If you are asking yourself “who do I hire to do SEO for my website?” The truth is there is a plethora of companies out there promising the moon if hired. It can be scary for a firm to put their faith in a company when it comes to SEO because one bad move can get you black listed with the search engines.
The best way to answer this question is by getting as much information as possible from companies you are interviewing.
SEO Promises & Honesty
If a company promises to get you front page rankings within a few weeks, that is a bad sign. Depending on the website it could take anywhere from 6 weeks to even 6 months. A company that is honest and upfront is a much better choice. The truth is a new website can take longer to rank than a website that has been around for a while. Another factor that can affect rankings is the competitiveness of a keyword. If your industry has steep competition on a certain keyword it can take a little bit longer to beat out the competition.
SEO Strategy
What is the game plan? Have they presented you with a sound strategy? SEO for a website requires more than just design and programming, it requires plenty of content. It isn’t something you do once and forget. It takes constant content creation and research. A site can’t only be optimized for search engines, it must also be optimized for the user. So if the strategy doesn’t involve the users it won’t work. Search engines focus on the user experience and take that into consideration when ranking a site. It isn’t just about loading a website with keywords.
White Hat versus Black Hat
In the world of SEO, white hat refers to the use of strategies and tactics that focus on a human audience as opposed to just the search engines. Additionally, white hat SEO follows best search engine practices, rules and policies. When a site is optimized with white hat tactics it means focusing on relevancy to gain organic rankings. Writing relevant content for human readers that include keywords, sound keyword analysis, and link building are all part of white hat techniques. SEO is a long-term investment for any website wishing to have success.
While it can be overwhelming it is a very important decision to make and should not be taken lightly. Meet with several firms prior to making the decision to hire an SEO firm to work on your website.