Over 40 Questions to Ask a Search Engine Optmization Company Before You Hire Them

[jacob martin]

Instead of putting so many questions or checklist on the seo company, its better to choose seo company who charge you based on results generated.
i dont think there are any seo companies who can fullfill all the 40 questions raised. even if they do , the price will be very high.
my advice would be ,not to pay seo company in advance then it will be hard enough to get back the payment even if they dont generate the results

[bhartzer]

i dont think there are any seo companies who can fullfill all the 40 questions raised. even if they do , the price will be very high.

Jacob, I can honestly tell you that reputable SEO companies should have absolutely NO problem answering all 40 of those questions. They're not very "tough", and are honest questions that deserve an honest answer. If you ask those questions, or even half of them, and an SEO firm is not willing to answer them, then I would think twice about dealing with them.

If an SEO company won't answer them:
- They either do not have the knowledge to answer them
- They are going to hide something (or are hiding something from you)
- They don't want your business.

[Steiner]

Ok some of the questions are I feel a little naive, 'guaranteed positions'? An SEO would be insane to guarantee a useful and competitive keyterm a top position. A multi national corporation with an enormous budget could boost their SEO campaign, how can one compete with that?

[grahamallen]

I totally agree, the seo game is full of such nonsense sometimes, everyone is just guessing and the only people who really know how it works is Google and the search engines...

[bhartzer]

the only people who really know how it works is Google and the search engines...

That is true, but there are people out there to have a lot of knowledge--and they do a lot of testing. Through trial and error, search engine marketers who are paying attention can learn what works and what doesn't.

If you are considering hiring someone to do your SEO, do your homework. Those questions that I came up with should help, even if someone only answers half of them.

[grahamallen]

yes I totally agree with what you say, all the stuff I do is trial and error, it is down to experience at the end of the day, knowing when, where and how to place links...

The only way to deal with seo companies is on a pay by result basis, they get you a top ten ranking and you pay them the cash, that way they will pull there finger out and do some work

its a fact, some companies will take the money and run or give you a load of spammy links, you have to remember that some links will ruin your serp just as fast

[LD]

How about a reasonable fee for getting started and plodding along and then a set payment for first page positioning? And, extra bonus for top 3? So in other words, expectations are met - you get the end/balance payment of sorts. Top 3 - extra $ above and beyond expectations.

Just saying. Someone suggested getting paid when you get the site on the first page. I can just see getting a site on the first page and having to chase some people for payment. Now, most will pay - with prodding, but some will screw, or at least try to screw you. Once it's out there, you can't take it back or turn the service off like PPC, right?

[deepsand]

This is a great post, very useful thanks for the list.

Good/great thread/post comments serve no purpose; they're here referred to as "fluff."

[williamc]

but client should also know that there can be sharp rise or fall of competition at any point of time, during optimization.

In general this is almost always untrue. The competitiveness of a keyword, unless seasonal or the end of a trend, generally only gets harder over time as people before you have steadily been building links, making tweaks to improve, etc.

[LD]

How to get rank first page on google?

If you had just taken the time to read one post in this thread, specifically post #51 right above your first fluff post, you might have resisted making two rapid fire posts with nothing of value for this thread.