by Russell Wright
Companies that offer search engine optimization (SEO) services are full of promises. With a little bit of knowledge, you can identify SEO firms that can deliver.
Don’t hire an SEO firm boasts technology over smart marketing.
Many SEO companies are resellers, not innovators. They confuse high search engine rankings for smart search engine ranking. Search engine technology is useless without smart marketing know-how. An SEO firm should have huge amounts of experience in both areas.
Whenever an SEO firm guarantees top-ten results for a certain keyword or phrase, you will often find that only six people have queried that term in one year. What good is a guarantee like that? This adds zero value to your bottom line, but makes the guarantee compelling at first.
The other side of the coin is an SEO firm who actually delivers results on difficult keywords. This looks exciting but what you can’t see will often hurt you. Welcome to the ‘dark side’ of SEO, where black-hat search engine ranking techniques are seductive on the surface.
Avoid "Black Hat" Tactics
Don’t hire a “black hat” SEO firm that uses single-IP advertising networks, cloaking software, or link-farms that negatively affect your ranking.
There are many horror stories about “black hat” search engine optimization methods that have gotten web-sites banned from the search engine. Marketers continue to be seduced by the temptation of quick results and instant traffic. At the 2004 SEO strategies conference in Chicago, Icon interactive interviewed a famous “black-hat” search engine analyst who was known for selling instant results on difficult keywords. When his clients are banned from search engines, he profits. It's an opportunity for him convince a client to purchase a new domain and start the process over again from the beginning.
Make sure your firm adopts the SEO code of ethics. It is better to simply optimize the website correctly the first time based on timeless search engine parameters: good content and good website structure.
Recognize Quality
Don’t confuse keyword ‘quantity’ for keyword ‘quality.’ A higher volume of keywords doesn't translate into a higher return on your SEO investment. The best way to accurately predict what the return on investment that a keyword has is through KEI (Keyword Effective Index).
The most popular keyword don't always get the highest quality response to your product or service. There may be higher quality leads and sales that come from less popular keywords that are well researched.
Do They Know You?
Don’t hire an SEO firm that can’t pass a test about your products or services.
After interviewing a prospective search engine optimization firm, ask them what they think of your product or service. Quiz them. Drill into the basic facts that any customer or prospect should know after browsing your website. If the SEO firm doesn’t have a basic grasp by the first or second interview, move on. If they don’t have some basic questions about your products and services, and your industry, reconsider their level marketing know-how.
Living and dying by the search engines is not appropriate for most business models. Your SEO must understand your industry, your products/services, and your business model. If an SEO firm don’t understand your vision, they cannot possibly perform a proper KEI research project.
Search engine analysts tend to become absorbed in the tangled “web” of search engine relationships, algorithm tricks, and techno-babble. They don’t really connect to your real-live business model. They don’t believe in your product in order to become an evangelist for it. In fact they may not even care what your product is.
Do They Know Your Strategy?
Your SEO firm should have excellent knowledge of your market strategy and use it to generate an online SEO plan. The information you would like to acquire is not which keyword phrases are most popular but which keyword phrases are the most popular in your niche with zero websites competing for that keyword phrase.
This requires lateral thinking and the ability to think about your business model while researching your keywords. It also requires a really excellent set of tools and the knowledge of how to recognize behavioral trends.
Find an Evangelist
An SEO firm should become an evangelist for your product or service. You don’t want to hire an impersonal media buyer or an agency that already has a template-procedure for your niche industry. Pat answers are not appropriate for long term natural optimization.
A template won’t do. Template solutions don’t allow for keywords and strategies that are unique to your business. This “template” thinking can become extremely costly and is common in agency environments. Your business is very likely unique. There are local search aspects of your business to account for, and unique branding considerations. Your current business relationships need to be added into the equation before time is spent optimizing. Search engine marketing companies that cannot customize for your unique business model will cost you money over the long term, guaranteed.
SEO marketing firms tend to be resellers and you will discover that you needed more from them. There is more to strategic marketing than a good website and top ranking for useless keywords.
Avoid Order-Takers
If an SEO firm accepts your suggested keyword list without researching their effectiveness, move on.
A lot of SEO firms don't care what you're selling or who you're selling it to. They just want a list of search terms even when these keywords are useless. In fact, if your SEO firm will accept a list of keywords you bring to them without researching their effectiveness, fire them. There is an easy way to test an SEO firm. Just say: "I have a list of 1000 keywords. Will you include them?"
If they say “Yes," move on.
