Serious Blunders in Hiring an SEO Company

Unfortunately, a lot of companies do not know a lot about SEO. This leaves them vulnerable and open to unscrupulous firms and their intentions. If you are serious about being on the first page of Google search results, start off with a disciplined approach. This will help you find the best SEO firm.

Here, you need to know about warning signs and beware of serious blunders in hiring an SEO firm:

Backlink Trading

It is common for many firms to get sites to link to yours. However, this is certainly not a good idea. Any SEO firm that buys backlinks from unreputable services will certainly give you inferior quality and automated backlinks. Most pages these links appear are usually referred to as “free for all” pages. The reason is irrelevant and unrelated links these pages are integrated with. Trade of backlinks is against Google’s policies and a sure shot way to get penalized by Google.

Rosy Promises

SEO isn’t only a science, it’s also an art. This means any firm promising you results in a week or a month is one to be avoided. The sneaky way to get fast results is to employ “black hat” techniques. While these shortcuts might seem like a quick pay off, they’re a sure way to get your business in the penalty box with Google. SEO takes time, and it’s an ongoing promise. As the results continue to improve, the right firm will continue to keep yielding positive results month over month, year over year.

Special Tools

It is quite tempting to be associated with a company that promises special tools to rank you well on search engines faster. However, you need to be very careful before thinking on such terms. Google has cracked down and modified its algorithm. It is now focussing solely on natural and organic content. These special aka unethical tools may even blacklist your websites for violating Google’s policies.

Longer Contracts

Longer contracts means the company wants to lock you in immediately. This is the time when you need to take a step back. A good service will wait for its client to extend the contract rather than binding them with a long-term contract.

Novice

There are a number of SEO firms opening each day. Many entrepreneurs and business leaders are also displaying their enthusiasm and skills. However, there is no guarantee of their efficiency until you see it happening or have seen it happening in the past. Being the first client of any firm can be risky. After all, you would not want to invest your money without a guarantee for return. So make sure the SEO services you plan to hire is not a novice. It should have a successful history.

Invisible References

A reputed company will have no problem giving references that approve of their sincerity and quality. However, it is your duty to check if the company actually exists. You must talk to clients and other references. In case, the references don’t exist and aren’t available even upon repeated request, do not make a deal with the company. No references means no satisfied customers for the company.

One Size Fits All

Does the package offered by your business has a 'one size fits all' approach? Hiring these SEO services will be the biggest online marketing mistake you will make. The approach simply indicates that the company is not efficient in catering to diverse needs, goals, and target audience of its clients. Steer clear of such agencies. Your business deserves good firms that work hard by studying your business, its motives, objectives, and much more. It should research your competition and assess your website needs to finalize on a solution.

One of the best ways to reach out to the right source of SEO is to find out which firm is wrong. Paying close attention to the above listed warning signs will save yourself good amount of trouble. This also helps with steering clear of risky companies that may render you results initially but end up in getting your website penalized with the search engines.