they intend to publish, and any other ideas on link building strategies. This will give you a good idea of how they intend to improve your site without giving away all the secrets. If an SEO company refuses to give you any indication of what they are going to do for you, there’s a good chance they aren’t a very trustworthy company and your money would be better spent elsewhere.
How Long Will It Take?
Many SEO companies won’t be able to answer this question right off the bat without first doing a bit of research and an audit of your site to find out how much work is going to be needed to help your site rank well. Beware if they say they can rank you in a short period of time, whether it is a matter of days or a month. Remember this: SEO takes time. Generally, content editing and publishing along with technical changes to the site are needed in order to help a site rank well. These kind of results can take up to several months to see.
How Will You Build Links?
Not all links are created equal. Building valuable incoming links is a time consuming process of relationship building and the creation of valuable high-quality content. Google is smart about determining the relevancy, value, and authority of incoming links, so it is worth taking the time and effort to create quality links. If your SEO company has a plan to build massive quantities of links, be suspicious! This usually means these links will be worthless and could possibly make your search ranking worse instead of better.
Do You Know Any Quick Tricks to Help Me Rank?
The answer to this question should obviously be no. If you are promised quick results, turn around and run. More than likely, there would be no positive results and very likely, negative results. Google is very smart and will figure out if you are trying to shortchange the system.
Have Your Previous Clients Been Penalized Because of Your Work?
Any SEO company should be more than happy to provide references from previous clients. If they don’t, you can probably assume they didn’t do a great job and this will be a big red flag to go somewhere else.
Can Your Company Help Me With High Quality Content?
Not all SEO companies deal with content creation and this is perfectly normal. Many companies focus strictly on the technical aspects of SEO, but if you are in need of a full service company, verify that they have the expertise to create quality content that is relevant to your site and valuable to your client base.
Keep these questions in mind when interviewing potential SEO companies and you should be able to find someone who will work hard for you and get your site where it needs to be.