SEO Companies - Promises and Pitfalls

Written by Jaydip Parikh Saturday, 07 May 2011 05:13

The Internet and the humungous Web has got complete control of our lives. A simple analogy could be the electricity (internet) and the light bulb (web); there is no significance of one without the other.

The Internet and the humungous Web has got complete control of our lives. A simple analogy could be the electricity (internet) and the light bulb (web); there is no significance of one without the other.

Finding precise information on the web is like finding a pearl from the seabed. I mean the right fact at right time. Fortunately, there are search engines that segregate information according to their unique systems. Again, finding the best (and preferably top) position on search engine is important. Early birds catch the worms. Sites on top get more visits. And that's the whole game. And the name of the game is Search Engine Optimization or SEO. This game is more critical if you are running an online business. Your e-store will need constant monitoring so that it stays on the top frequently, if not always.

If your company, products, services, etc are so unique (examples: Nokia, Apple, IBM) you probably won't need an SEO company. Someone looking for Nokia products will just need to type "Nokia mobiles" or "Nokia phones" and search engines will throw hundreds of thousands of results.

Therefore, when hiring an SEO company ask them three straight questions: 1) how far and how fast they will be able to get the Google PageRank or similar top positions on other search engines; 2) how many relevant, quality inbound links they assure to get; 3) what is their specific strategy to build your site's visibility on the internet. If they fail to provide satisfactory answers, you may consider switching over to another SEO company.

The ideal SEO does not fleece you with tall promises like "among the top 10 positions, huge traffic, and assured Return on Investment". As said before, staying on top is not all. Also, if any SEO asks advance fees, you have a reason to doubt their credentials. A bad SEO will try to spam you web pages with unnecessary keywords, a bad practice indeed. The good one will use "white hat" strategies and get you the quality backlinks. Finally, the mark of a good SEO is that they should first show you the results and then charge you on monthly basis. If at any time you don't like the services, you have the option to stop payments.