For many people SEO is often a product that doesn’t live up to the marketing hype you hear about it.  More than one business has shelled out thousands of dollars to an SEO firm only to discover that while their title tags were optimized, their website traffic remained unchanged.  Many Search Engine Optimization companies add a level of mystery to SEO and to be honest, many have to in order to protect their own working process for true organic search results.  The question remains is there a modern day Einstein cracking the elusive algorithms of search engines everywhere or are all online marketing companies just winging it?

Is there really a “Dr. Good” to heal your sad website ills?  One major ailment in the SEO industry is that there are just too many people trying to give you bogus miracle cures for your lacking traffic.  The sadder story behind it is that many “black hat” SEO companies can do more harm than good when it comes to getting your website in the top search results.  The exaggerated marketing of numerous search engine optimization companies, SEO software and tools, and especially the newly emerged social media marketers, are a sure sign that things may not be on the level.  But what else should you look for when you are processing SEO applications?

The simple answer is…Results! Don’t go with any single company without seeing their past client results-both good and not so good-not everyone can get to #1 every time, right?  Not just where the websites landed in rankings, but what happened with traffic and conversions too.  Being number one for a search term no one uses does nothing for your return on investment.  Any internet marketing company who doesn’t use analytics to monitor their client campaigns and monitor the effects of their optimization plans probably shouldn’t be the company you go with.  Google analytics will quickly tell show if a website’s traffic has increased by 50% or by 500% and it will identify the origin of that increase too.

Along with those results should be references from past clients who can verify that your search engine marketing firm doesn’t misdiagnose your website’s weakness.  Bear in mind that SEO requires a huge time investment and the price you pay for services should reflect that.  Also remember that with SEO, there are no guarantees.  Just as you won’t find many doctors who will promise that their treatment will definitely work; if anyone guarantees you top results, get it in writing and hold them to it-at no additional charge of course or even get your money back!

There are many reputable search engine optimization firms out there too.  Your due diligence will be greatly rewarded and simply ask for answers.  If your search engine optimization company isn’t willing to sit down and explain what they will be doing and how or why it will help your website, then they probably don’t actually know themselves.