I would like to know from you that what are the important aspects of SEO Company that anybody would be looking out for? Please share your views!
[font=verdana]I wouldn’t buy SEO from a general SEO company. Full stop. Marketing, maybe. Reputation management, maybe. But not SEO.
If my designer can’t make a Google-friendly website then he’ll be sacked as a designer. I don’t need an SEOist to do my on-page SEO, because anyone half-way competent will be doing that all for themselves as a matter of course.
And I don’t want to pay someone to go around blogs and forums spamming them with links to my website, which is what a lot of SEO companies seem to do. Unless you are a specialist in my industry, you won’t have the first idea about which websites are going to be appropriate and effective to approach for links, how to go about it, what words and phrases searchers are likely to use, who my competitors are, etc. Hiring a non-specialist to do work that needs industry specialist knowledge seems like a pretty odd way of going about things to me!
Sorry if that isn’t the answer you wanted to hear, but I can’t think of any circumstances that I would advise anyone to buy in SEO services from an SEO company.[/font]
Thanks for the reply Steve. It was good to hear your point of view. And i do agree to an extent that basic SEO can be done by anyone, however when it comes to competitive keyword websites, things aren’t so easy, especially after panda and penguin releases. I would appreciate if you or anyone could highlight few aspects that a SEO company should have (from the customer’s perspective).
I would take an approach similar to Steve, as if I want to create a “competitive keyword” website, I’m approaching it from completely the wrong angle since keywords shouldn’t be the driving force behind a site. Good, comprehensive content for a good, service or organization should be my goal. If I (or my designer if I use one) aren’t starting from the product/service/organization, then I’m not doing my job…
My personal opinion will be from the way they make link campaign for you. If you find a company that told you only white hat but doing link campaign through social bookmark, directory submission and other non sense technique I will stay away from them.
But if they will do your link campaign through guest posting from relevant niche, making a buzz with link bait, making infograph and other legitimate way then I will go for it
Cheers
Adi Rian
I appreciate your reply but then i was keen to know that how would YOU as a CUSTOMER look out for a SEO service company. What aspects would lure you in and what unique factors/aspects would you be expecting?
I like to see a seo company actually rank for “seo company” keywords. Because if they can’t rank for their own business why can they rank yours?
Thats an interesting answer. Witty and interesting i must say. Thanks for the reply webexp. Is that the only criteria? Don’t you think there are some SEO experts who can circumvent all these google guidelines to come up in the search results?
No that is not my only criteria, but I like to see a portfolio from them. Because I will say there are people that hang around forums and free lance places that know their stuff, but might not necessary have a “company” page. Other criterias that I check out are how they build links. To make sure they are doing things that you are comfortable with.
If you don’t mind asking me your questions, i have one for you. How would you determine?/make sure that the links which that service of SEO was providing are right and would remain at the same place after few months? Would you just go by what webpages?
Yes, you definitely want permanent links, but also what types of link are they building. You want a variety of different types of links such as: articles, directory, social bookmarks, web 2.0, profiles, press releases, videos, ect. You don’t want a company building just one type of link, because if Google changes how they rank you could take a hit Such as Panguin bringing articles and web 2.0 links down a notch.
Well, when It comes about hiring someone for seo Services, I simply ask them for their work on special cases, such as Online Reputation Management, Case studies etc.
this is probably what you need to be hearing op.
Anyone who knows how to make a lot of money that doesn’t have an in-house SEO team and knows someone who offers high level SEO services, it’s sometimes much more time efficient to pay an SEO team than to do it for cheaper in house and spend time hiring/managing when you’re not saving a substantial amount of money in the grand scheme.(long term obv better to do in house)
I am aspiring SEO expert and I have researched a lot since I started my website nearly 2 years ago. The only thing I would appreciate from a SEO company, if I would hire one, is to put my website at the top of national coverage of XXX. I think everyone is able to SEO their website locally, but being at the top of XXX key phrase search in Google without mentioning a town name is worth paying for.
Excellent comments. SEO value gained from bought in services adds little value in my opinion. My view would either to be to find a higlyh specialist SEO provider or read up and do it yourself.
My thoughts exactly 
I’ve always been disappointed that ‘SEO’ has become such a buzzword amongst marketers.
Unfortunately there is a market for it and people do want to pay for these types of services, even though they are smoke and mirrors.
My general advice about SEO is not to worry about it, and not to pay anyone for it.
A good developer will be able to make websites accessible to search engines and users alike, they should advise the clients that the best SEO tactic is to gain backlinks from either writing high quality content themselves or getting written about in various media.
Hey
if i will hire seo company, i think the most important aspects from it will be related to:
-proffesional experience
-reputation of the company
i think these aspects is important. also, i would choose seo company which will give me all the services i need related to seo:
-writing articles
-building links
-marketing in social media
-write meta tags/description
After a while of thinking about this topic I have a question, which is why people do not mention anything about the cost of hiring the SEO company and its adequate results. The cheaper the better providing they will guarantee my website to be at the top of google searches. Then, if they can do it and plus relatively cheap, then I would hire them
No one can guarantee your search results and anyone advertising to so should be treated with great skepticism, even if it’s just a money back promise as it encourages the use of blackhat techniques to get a quick bump… at a steep long term cost.
I think customers should look for case studies and a portfolio of clients that have received positive results. Additionally testimonials from existing and past clients and the ability to talk to those clients! If an SEO company can’t give you any references worth talking to you might want to avoid them. Also, as a customer guarantees sound nice but in SEO no one should be guaranteeing anything and I would recommend avoiding those companies.