How to Avoid Bad Search Engine Optimization Companies

Search engine optimization, SEO, is a vital part of the online strategy for any business. It is also highly complex, which is why you may need an SEO firm to do the work for you. But how do you avoid the bad SEO companies, of which there are many? There are a few thing to looks out for.

Promising an Exact Monthly Link Quantity

Only one thing is sure in SEO and that is that nothing is for sure. If you find a company that promises you will get a certain amount of links every month, they probably use shady tactics like automated link building. What you need is good links, and they are good because they are hard to get. It is impossible for any SEO firm to guarantee an exact number of links, unless they really don’t care about quality.

Guaranteeing a Specific Google Ranking in a Specific Time

Similarly, an SEO company should not be able to promise that you will get a specific position on Google within a specific period of time. The Google algorithm changes every day, and only Google knows what it is exactly. Plus, you don’t know what other companies are doing with the same keywords as you. Hence, these types of guarantees are worthless. The only way they can do this is by using keywords with a very low value, which means you may rank on the first page of Google, but you still won’t get any new traffic. Either that, or they are lying. What you should find is a company that lays out a step by step plan on how they intend to increase your rankings, as well as giving you a general timeline and the tools to monitor their work.

Guaranteeing a Set Amount of New Visitors

This is another of those empty promises. Yes, good SEO practices ensure that your website visits increase. However, there is no way to guarantee by exactly how much that will increase. After all, nobody has any control over the behavior of other people. Hence, if an SEO company promises you something like this, then it is likely that they will push your site towards irrelevant traffic, or even robotic traffic instead. The focus should be on driving traffic, not guaranteeing it.

Promising They Are Quicker than Any Other SEO Agency

Finally, you should be weary of any company that promises you they will be better than everybody else. It is likely that they will be better than some, because not all companies are created equally. However, even the best SEO firms need time to get a website ranked. Hence, if a company you have come across promises you a miracle, they either use black hat tactics, or they lie. Good companies show you their plans and talk about how nothing is guaranteed, but everything is possible with hard work.

Very simply put, you need to stay away from any company that makes huge promises and guarantees.