“Dear google.com,

I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”

I guess that’s one of the reasons why Google has decided to incorporate SEO standards into their webmaster guidelines. They have mentioned a few points that should be considered when choosing the right SEO Company. I’m going to examine these points over the next coming posts and provide my own analysis. You can access Google’s SEO Standards by clicking here.

Google Says: Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.
Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for “burn fat at night” diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

What We Say: Don’t completely out rule random emails but address them with a hint of skepticism. I mean there’s no denying that there are shady SEO companies that have a dungeon full of workers who sit there producing vaguely customized emails in order to rip you off. However, there can be that diamond in the rough that has genuinely analyzed your website and found it not to be ranked among your top competitors. I guess it’s ultimately up to you to do your research on a company before you commit to anything.

Google has developed this set of questions to ask SEO companies before you invest:

- Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
- Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
- Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
- What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? - How do you measure your success?
- What’s your experience in my industry?
- What’s your experience in my country/city?
- What’s your experience developing international sites?
- What are your most important SEO techniques?
- How long have you been in business?
- How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?

Google Says: No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google
Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

What We Say: First position rankings cannot be guaranteed. The position of a website on Google continuously changes. We don’t guarantee a first position ranking, no one can guarantee a first position ranking and it is important to be wary of SEO companies that do guarantee this, as position ranking is highly variable on market fluctuation and more importantly Google’s constant algorithmic change.

What we guarantee is a first page ranking and if this is not achieved within the time frame specified we work for free until that result is achieved.

We can guarantee this because we have been working with Google and other search engines for the past six years and only through experience we can, with a fair degree of accuracy, prognosticate how long it will take for a particular website to gain a ranking for their industry key terms. The time spent on optimizing a particular website is a key variable in determining how long it will take a website to get to a particular page.

Although we have never had to meet our guarantee, we have put it in place for customer assurance. We can guarantee a first page ranking NOT because we have access to Google in any way shape or form but because we have the experience to know what it takes.

Google Says: Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do.
Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or “throwaway” domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google’s index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it’s best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to “help” you.

What We Say: There is no smoke and mirrors with SEO, the key ingredient in getting a website to page one is the amount of time spent on optimization, both on-page and off-page (all other things being equal…age, authority, site size etc…). One of the reasons why professional SEO teams have come into place is due to the increasingly large amount of people who don’t have that time to spend on their websites. If an SEO company is being secretive and won’t tell you everything chances are they either don’t know what they’re doing or they’re participating in activities that could lead to consequences as severe as getting a site de-indexed from Google…this is bad.

At LTSEO, we combat any obscurities by providing a layout of everything we’re going to do before a client even comes on board. If you ask us we’re happy to explain all processes behind SEO and specifically what our processes entail. We do this to ensure all our clients are comfortable with our optimisation methods and to guarantee that our SEO practice is compliant with Google’s Standards. Our dedicated account managers offer ongoing support for any queries that may arise and provide up to date monthly reports and website analyses to show the progress of an SEO campaign. It is important that all SEO companies provide reporting measures and a complete open book in order for their clients to see the progress of their website. As Google Says “Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do”.