Major Guidelines before signing up for SEO Company

SEO is not a snake and oil business - This year Google proved by changing Google algorithms. Most of the SEO companies witnessed a huge shift in the client base. Companies that was following old link building and old on page optimization techniques faced a large exodus because failing in showing the results.

Clients became busy bees jumping from one company to another. Less repeated customers and more new customers.  One of the worst retention rates for companies. Before going any further I would like to tell this post is not for seo companies but for clients looking for the vendors.

Promise:

Hey, don’t believe in promises. If any one comes and promise you No.1 Ranking means showing moon to you. Any company that promise first page rankings is not a big deal. Yes they can. But ranking no1 I doubt. Because the rankings for specific spot within specific time is not in our hands. Google itself suggest not believe in any seo company that offers No.1 rankings. It’s ok: Guaranteed first page ranking. If not ok: Guaranteed No.1 ranking - something is phishy.

Please read the guidelines. Google has clearly mentioned “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings….”

Transparency:

Clients must take a proactive action in knowing the process of SEO. Yes, we all need results. But Google always shift the algorithms. These days Google has gone one step further penalizing the websites in order to curb the menace of manipulation. Request seo companies to reveal the strategies and also the implementation thought process. Check whether back hat techniques are involved or not. Yes, Manipulated techniques may give results but it is a short term. In a long run your website will get hit badly. A brief on “what they do and how they do “will give a clear picture on sustainable seo solutions. If you are not sure how companies can manipulate the rankings, here is the list:

• Implementing Door way Pages.

• Hidden Content with White Space.

• Publishing Plagiarized Content

• Content creation by Article Spinning Software

• Back links generated by software.

• Poor paid quality links

• A deliberated link bait program with same hosting company.

Client Base:

Ask some of the clients they worked. Case studies will help to know what challenges they met and how company overcomes the problems. The opinion of client leads to know the value add on services and also customer services provided during the campaign. Sometimes clients will look for experience in niche industry. I strongly believe SEO varies with industries. Some industries like insurance, real estate companies or b2c has high competition.

Measuring with Ranking:

Do not measure the worth of Seo Company in terms of ranking in own industry. There are often times clients ask one common question “Why are you not ranking for Seo Company?” Well the answer is because of lot of clients we won’t have enough time to think our own website.

Dealing with web designing and hosting companies:

Try to avoid signing up with companies that are only specialized either web designing or web hosting. Gone are the days when seo was working just publishing long title tags were done to achieve rankings. A designer alone can implement all the Google webmaster guidelines. Enquire how many dedicated SEOs are working in the company. Many mom-and-pop hosting shops out there offering website designing and search engine optimization for throw away prices. Assess the activities package. For example if hosting companies are offering submissions for thousand search engine means it’s full of crap.

 Be skeptic and extra careful while signing up the SEO deal.

Bio: Surya Patra, head of seo team at YSS a seo company india began at 2009 as humble seo service provider now services extended to chennai by opening seo company chennai