Google webmaster guidelines: As businesses continue to appreciate the value of SEO, more and more SEO companies are established in every city around the world. An undeniable fact is that many such companies are mainly concerned with their own profit and do not provide proper SEO services to those who trust them. In order to make sure such companies do not cheat you, we have prepared six questions for you to ask from SEO companies that claim to provide excellent services. While these are not the only questions you should ask, missing any of these questions before signing a contract would be a bit too risky. Another component to check is if the agency offers case studies for you to look into. This will help you get a better understanding of the work they have done for other businesses and maybe even one in the same niche as your company. 

Is there a guarantee that my website will rank first in Google searches?

Ranking first in Google search results is what all business owners desire. Appearing on the first page of Google equals receiving hundreds of new customers, which entails gaining more profit. However, this requires hard work and careful planning. Even if everything goes well, no one can say for sure that your website will rank first in Google search results. There are many companies providing SEO services to your business rivals. This means that your business rivals are equipped with the same tools as you are. Therefore, merely optimising your website for search engines does not necessarily guarantee ranking first in Google searches. The same issue holds true regarding link building and content production.

Another critical factor is that Google algorithms are constantly changing. This means that the services your SEO company provides you with may not benefit you after a year or so. Hence any SEO company claiming perpetual results, making your site rank first in Google searches forever, is probably trying to deceive you. A good SEO company will guarantee to implement the best SEO services into your website, keeping your website in line with current Google algorithms, citing your business in high-authority websites related to your business, and running more traffic to your website within the proper time. There are a bunch of other SEO services you could ask from any SEO company, and each of these services affects your website’s visibility. Yet, ranking first in search results is not something a good SEO company could guarantee.

Have you provided SEO services to businesses similar to mine?

SEO is mainly concerned with optimising your website for search engines. However, the nature of your business should not go unnoticed. Optimising your website involves several techniques, including content production and link building. In both cases, your company is responsible for creating high-quality and informative content. The content will appear on your website or blog in the former, while in the latter, the content will be published on other websites. If you choose a company that has no experience in providing content related to your business, then you might risk being misrepresented. Those who are not thoroughly familiar with your business will not be able to create the best content for your website. As a result, the content they produce will not receive proper attention from those who use the content.

Let us say that you want to find a reliable SEO agency from Melbourne to manage your law firm. You might come up with a list of 20 SEO companies. If only five of them have previously provided SEO services for law firms, then you should give priority to them. This is important as you can make sure that they are familiar with the nuts and bolts of your business and know what issues to address to attract more audience.   

Are you willing to share information regarding the previous projects you ran?

One of the best questions you could possibly ask from your SEO company. If an SEO company claims that it provides excellent services, then it should be willing to reveal information regarding the projects it has previously managed, and for that matter, the techniques it has applied. If the SEO company you have in mind seems reluctant to talk about its previous customers, you can conclude that there is probably something wrong with their services. Meanwhile, you should also be careful regarding the information they give you. More often than not, many SEO companies provide fake documents on their previous projects to convince new customers to sign a contract. You are always recommended to do thorough research regarding the history of your SEO company before signing a contract. google webmaster guidelines

How do you differ from other SEO agencies?

You always want to go for the best company to manage your website optimisation. Hopefully, you have several SEO companies available, and you should decide which one is the best for you. Several issues make one company more qualified than other companies. Here is a list of key points to consider when evaluating an ESO company.

• The number of customers they receive annually
• The range of SEO services they provide
• The number of branches they have
• The staff experience.
• The case studies it has run.
• The online reviews it has received

The more customers a company has, the more trust you can put in the services it provides. Similarly, the more variety in their SEO services, the better. It means that they are highly professional and can improve your website’s ranking in several different ways. Also, SEO companies that have several branches hold more credibility compared to those with one or two branches. Regarding the staff experience, those who have been doing SEO stuff for five years or more can be trusted. A good SEO company also runs case studies to both help its specific clients and add to its own knowledge. If your SEO company has not run any case studies, then you can conclude that they are either new to the field or unprincipled. Finally, the online reviews a company has received will tell you quite a lot about their services. However, you may not totally rely on such reviews. An average person can create a dozen of fake accounts and leave nice shiny reviews for the company they are working for. google webmaster guidelines

What are the main link building strategies you advocate?

Link building is among the main techniques that bring organic traffic to your website. Many SEO companies tempt their clients by promising hundreds of monthly backlinks. This is highly alluring, yet it should be avoided at all costs. The fact is that receiving backlinks from low-quality or unrelated websites leaves an adverse effect on your website. In the same vein, links solely built to manipulate page rank in Google search results will bring penalties upon the website for violating Google’s webmaster guidelines. Therefore, keep in mind to ask your prospect company to clearly explain their link building strategies to you so as to avoid a Google penalty.

How long does it take before I see the results?

Appearing on the first page of Google is a relatively long-term process. Nonetheless, many SEO agencies promise immediate results, and amazingly enough, many companies fall into their trap. There is a lot to do to help search engines recognise newly launched websites or those which have not been optimised for long as authority websites. Your site might need various on-page and off-page services, and each service requires a certain period before any results are observed. Running more organic traffic to your site is also a time-consuming endeavour. If you want to receive backlinks from high authority sites, which you should, you need to give your company enough time to do its job properly. With that being said, no credible ESO company will ever promise any steady results in no sooner than six months at least. Keep in mind that six months is the minimum time required to take a website to the first page of Google, and this does not apply to every website. Considering the number of business rivals you have, the SEO packages you buy, and the amount of work already done on your website, it can take from six months up to more than a year to rank in Google search results. google webmaster guidelines

conclusion

The role SEO plays in every business is no longer overlooked. Smart managers and entrepreneurs try to improve their business by optimising their websites for search engines. Consequently, thousands of SEO companies have been founded during the past two decades. Unfortunately, the quality of SEO services these companies provide is not the same. Choosing the wrong company might have drastic effects on one’s business. This article discussed six essential questions you should ask from SEO companies before signing a contract. How your prospective SEO company answers these questions can, to a great extent, help you decide if they can be of any help to your business.