Everyone knows having search engine visibility for a site is crucial. From mom and pop shops to large retailers like Overstock and Blue Nile, everyone uses SEO companies. However, not all search engine optimization companies are the same.
Which Search Engine Optimization Companies You Should NOT Hire
To help you with your selection process, let us first point out some telltale signs of the type of search engine optimization company you do not want working on your site:
1) They are located in a third world country. Nothing against third world countries. However, a majority of the body of SEO work being produced off-shore is pure spam that will ultimately get yoursite penalized. A great majority of offshore SEO companies are using blackhat software to gather excessive backlinks from blogs, forums, article submission directories, Web 2.0 sites and the like. That is why they charge low fees, as nearly all of their “SEO” process is automated. They do little to no actual work. You pay, they input some data into the blackhat SEO software, and walla soon your site is penalized, as they move on to the next bargain hunter.
2) SEO companies that do everything under the sun. They help you with your trade show brochure needs, they will re-design your site, they will handle your PPC for you, they will take care of all the computers in your office, and they will even wire your home theater system. Having “techies” in your life is very helpful, but a jack of all trades is a master of none. Having a generalist do your SEO work is only going to burn up your cash and spin your wheels. They will not be able to achieve satisfactory results in the current highly competitive marketplace. Moreover, they will not be able to keep up with Google’s ever-changing algorithms. They don’t do any SEO case studies, they don’t get to the SEO conferences.
3) SEO Companies that have been in existence for less than five years. Simply put, they do not have the experience necessary to compete at a higher level. They will always be playing catch-up and “Googleing” things to try and understand what the more seasoned SEO companies are doing. They will get your site penalized and spend months trying to figure out what went wrong. One recent client that switched to us after leaving their previous SEO company told me that they made him pay to remove the back backlinks that got his company’s site penalized.
4) SEO Companies that will specify the number of backlinks, article submissions, and forum posts they will do for you. Cookie cutter approaches to SEO are a sure way to getting a Google penalty. Moreover, getting backlinks from blogs, forums, articles, and press releases will get your site in trouble with Google, and your site will be stuck in limbo for months.
5) SEO Companies that claim relationships with Google. If you ever hear a pitch like, “the owner of this company play golf with Matt Cutts” or “yeah my boss was over at Larry Page’s house” you know they are lying to you. Any SEO firm representative that makes such a bogus claim thinks they are way smarter than you.
The Best Search Engine Optimization Company to Hire:
Here are a few items to look for when hiring a top search engine optimization company:
1) Hire a firm that has been around for at least 10 years. When it comes to SEO best practices, the more experience your SEO company has the better your site’s traffic performs.
2) Hire a firm where the person on the phone when you call doesn’t need to place you on hold to find out the answer to your SEO related question. If you feel the person you are speaking to is an amateur, the odds are that you’re right!
3) Hire a firm that comes up on the first page of Google for at least a few competitive search engine optimizations related keyword searches like “search engine optimization services” or “search engine placement.”
4) Hire an SEO firm that has their own set of private backlinks, and one that never uses blogs, forums, articles, press releases, or Web 2.0 sites.
5) Hire a search engine optimization company that does all their work in-house, and does all the SEO work for you.
I hope these few pointers have been helpful. Hiring the right search engine optimization company can be the difference between your website generating an income of $X vs. $10X.
If you have any questions about our search engine optimization services, call us at 1-800-585-3222. We at RegisterEverywhere.com look forward to serving all your SEO needs.