SEO Provider Red Flags
There are thousands of SEO companies out there. How can you choose the best SEO provider for your business? Here is a list of red flags to look out for when choosing an SEO provider. You should stay away from any SEO provider who does the following:
Promotes Link Quantity: The quality of links is much more important than the quantity of links to a website when it comes to ranking. One good backlink is worth way more than a thousand low-quality or spammy backlinks. Poor quality links are the #1 cause of penalties suffered from search engine algorithm updates. If someone is offering you hundreds of quality links or talking about purchasing links, then something is wrong. That person has not kept up to date with the latest Google algorithm changes. If you purchase hundreds of links for your website, it is considered blackhat SEO. This could damage the credibility of your website in the eyes of search engines.- Encourages Link Exchanges or Link Schemes: This is a very outdated tactic that will lead to keyword ranking penalties. These schemes were originally created to trick the search engines into giving targeted websites a higher ranking. Google updated its ranking algorithm to penalize websites that participate in these types of elaborate link schemes.
- Refuses To Make Changes To Your Website: Some SEO consultants will refuse to suggest any changes on your website. For the purpose of SEO, this should raise a red flag. While off-site work is an important part of SEO, on-site work is far more important, especially at the beginning of an SEO campaign.
- Tracks Changes Internally: Do not trust an SEO company that says they track all website changes internally. What if your SEO company makes changes that you don’t know of, and suddenly your website crashes or gets blacklisted? A top-notch SEO consultant will be more than happy to send you a detailed report of exactly what he or she is doing to your website. Otherwise, the consultant is probably trying to hide something.
- Promotes Heavy Use of Anchor Text: The word(s) used in a hyperlink is called anchor text. While this used to be very effective, the over-optimization of anchor text can cause your site to be penalized.
- Guarantees #1 Rankings: No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Even Google warns consumers to beware of SEO companies that claim guaranteed rankings in a short period of time. SEO is a process, and no one in the world will be able to get you a #1 ranking in less than a week. SEO is a long-term solution that should be practiced with great detail.
- Provides The Lowest-Priced SEO Packages: If an offer sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. SEO is an extensive, arduous process when done correctly. The fact is, there is no quick and easy solution to SEO. You cannot pay a cheap SEO company for their services and expect positive results. Today’s SEO is an extremely labor-intensive process. There are no short-cuts.
- Misses An SEO Analysis: Any company that does not analyze your site carefully is not doing two-thirds of the work it takes to be a true SEO professional. Great SEO begins with a great website. If your site is not analyzed carefully, you may miss important page opportunities for your keywords.
- Outsources Work To Non-Native English Speakers: You would be shocked to find out that most SEO companies outsource their work to fake SEO experts in India, China, and the Philippines. If an SEO company is not performing SEO services domestically or writing content in-house, this is a huge red flag. Do you want a non-native English speaker writing your content with linguistic, grammatical, and spelling errors? There are tons of workers overseas who offer SEO services for dirt cheap. Yes, they may get the work done for you at a minimal cost, but will you be proud to show this error-ridden work to your clients? Will they be using black hat tactics? Outsourcing your services can be a sure-fire way to get your site penalized, or worse, broken.
- Sells Pre-Packaged or Bundled SEO Solutions: Some companies offer tiered-system packaging to sell their services (gold, silver, platinum, etc..). Pre-packaged SEO is not a viable solution to grow your business in this day and age. In most instances, if you don’t select their highest priced package, you won’t receive the results that you are looking for.
If you are talking to an SEO provider who brought up one of the above topics, you should be wary of their services. If you are interested in SEO and looking for a company that you can trust, contact Next Level Marketing today. Call one of our SEO experts for a chance to receive a free audit of your website, and a competitor analysis, so we can get started ASAP and help take your business to the “Next Level.”
