Questions should we ask before hiring an SEO company.

[coolslko]

1. How long have you been providing search engine optimization services?

2. Are you an individual consultant or are you part of a team?

3. How long have you and your team been online?

4. what types of websites will you not promote?

5. Do you participate and/or, are you a moderator for any of the seo - Search Engine Optimization / SEM - Search Engine Marketing Forums? If so, what is your username and can you provide links to your most recent or notable discussions?

6. Can you describe and/or produce recent successful campaign results? If so, can I use those clients for references?

7. Do you have website design experience? Technical background? what types of programming environments are you experienced with?

8. what are your opinions in regards to Best Practices for the seo - Search Engine Optimization / SEM - Search Engine Marketing industry?

9. Can you assure us that the optimization strategies and methods that you are utilizing fall under the criteria of Best Practices for the seo/SEM Industry?

10. How many search engine optimization campaigns have you been involved with?
11. Are there any guarantees for top search engine positions?
12. Do you have experience managing PPC - Pay Per Click, CPC - Cost Per Click, and other bid management campaigns? what types of programs do you use for PPC bid management?

13. what is link popularity? what linking strategies would you use to increase link popularity for our website? Is this service part of the proposed price?

14. what is Google PageRank™ and how does it affect our website(s)?

15. what changes can we expect you to make to our website to improve our positioning in the search engines?

16. what type of reporting (website log analysis) will you provide to us?

17. Do you offer ROI (Return On Investment) analysis? Is this in addition to your contract pricing? Have the consultant explain the process of how the ROI will be determined.

source- [link removed]

[Cricket]

While we certainly appreciate you sharing information, we do not allow linking to your own site(s) outside of the Webmaster Marketplace. Thank your understanding.

[tdd1984]

Originally Posted by coolslko

1. How long have you been providing search engine optimization services?

2. Are you an individual consultant or are you part of a team?

3. How long have you and your team been online?

4. what types of websites will you not promote?

5. Do you participate and/or, are you a moderator for any of the seo - Search Engine Optimization / SEM - Search Engine Marketing Forums? If so, what is your username and can you provide links to your most recent or notable discussions?

6. Can you describe and/or produce recent successful campaign results? If so, can I use those clients for references?

7. Do you have website design experience? Technical background? what types of programming environments are you experienced with?

8. what are your opinions in regards to Best Practices for the seo - Search Engine Optimization / SEM - Search Engine Marketing industry?

9. Can you assure us that the optimization strategies and methods that you are utilizing fall under the criteria of Best Practices for the seo/SEM Industry?

10. How many search engine optimization campaigns have you been involved with?
11. Are there any guarantees for top search engine positions?
12. Do you have experience managing PPC - Pay Per Click, CPC - Cost Per Click, and other bid management campaigns? what types of programs do you use for PPC bid management?

13. what is link popularity? what linking strategies would you use to increase link popularity for our website? Is this service part of the proposed price?

14. what is Google PageRank™ and how does it affect our website(s)?

15. what changes can we expect you to make to our website to improve our positioning in the search engines?

16. what type of reporting (website log analysis) will you provide to us?

17. Do you offer ROI (Return On Investment) analysis? Is this in addition to your contract pricing? Have the consultant explain the process of how the ROI will be determined.

source- [link removed]

I don't believe in all that stuff, if a client come to me interviewing me on what we did and how we did it I would set up a consulting session people that know of me and the people that work for me know were good at what we do. I don't run a want be firm, I run something reputable where we have gave people results and I have ranked clients into some of the most competitive keywords out there, but if a client ask I'll show them our rankings and etc.

Plus I have people like Jim Boykin and etc that refer clients to me so generally people don't ask us such questions.

[Rankenstein]

Unfortunately, when you sell to blue chip companies these are the questions you generally have to answer - just saying 'I don't believe in all that stuff' means you don't get the deal. If you don't particularly need the deal, then fine, but any serious marketing manager isn't going to invest in SEO with your company unless those questions are answered.

[~DaRk-EyE~]

These are good questions for hiring an SEO Company. But still let them show some evidence or proof if they can really provide quality SEO services.

[Natural Elements]

The first question I will ask for a SEO company if I was in SEO needs:

What position do you rank and what keyphrases do you use. So if these guys want to sell me their service, I want to see first how they did the SEO for themself ;-)

[redeemer_spawn]

I didn't really agree on those things., To see Is to Believe how if he/she just answer it theoretically., what important is that you must see him/her doing an SEO.,

[swapw]

Those are all good questions, but if I was serious about hiring a SEO company although I don't currently I would go into their office and schedule a real meeting about my expectations and the quality of service that I expect and understand their company or corporate structure.

Answering any questions that you've stated can be a breeze for an experienced SEO company over the phone or the net.

HOWEVER! that doesn't mean that they will bring that type of service to you. This has been my experience with most of the programmers and web companies that I've experienced. Most of them over hype themselves and fail to deliver. Not to mention there's "no" customer service. If you are serious about SEO, set up an appointment and visit the office if you are seeking some real service. I hear people claim that they are SEO experts all the time, only a few delivers.

As for myself, thank God that I know SEO pretty well that I don't need to rely on a company. I can just imagine the amount of fraud out there and excuses throughout the web. I'm old school, go and visit them and make your own honest assessment.

-Swapw

[EverythingsGoneGreen]

Those are certainly great questions and if any SEO/SEM shirks from answering them, you can probably get a good gauge them from their reaction.

I think a phone call is as good enough to get a feel for the honesty of a marketer, but then it's good to work with people you can actually sit down and discuss your options with.

[t.analiza011885]

nice question...
wow!!!if this would be the question they will ask, well
i need more experience before i will come up to
a perfect answer..and since im still a freshy in this field i am not yet
confident to answer this one....

and swapw is totally right...anyway,...there are some
people who are good in oral but poor in application...

[kenneth.robert]

these are really very good question.
and thanks for sharing with us.