1. How long have you been in the SEO business?

Ask yourself: would you chance the success of your business on a company that has not been around for at least 5 years? Companies in the SEO industry that have been around for 10 or more years are better prepared and experienced to handle the complexities of the constantly changing Google algorithms.

2. Does your website rank for the most coveted keywords in your industry?

If it doesn’t, simply ask yourself, “How can they rank my website if they can’t rank their own and they are an SEO Company?” Reputable Search Engine Optimization and Online Marketing companies take great pride in ranking high in organic search results for their main industry keywords. The ones that don’t should be a red flag.

3. How do your customers view the quality of your service?

If an SEO Company has been around for at least 5 years, they should have public reviews or testimonials. It’s natural for sales reps to rave about their service but the best gauge is to read reviews online and find out what their previous clients have said about their quality of the service. Ask for case studies.

4. Does your company make any promises or ranking guarantees?

Google advises against working with an SEO company that promises to achieve page one rankings for your company or offers a guarantee of a top SERP position. These types of promises simply aren’t achievable because of the constantly changing nature of the algorithms search engines use and the way they rank websites in organic search results. Instead of offering you empty promises of guaranteed keyword rankings, a trustworthy SEO company should be able to provide evidence that its methodologies are effective. Ask for case studies and examples of how the company has been successful at getting positive results for other clients and how they can do the same for you.

5. What is your core SEO strategy?

If an SEO company claims to have some sort of secret magic formula for success, that’s a huge red flag. There’s no such thing as a “secret sauce” when it comes to SEO, and there’s certainly no magic involved. Google’s “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide,” the sole legitimate source of information on SEO, is publicly available, and it’s an absolute must-read for anyone who’s interested in understanding the actual facts about SEO. The primary lesson to learn from this guide is that SEO success only comes from creating websites that provide great user experiences as well as compelling content people will want to share with others. Of the more than 200 ranking factors, the most essential ones are high-quality original content, fast website speed, quality inbound links, and easy-to-navigate, logical structure.

6. What’s your Inbound Link building strategy?

If you ask any SEO expert to cite the most essential factors in achieving page one rankings on Google, having high-quality inbound links and backlinks to your site will be at the top of the list. Because link building is so important to SEO success, a lot of SEO companies will take shortcuts and use unscrupulous link building techniques to artificially boost the number of backlinks to websites. Unethical methods such as obtaining links from phony websites, private blog networks, or websites they operate themselves may help these companies increase rankings in the short term, but they violate Google’s terms and conditions, and Google will quickly ban websites using these techniques from its Search Index.

7. What is the price of your SEO services?

When it comes to SEO, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Hence, a reputable and honest seo company will take the time to understand your business model, revenue objectives, and timelines and only then make appropriate strategy recommendations. Any SEO pricing will be based on the strategy, how much work is involved to achieve the keyword ranking objectives and revenue goals.

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