4 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Michigan SEO Company
There are a lot of SEO Firms out there claiming to bring more traffic to your website. So how do you separate the good from the bad and know what you’re getting into? You can save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration by asking these 4 basic questions.
Do Your SEO Techniques Follow Google’s Quality Guidelines?
Chances are, no SEO company is going to come right out and say, “No, we don’t follow Google’s guidelines”.
So the next question to ask would be, “Do you use hidden text, keyword stuffing or doorway pages?”
These techniques are referred to as black hat SEO and will be penalized by Google. You can read more about these techniques and how Google takes action by reviewing the Quality Guidelines under Google Webmaster Tools.
Many SEO companies employ black hat techniques because they provide quicker results and don’t require as much effort as white hat techniques do.
You may be thinking, if I see results, what difference does it make what techniques my SEO company uses?
Although you may initially see results with black hat SEO, the results are typically short-lived. It is simply a matter of time before Google scans your content and becomes aware of these spammy, deceptive techniques. As a result, Google will remove your pages from their index and it will be even harder to rank for phrases in the future.
How Do Your Clients Rank and Can You Provide Examples?
If you were hiring a graphic designer, you would want to see their portfolio. You need to take the same approach when you hire a Michigan SEO company. Ask the SEO firm you are interviewing to provide links to their clients’ websites. They may show you some of their work during your meeting, but request that the SEO company provides actual links to their previous work. This way you can review the websites in more detail after your meeting. You can look over each site and see how they rank for certain phrases. You can also check for any black hat techniques that Google does not approve of .
You should also pay close attention to the SEO firm’s website. Are they using black hat techniques? Are they ranking well for competitive phrases?
How Long Until I am on the First Page of Google?
You may have already thought to ask this question. The main thing is to pay close attention to the answer the SEO company gives you. It will provide insight as to whether or not the company is being honest.
If the Michigan SEO Company you are interviewing says they guarantee you will be on page one in 30 days, or any specific time frame for that matter, proceed with caution. An experienced, SEO company knows that there are never any guarantees when optimizing websites for the organic search.
Google Webmaster Tools even states that no SEO Firm can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
An SEO company may feel comfortable promising results in a specific timeline for the following reasons:
- They are using spammy, black hat techniques to get results
- They are targeting extremely long phrases with low competition (phrases that no one searches for).
- They are inexperienced in search engine optimization and don’t realize the time needed to achieve results
What Key Key Phrases Will You be Targeting?
Before you hire a Michigan SEO company, make sure they are very specific about what key phrases they will be targeting. Anyone can rank for “mens extra large black and white striped t-shirt with one pocket ”
This is because there are not a lot of sites to compete with for that phrase and there are not a lot of users who are going to type that phrase as a search query either. So in theory, an SEO firm can get you to the top of Google in a short amount of time however, ranking for a key phrase that hardly anyone searches for is not going to bring a ton of traffic to your website.
Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Michigan SEO Company
Spyder Byte Media is a Michigan SEO company located in Shelby Township. If you are looking for an experienced SEO company that uses white hat techniques, call us today to set up your free consultation. We have helped many business owners generate more website traffic and more leads by climbing to the top of the search engines.
