How to Choose an SEO Company

Whether you're a newcomer to SEO or an SEO expert who just doesn't have time to manage it anymore, selecting an SEO company can be a daunting task. Here are some things to consider as you choose an SEO company.

1. Build your short list
   1. Build a list of SEO companies you might want to partner with based on leaders in the industry. You can look at companies that exhibit at the major industry conferences such as Search Engine Strategies (New York and San Francisco) as a starting point.
2. Meet the actual SEO team, not just the salesperson
   1. Arrange to meet, either by phone or in person, the people who will work on your account.
   2. Just like if you were hiring a member for your team, ensure the team is a good "fit" with your organization.
   3. Become familiar with how many people are on your team and what their backgrounds are. It's a good idea to have at least a two-person team.
3. Know your facts
   1. No company can guarantee No. 1 rankings. The Google SEO selection tips say that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking in Google. This is even true for not-so-competitive keywords.
   2. Submitting your site to hundreds of search engines is no longer a best practice because a limited number of sites such as Google^™ and Yahoo!^® Search/Bing^™ dominate the search engine market.
   3. Using link farms or paid links as a source of backlinks is not a best practice.
   4. Check out the company name and look for clients' comments.
4. Ask about SEO processes and deliverables
   1. Does the company cover all the bases, such as information architecture, keyword strategy, page-level optimization, link-building strategy and programs, social media, etc.?
   2. What exactly will it be delivering to you at each step of the process, and what will you need to do to support the process?
   3. Does it have content development capabilities? You will likely need to develop new content as a part of optimizing your site.
   4. Is its process one size fits all? A customized process will more likely fit your needs.
   5. Look for transparency and explanations in addition to recommendations. It's important to understand why you're being asked to invest resources to make changes to your website.
5. Look for real results
   1. Ask to speak to the company's current customers and talk to them about their experience and their results.
   2. Ask how long the company plans to work with you. SEO requires a sustained commitment to build and maintain results.
   3. Ask about renewal rates, i.e. what percentage of the company's clients renew their agreements?
6. Avoid Black Hat SEO
   1. Beware of SEO firms that use "black hat" SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing, doorway pages, hidden text and paid links. Search engines, such as Google and Bing, are getting better all the time at detecting these techniques and can delete sites that use them from their indexes. See related blog post "White Hat vs. Black Hat: The Advantages of Playing by the Rules."
7. Watch for the Bait and Switch
   1. A company may have you meet the senior SEO experts during the sales process. Then after you sign the contract, you have a much less experienced team running your account.
8. Cheap can be Expensive
   1. Be careful about making decisions based on price õÛŸ cheap can be very expensive with SEO. Look at the value you expect to get in return for your money and establish your criteria appropriately.

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