5 Questions About SEO Services To Ask Potential SEO Consultants

Due to the huge popularity of search engine optimization, numerous so-called expert SEO consultants have cropped up offering "unbelievable discounts" and "guaranteed rankings" to anyone who cares to listen. If you are looking for a SEO service company for your business website, you need to sort through a lot of companies to find the SEO consultant suitable to your requirements. We have come up with 5 questions you can ask a potential SEO service company, the answers to which will give you an inkling to their expertise.

Ask the potential SEO consultant the following 5 questions:

1. Can you guarantee No. 1 ranking?

Contrary to what you expect, an ideal SEO consultant should give you a negative answer. No one in the search engine optimization industry can EVER guarantee no. 1 ranking, and that includes major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Organic search results are natural and cannot be influenced by any SEO services company, no matter how experienced it is. Hence be very wary about SEO consultants offering guaranteed No. 1 rankings and run in the opposite direction if you meet one!

2. Does my website need to be changed?

The answer you are looking for here is "Yes". Organic SEO consists of two factors: onsite and offsite techniques. Both strategies are equally important and experienced companies providing SEO services use both to hike rankings. Certain inexperienced SEO consultants only offer "link submissions" or "directory posting" services, which completely ignore the importance of onsite optimization of web pages. Your website's content, its ease of navigation, back end coding etc. is very important in deciding the rank your website attains on search engines. Your SEO consultant should be interested in changing your website at least at the back end, in case radical changes are not required. If the company providing SEO services doesn't look at your website, consider someone else for the job.

3. Do your SEO services involve use of any software?

There are many softwares available today which aid in search engine optimization of a website. Nothing, however, beats an expert's hand at SEO. An experienced SEO consultant should, therefore tell you that he/she uses softwares sometimes, but most of the work is done by hand. SEO softwares can be used by novices in the search engine optimization; you don't need a SEO consultant or a SEO services company to make use of it.

4. Will you be able to prove the results you achieve?

An experienced SEO consultant should be able to justify his/her search engine optimization work by providing results you can evaluate your website's progress with. Your website should not only have more visitors than before, it should have more relevant visitors, who are likely to be converted into clients. The rate of conversion of website visitors to clients should be on the rise after you hire a SEO service company.

5. Will you use any Black Hat techniques to boost my rankings immediately?

Here, of course, should be an emphatic "absolutely not". Black Hat SEO techniques should be a complete no-no to a genuine SEO consultant. If it's a shady SEO services company you are dealing with, he/she will probably try to talk you into the "quick boost in rankings" or "No. 1 position within a week" idea as soon as you mention Black Hat SEO. Sure, it will boost your ranking for the time being; but it will also guarantee that your website will be blacklisted by major search engines very soon. Your SEO services should include only White Hat SEO techniques, which may take some time to be effective, but will give long term results which will be permanent. Make this very clear to your SEO consultant before you hire him/her.

Black Hat Techniques Your SEO Company Should Avoid

The popularity of search engine optimization has resulted in many SEO companies being set up today to cater to the growing requirements of businesses. The growing number of SEO companies has brought along with it some SEO service providers who don't mind using unethical tactics in the hope of achieving good results in a short period of time. Such unethical techniques are known as Black Hat SEO techniques, and are frowned upon by SEO experts as well as search engines.

The following are some Black Hat techniques which your SEO company shouldn't use for the promotion of your website:

• Keyword Stuffing

Some SEO companies try to popularize a web page by stuffing it with keywords within the content as well as in the design. This is called keyword stuffing, which is one of the most visible Black Hat SEO techniques. Firms providing SEO services, however, need to realize that search engines are becoming smarter by the day and can now recognize and ban websites using this Black Hat technique.


• Link Farming

It is a well known fact that relevant inbound links can hike rankings of websites. Search engines expect link building to take place between websites relevant to each other. However, some link farm sites are specifically built by SEO companies to increase inbound links. These sites do not have any relevant content and are built specifically for linking purpose. Experienced professionals for SEO services realize that a site can be banned for life for indulging in farming of links.

• Duplicating Websites

Search engines are constantly looking for fresh content; this prompts some web owners to create duplicate sites of competitors and siphon off clients from them. Any professional SEO company will tell you that if you indulge in such practice now, search engines will not only be able to spot you, but also ban your website. While using SEO services from any professional, instruct them not to create duplicate websites but instead focus on creating interesting and unique content, that will be useful in the longer run.

• Doorway Pages

Some unethical SEO companies create doorway pages mainly to attract search engines towards the website for a particular keyword. There is no relevant content on such a page and it is generally mass-produced and posted through a software. This is probably the easiest way to get your site blacklisted. When you avail of SEO services, ensure that your website has no doorway pages.

• Cloaking of Content

SEO companies using Black Hat techniques can also cloak content within the web page to gain advantage with the search engines. Cloaking ensures that the content seen by the search engine and the visitor is different. Using short cuts for getting high rankings convinces many SEO service providers that they can entice the search engines for a higher ranking. For example, one method of cloaking is to write keywords in the same color as the background; this way, the visitors cannot see it but the search engines can. Such methodologies give search engines the impression that the web page is full of relevant keywords. If such a trend is spotted in any website, it can be reported and banned by the search engines. Hire only that SEO company which can provide you with affordable SEO services without using such methodology.

Avoiding shady SEO service providers becomes easy if you are aware of some Black Hat SEO techniques like the ones mentioned above. Look for a genuine and experienced SEO company which can help you get your website attain a decent ranking through legitimate White Hat SEO techniques.

Why Experienced SEO Consultants Do Not Guarantee Search Rankings

With the importance search engine optimization has attained in the past few years, the number of SEO consultants offering SEO services has also increased. This increase in service providers has brought along with it a plethora of tall claims like guaranteed no. 1 rankings, which continues to perplex organizations seeking SEO services as well as those providing it. But the fact remains that search rankings cannot be guaranteed. The following are four reasons why you shouldn't believe SEO consultants when they promise guaranteed rankings:

• Search Engines Warn Against Guarantees
  

Any search engine, be it Google, Yahoo or the Microsoft's recently-introduced Bing, is unanimous in their opinion that guaranteeing a No. 1 position in their search engine is impossible. SEO consultants who guarantee search rankings are actually looking to hook less-informed clients. Such consultants cleverly sign a contract for SEO services guaranteeing rankings for certain keywords. They then go on to select and work on non-competitive keywords, which may quickly climb in rankings, but may not get in relevant web traffic. Search engines hence warn organizations to specifically avoid SEO consultants who guarantee rankings.



• Search Rankings Constantly Fluctuate
  

The ordering of search results is likely to change every few minutes; even if you search for a particular keyword and then hit the refresh button, the order of the results may change. Experienced SEO consultants hence stay away from guaranteeing any position on rankings, preferring instead to focus on bringing in relevant web traffic and making the site more popular with regular visitors. Although SEO services are associated with search rankings, improved rankings are the end result of a lot of hard work, and even after best efforts, cannot be guaranteed.



• Ethical Problems with SEO Guarantees
  

What SEO consultants should guarantee is the quality of SEO services they will provide. They can also evaluate your site and guarantee an increase in web traffic. But search ranking is something there is no guarantee for. SEO consultants who give such guarantees sometimes compromise on the ethical issues related of search engine optimization. They use Black Hat SEO techniques to boost the site rankings, which are considered unacceptable in the industry. A hasty job and unplanned steps may cause more harm to your SEO campaign than benefit it. It is hence wise to chose SEO services from those consultants who don't give guarantees but slowly and steadily work towards bringing in relevant traffic and slowly improving search rankings.



• Search Rankings Do Not Reflect Overall Performance
  

This is something each organization needs to understand before launching its SEO campaign. SEO services should not be hired only for getting a good ranking in search results, but for getting relevant traffic towards one's website. Real performance of the SEO consultant can be judged through increase in relevant web traffic and not only rankings. Sometimes in the obsession of getting a website in the leading position, an SEO consultant botches up the job and more time is spent thereafter in repairing the damage done.

If you want to plan an effective SEO campaign for your organization, stay away from SEO consultants who offer "guaranteed No. 1 position" and "instant improvement in search rankings". Professional and experienced SEO consultants focus on getting relevant traffic, which is the purpose of search engine optimization in the first place.