Search is a growing industry, and it seems that every day there is a new search engine optimization company in the game. However, the skills of many of these search engine optimization companies are questionable. Staying on top of the knowledge curve can be daunting, and getting up to speed more daunting still. Moreover, there are a huge variety of tactics, "safe" and "unsafe" practices (in terms of the risk of penalization), and other important business considerations that you should think about before deciding on any particular search engine optimization company.

The following is a list of questions to help you to determine if the company you are considering is deserving of your trust. In this article, we'll focus on the tactics that search engine optimization companies might use that could put your website at risk of penalization or removal from the major search engines. Ask your potential search engine optimization company the following:

Do you show search engines anything that a visitor does not see?

There is a common tactic that certain search engine optimization companies use called "cloaking." In simple terms, these companies use technology that enables your website to recognize when a visitor to your site is a spider and to then feed that spider specialized content designed to rank highly in search engines. This tactic violates the Terms of Service (TOS) of every major search engine. Sites that are caught cloaking are routinely removed from engines. Therefore, depending on your tolerance for risk, you may want to find a search engine optimization company that does not employ this tactic.

Do you create pages, either on my server or somewhere else, that are not built into the navigation of my site?

Another common technique that some search engine optimization companies employ is the creation of "doorway pages." Since the term "doorway page" now has such a negative connotation in the industry, many search engine optimization companies have their own names for such pages: "gateway pages," "bridge pages," "targeted entry pages," "specialized content pages," and so on. Whatever they are called, such pages are rarely effective and also put websites at risk of penalization, as this is another tactic that violates the TOS of every major engine. If your potential search engine optimization company does not give you a definitive "no" to the above question, you may want to look elsewhere.

What is your link building methodology?
Is it automated, and do you target reciprocal links?

Quality search engine optimization companies are concerned about garnering quality inbound links to your website because "link popularity" plays a big factor in rankings. If the major players at any potential search engine optimization company tell you that they do not build links, it's time to laugh in their faces, call them lazy, and move on.

Because finding quality links from quality sites is very time consuming, many search engine optimization companies have tried to automate the process. One undesirable approach to link building is automated reciprocal linking schemes, often responding to the ubiquitous emails that are sent to anyone with a website, looking for link exchanges to boost a site's link popularity. The danger here is that an outbound link from your site is counted as a "vote" for the site to which it links. If that site gets penalized, your site may get penalized in turn. (Google refers to this type of linking relationship as a "bad neighborhood.") A good search engine optimization company will concentrate instead on garnering quality inbound only links to your website and adding the type of content that makes it worthy of non-reciprocal links from a variety of sites.

Do you use hidden text or hidden links?

Search engines, as a rule, do not like it when a website shows them content that is not designed for a visitor to see. However, there are search engine optimization companies that will employ hidden text (text that is the same color as the background color of a page or text that is hidden behind a graphic, for example) to try to boost that page's relevance, and thus the page's ranking. Other search engine optimization companies will use hidden links, typically sized down to one pixel, that lead to dozens, or even hundreds of pages that are not designed for visitors to see, known as doorway pages. This is another tactic that, if discovered, can get a website removed from search engines. If you are averse to this type of risk, make certain the search engine optimization company that you are considering gives you a definitive "no" in answer to the question.

Have you ever gotten a client's site penalized?
If so, when was the last time?

Many quality search engine optimization companies have, at one time or another, gotten a client site penalized, either due to a change in the TOS of an engine or an oversight of some sort. If the search engine optimization company with which you are speaking tells you that it has gotten a site penalized, but that it was many years ago, this may not be such a big deal. But if the company tells you that it caused a site to be penalized last week, you should quickly procure a cross and some garlic and run screaming in the opposite direction.

While these questions do not cover all potentially dangerous methodologies, it has been my experience that shady search engine optimization companies rarely use only one illegal trick, and one of the tricks in their arsenal is almost certainly listed above. If a search engine optimization company gives you a lot of evasive answers to these questions, it may give you an idea of the type of firm that you are dealing with. Unless you are comfortable with the risks associated with the above tactics used by some search engine optimization companies, I suggest you find another vendor.

Summary of above Questions to ask a SEO Company

Above, I went over questions that you should ask your potential search engine optimization company regarding its tactics. That set of questions is critical, as before moving forward with any of the myriad of search engine optimization companies out there, you should always determine whether or not they will put your site at risk of penalization in the major search engines (leaving your website worse off than when your campaign started).

However, many people researching search engine optimization companies are unaware that potential penalization is even an issue, they are primarily interested in the results that the search engine optimization company can achieve. The below questions are designed to determine the competence of any search engine optimization company that you are considering. To find out whether any particular company is worthy of your trust in terms of results, consider asking the following:

Do you require that I make changes to my website content?

Any search engine optimization companies that answer "no" to this question are either using shady tactics or are only scratching the surface of true search engine optimization. Certainly, there are some elements that can be changed on a website that are largely transparent to the user, including title tags, meta tags, and alt tags. While making changes to these elements can create a boost in rankings, it will not give you the search engine dominance over your competitors that you desire. Remember, search engines are interested in matching content (what appears on your web pages) with search queries (the phrases that people are typing into search engines).

The problem with a search engine optimization company only manipulating the largely unseen elements is that search engines recognize that these elements are determined by the owner of the website and may not actually reflect the real content that appears on the pages. In order to perform well across the most popular engines, you must make certain that your search engine optimization company accurately addresses popular search queries within your pages. And this almost always requires changes to your content.

Will you be adding additional pages to my website?

If a search engine optimization company answers "no" to this question but answers "yes" to the question above, it likely means that it will be employing what I call the "shoehorn" approach to optimization. This means that the firm will try to shoehorn key phrases into existing pages on your website, rather than expanding your website to include new content.

The trouble with this approach is that your existing pages are unlikely to directly address the search query. When search engine optimization companies shoehorn in key phrases, they may achieve high rankings for you, but you probably won't have many long term visitors. For example, assume that your company makes widgets and you have an "about us" page on your site that gives a brief history of your company, as well as contact information and driving directions. If your search engine optimization company optimizes this page for "custom widget pricing," and you subsequently achieve high rankings for the phrase, it does not necessarily mean that you will see much benefit. One can deduce from the query that people are looking for actual pricing information, not information on where your company is located or when it was founded. Another web page that directly addresses their search query is just a click of the back button away.

Adding new, informational pages to your website is a standard approach for the inclusion of quality search engine optimization phrases. Think of it this way, your search engine optimization company should not be thinking, "Where can we shoehorn this phrase in?" Search engine optimization companies should instead always be thinking, "How can we best address this query with a new page?" The difference in results can be dramatic.

What will you be doing besides working on my site directly?

If a prospective search engine optimization company tells you that it will only be making changes to your site itself, this means that it will not be spending any time working on your site's link popularity. Link popularity plays a tremendous role in determining rankings in every major search engine. Simply put, sites that have a good number of quality and relevant incoming links are held in a higher regard than sites that do not. This is because a link from another site is considered a "vote" for your site, but all votes are not equal.

Quality search engine optimization companies will spend a great deal of time looking for industry specific directories and portals where a link to your site can be added. They will also review all of your existing incoming links and make certain that the website owner has configured them in such a way as to give your site the highest chance for high search engine rankings.

Will you be adding additional pages and targeting additional key phrases over time?

This is a very important question. Even search engine optimization companies that have a reputation for providing quality initial results can fall short on this, but it is one of the most important aspects involved in improving your optimization results over time.

When your campaign is kicked off, your search engine optimization company will target an initial list of phrases. Although good search engine optimization companies will rely on readily available software to determine which phrases are being searched on most often, and common sense to determine which of those phrases will bring buyers and not "tire-kickers," it is in all honesty an educated guess.

Forward looking search engine optimization companies treat the initial key phrases as the "testing" phase of the campaign. They track these individual phrases and find which ones are working (bringing in the people that actually buy something or take the point of action on your site that leads to a sale). Armed with this knowledge, such search engine optimization companies will regularly expand your campaign to include phrases similar to the ones that are working the best. Without such expansions based on real data, you are merely relying on the best educated guesses from the initial campaign, and not the hard data that comes from true metrics as the campaign progresses.

Can you give me references and case studies?

This one seems obvious, but there are search engine optimization companies out there who claim that their clients all wish to remain anonymous, so that it is impossible to provide any specifics. This is usually a smoke screen designed to defer proof of concept. Certainly, there are businesses that hire a search engine optimization company that wish to keep it a secret, but these are generally in the minority. Forward thinking companies generally enjoy showing off their success stories, so you should insist on seeing some real (not anonymous) case studies and talking with some references.

When dealing with references, find out how long they have been working with the search engine optimization company. If all references are less than a year old, it may mean that the company has been unable to demonstrate value over the long term, which is certainly something to consider. After all, long term value is what you should be trying to achieve from a search engine optimization company, and search engine optimization is not a one time endeavor.

Armed with these questions, you should be able to determine whether a certain search engine optimization company is worthy of both your time and your marketing money, or whether you instead will wind up with empty pockets and a useless site. Remember, high rankings don't always mean good leads, and great key phrases are not helpful unless they are used properly on your site.

Summary of above Questions to ask a SEO Company

The first part of this article (above) was about questions to ask a potential search engine optimization company regarding the tactics that it will use to optimize your site. These questions are crucial because there are search engine optimization companies out there that will use techniques that can put your site at risk of penalization by the major engines. The second part of this article (above) covered questions that could determine the competence of a particular search engine optimization company to determine if you will be able to trust them with your business.

Now we come to the final part of this article (below), in which we will look at business assurances made by search engine optimization companies. If your prospective search engine optimization company has satisfactorily answered all of your questions as outlined in the first two articles, it may indeed be a perfect fit for your business. However, there are still some important areas that need to be covered - primarily related to business assurances and expectations.

Below I will discuss the assurances that search engine optimization companies offer, or fail to offer, from guarantees to exclusivity agreements.

What type of guarantee will you give me?

Many search engine optimization companies will tell you that they can't offer you a guarantee at all because they don't control the engines. Other firms will try to give you a guarantee that is rankings-centric and that is, rather useless unless the search engine optimization company can prove that all of the key phrases that will be targeted are both relevant and popular.

On the other hand, a search engine optimization company may offer you a truly meaningful guarantee in the form of one that is traffic centric and drawn from targeted key phrases. In such a case, you will approve the key phrases and the search engine optimization company will guarantee a percentage increase in targeted search traffic. This guarantee is meaningful because the firm cannot pick unpopular phrases and you will approve the phrases to be certain that they are relevant. Not all search engine optimization companies offer this type of guarantee, but it's worth looking for one that does.

Will you work with my competitors?

Few search engine optimization companies will give you a blanket "no." If they do, ask them to delineate. It's rare that a search engine optimization company will block out an entire business segment, and its idea of what comprises a competitor may be much narrower than yours. Some firms will not give you any promises regarding your competition. This response is not satisfactory, as the last thing you want a search engine optimization company doing is learning about your industry from optimizing your site and then soliciting your competition, using the knowledge they have gained to benefit from economies of scale.

Other search engine optimization companies will charge you extra for exclusivity - which can seem a bit like extortion. Remember, the vendor does not have control. YOU are the one paying the bills, and any search engine optimization company that uses this policy is not worthy of your cash. Quality search engine optimization companies will ask you to submit a list of your primary competitors and will not work with any of them for as long as you maintain a relationship with the firm. Period.

How much work is expected of me?

As discussed in the first part of this article, quality search engine optimization almost always requires the creation of new content. But who is responsible for writing this content? If your company is like most, everyone is pretty busy. If you embark on an SEO campaign, will you have to pay extra for an outside copywriting resource? Will you have to give the job to an overburdened internal person?

Search engine optimization companies that are interested in taking as much off of your plate as possible will ask only that you make a resource available for a phone call and will then handle the copy for you (giving you, of course, the opportunity to approve it all). You should also be prepared to provide the firm with any marketing materials, brochures, or white papers that explain your product and your messaging. Since writing for search engines is a learned art, it is not practical to expect a new person to come in and get it right the first time. This means that if a copywriting resource is not available from your search engine optimization company, your campaign can take much longer.

Additionally, once your search engine optimization company has made all of its change recommendations, will it drop a huge document in your lap and require you to make those changes? Or will the firm instead make a resource available to do the implementation at no extra cost? Certainly, there are some sites, especially those that draw on dynamic content, where you may not want an external company coming in to make the changes (although you should still limit your search to search engine optimization companies that are capable of handling this). Simpler sites, such as those created using strict HTML, are easy to change.

Your search engine optimization company should be able to implement these changes on a test bed site for your approval before the site goes live. Much like copywriting, implementation of SEO changes is a specialty that regular designers do not often face. It is usually faster to have your firm do this, since it has handled such a task so many times before.

In Closing

Well, you've asked the questions, narrowed your choices, and now have to select between any of the vendors that answered satisfactorily. Of course, some search engine optimization companies will tell you whatever it is you want to hear to get your business. Your best bet is to take your time and read the fine print, and make sure that anything of particular importance to you is added to the contract. I'm not saying that all salespeople are liars, just the really good ones. But if you're savvy and ask the right questions, that shouldn't be a problem.