Business owners and managers, including those in PR and marketing, want top search engine rankings for their websites. They also like to keep costs to a minimum. Combining those two goals when selecting SEO services can be disastrous. SEO and marketing experts agree on one recommendation when seeking SEO services: Avoid lowball prices.
Low-cost SEO services under $500 a month, especially those guaranteeing top search engine results, likely mean unscrupulous black hat techniques that risk search engine penalties.
The Results of Low Costs
“Spinning content, automated link building, submission spam, and even low-quality guest posting were all a result of companies trying to cut costs and expedite the ranking process,” writes Travis Bliffen, founder of Stellar SEO, in Website Magazine. “By now, most of you should know how that ended!”
If you don’t know, it ended with Google dropping websites’ rankings or even eliminating them from search results.
“Quality SEO work is time, knowledge and resource intensive. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to make a quick buck at your expense,” Bliffen says.
Beware Cutting Corners
Quality SEO consultants and agencies never charge low prices, agrees digital marketing expert Neil Patel “If you’re hunting for a discount, chances are you’ll end up with an SEO who cuts corners and hurts your site in the long run,” Patel states in Quick Sprout.
In the early days of search results, SEO meant directory and article submissions. Those techniques are outdated, Bliffen says. The past couple years of Google updates has overhauled SEO practices.
More services fall under the SEO umbrella, including website speed and user experience optimization, link building and content marketing. Importantly, black hat SEO agencies now have few tricks at their disposal that can quickly and affordably boost search rankings. Those trends mean SEO prices have increased over the last two years.
However, higher prices don’t guarantee quality work, Patel cautions. Some agencies charge outrageous amounts for basic work simply because they get away with it. Most website owners don’t know how to evaluate SEO work. Asking these questions will help avoid that situation and properly vet SEO experts, whether consultants or agencies.
Questions to Ask SEO Candidates
Can you guarantee that our site will rank number for a common search term? That question quickly separates honest professionals from disreputable players. Search algorithms are secret and can change without notice, and the top position is impossible to guarantee. Some may guarantee — and deliver — top ranking for a very easy keyword phrase, but that could motivate them to become overly aggressive to gain short-term results.
Can you list your past and current clients? Reputable SEO consultants should be willing to share a list of current and former clients with contact information, advises SEO expert Vanessa Fox. Clients should at least be able to say if they notice a positive impact on their search ranking, Fox told Entrepreneur.
What’s your strategy? Proper strategies generally cover technical review of your website to fix broken links and error pages and resolve and improve other issues. Ask about off-page strategies to obtain back links.
Do you follow search engines’ webmaster guidelines? Google, Bing and Yahoo have published their webmaster best practices that list unsavory black hat tactics. Ignoring those guides could prompt low search results or more severe penalties.
How will you inform me about changes to the website? It’s essential to track changes. If something goes wrong, you need to know exactly what caused it. Having an in-house developer make the changes mitigates risks, although it slows the process.
Bottom Line: Selecting the wrong SEO consultants can lead to ruinous results. While all organizations want for strong search engine results, preferably quickly and affordably, low-cost SEO consultants who promise fast results risk search engine penalties.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
