SEO's - Who can you trust...

Hi

Without sounding like I dont trust anyone ...does anyone have some good not so good experiences with SEo's they can share.

How can you jusge an SEO without handing over a pile of cash first.

Cheers

Bill
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Bill Butler Cleveregg

Re : SEO

Sorry, my signature is a bit naff there !
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Bill Butler Cleveregg

Re : SEO

I know what you mean. It is hard to find the wood for the trees sometimes. All SEO people have told me completely different things. Its like the saying, get 10 SEO experts in a room and you end up with 50 different answers to the same question! Any advice on who to trust anyone?

Re : SEO

It's certainly true that you will get different specific advice from different people, and each SEO will have pet likes and pet hates that they emphasise - some are really keen on having clean CSS styled sites with re-written URLs, others will focus predominantly on keywords, meta tags, title information and so on - whilst others again will look at off-site factors such as getting quality links from on-topic, established sites.

This is partially because there are so many valid ways in which to help develop a site and build up its rankings.

Like with most things, it is usually a good idea before you take the plunge and use a particular SEO to ask for examples of some competitive search phrases they have optimised for that are performing well - then type that search into the search engines and see where it is ranking. The key is that to be impressive it should be a fairly competitive search term, one that you can imagine lots of people routinely try to search on.

Dan
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Web Design

Re : SEO

As Dan says, the best way is to ask for some examples of what they have done with other sites and some testimonials from satisfied customers - this is usually worth far more than anecdotal evidence. After all until you hire people why should they tell you their secrets and how they get good rankings?

I feel sorry for SEO's - 99% of their time is spent fielding questions from people who have no intention of buying at all but are simply mining for free information.

It's much easier being in accountancy

Re : SEO

Interesting discussion.

I think it's one of those things where there is a big difference between expectations and reality.

These people are sometimes billed as a kind of magic wand, but the results will only ever be as good as the site and the contents of it and the topics it covers!

Re : SEO

Use companies that do not tie you into a contract. Companies normally make you sign 12 month contract. This is no for me. Best results are normally achieved between 6 to 12 months(some longer). But you should not be tied into a services if you are not getting the results.
Also see what money back guarantees they offer. Some good seo companies provide a money back guarantee within a time frame if certain aspects are not met.
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at £30/month, for a limited time, you can get a full in depth SEO and Internet Marketing Service. Generate great exposure and increase sales for your business

Re : SEO

Are contracts generally a 'bad' thing when it comes to SEO would you say aprisa?

Re : SEO

I imagine the problem with contracts like with anything is that you feel a little trapped or locked in, just like with the mobile phone, cable bill etc etc... harder to get away from if its not working out

Re : SEO

Lianne

I agree with your general point. Not being an SEO I don't know, but I imagine if these changes take a long time to bear fruit maybe some find it easy to work on a contract basis rather than a one off where the client won't see the benefit for a long time?

Chris

Re : SEO

Interesting discussion... there is certainly a difference between saying you're good at SEO and actually being good at SEO!

Tim

Re : SEO

IMHO You need to attach SEO from 2 or 3 different angles.

The Marketeer
The Developer

Possibly the designer. I say possibly because come Marketeers or developers have graphic design experience.

These two areas need to work together to optimise your website and build the reputation.

One area overlooked is customer service. Many sites linking to you allow user reviews, so this can make or break all of your hard work if you have too many bad reviews appearing on forums and shopping sites. Websites are great but can often highlight shortfalls in other areas of your business, so you need to ensure all areas have sound processes before looking at SEO or any campaigns to promote your site.

I'm sure others have other ideas, feel free to add to my comments.
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Supplying tools and services to industry and consumers for over 170 years. Now we're online!

Re : SEO

SEO is like anything else - do your research thoroughly, look at their previous clients and see what they have developed and for who, and then talk to a few and find one you think you can have a good relationship with that will work well together with you.

Stephen

Re : SEO

I agree that looking at previous clients is really important. For example, hiring an SEO specialist who has worked in your industry/sector before can be beneficial.
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Catherine Woods. Real Business - Finance editor; www.realbusiness.co.uk

Re : SEO

Also see how much traffic their own site gets - if they can't manage to get decent traffic levels to their site then could you really trust them to get it to yours?!?

Sasha