Good SEO Consultants can make a big difference to your website position. The best SEO consultants and agencies will follow the official Google guidelines to increase the visibility of your website. But how do you know which ones are worth spending the money on? In the least you should expect the following from your SEO Consultant;

• A Review of your site structure. At the moment probably 70% of good SEO depends on the structure and content of your website. It is the foundation on which everything else is built. Any company the promises results without looking at your website structure does not know what they are doing.
• Content development. A large part of good SEO is building and refining the content on your website. This means being able to write well in English, and to know what your website should look like.
• Management of link building. This might mean partnerships with websites in your field or overseas. The best link building activities are actually online promotional campaigns.
• Keyword research. You should get a detailed list of the keywords that are worth targeting in your industry, and what people are researching.
• SEO training. The best SEO Consultants will train you to maintain your website. Getting to number one takes a long time, but once you are there, you need to maintain your position.

What other things should you look for in an SEO Consultant?

It is not just about what they can deliver, it is also about how they conduct themselves.

• What is on their website, does that make you trust them? Google has started to really look at the quality of websites as an indicator of the trustworthiness of a domain. Does your consultant’s website convey trust? If you were looking to a buy a car from them, would you?
• How good is their English? If they blog, is it full of spelling mistakes?
• Are they number one for their target keywords. If you Google them, what comes up?
• Do they list other clients they have worked for, and are they trustworthy themselves?
• Do they have experience in your industry?

So if these are the things that are good in SEO Consultants, what should you look out for?

Be wary of that email out of the blue. (SPAM)

Any email that starts “Dear Webmaster” should be treated at arms length. Any company that promises links and web position without knowing what industry you are in, is fishing for clients. If you do get an email, is it personalised, and do they show experience and knowledge of your particular situation?

No one can guarantee  number one on Google.

Google changes their algorithm all the time. You may be number one for a few days, only to find yourself back on page 2 the next. No one can say that you will get to number one.

You should get detailed analysis and reports.

Not only should an SEO company have clear goals and give you targets and strategies, they should also give you reports on what has happened each month. SEO does not have to be secretive, and it should not be a mystery. You consultants should be able to tell you what they are doing.

SEO is not about links

Good web marketing is not just links. It is about a range of things including content creation, web structure and giving your clients the information they need. Anyone that promises just links, or a list of places they will get links from, is most likely a spammer and will only generate a position for you across the short term. Good SEO is also about being creative with promoting a website. Forum links and articles are an easy way to gain low quality links. What about sponsoring a soccer club, or holding a competition?

So if you find an SEO or web marketing company that you want to work with, what sort of things should you ask them?

• Who are your current clients? – This should be verifiable by visiting the websites, and using Google to check their position in search engines.
• What methods will you use to promote my website?
• What position do you expect to achieve and in what time frame?
• Can you give me examples of your experience?
• What can I expect from your every month?
• Can you show me how you will monitor results?
• Which keywords do you think I should target and why?
• What changes do you suggest we make to our website?