Picking a great SEO agency for your marketing campaign may be a tough task. There are lots of agencies out there who concentrate on Search Engine Optimization, but how can you trust that each will really push your Google rankings to the top?

It always pays when searching for an SEO agency to not simply look into their past and current clientele, but in addition to inquire about their achievements. What Google rankings have they attained for past clients? How long did it take? And how much did the web site traffic increase? Oftentimes, it may take around 3 months or even more for rankings to improve on Google and traffic should increase from about 50% upwards. At this stage, you may also want to inquire if the agency offers any subscriptions for post-optimization upkeep. The best company should, since maintaining high SEO rankings requires ongoing care.

It also helps to look for an SEO agency that offers a full array of services. ‘On-page services’ like website analysis, content optimization, page optimization, internal link building and ranking and traffic management should be offered. ‘Off-site’ professional SEO services should include keyword research, competitor analysis, external link building, and off-page promotion. It could also help to ask your prospective company in case you are required to approve anything before they go ahead with it. Whenever they say ‘yes’, it’s really a good sign they are honest and willing to work closely with you. To boost your rankings, an SEO agency needs to employ various tasks, not simply 1 or 2, so be wary of businesses that only offer limited or dodgy services.

The correct SEO company is necessary to provide the right SEO services and features to the business. Not every SEO can handle all of the different types of businesses within the market. Hence, some SEO agencies usually concentrate on certain niche markets to hone their skills and creativity. There may be special requirements from certain niche markets which only skilled and creative SEO agencies can handle. These may cost a bit more than the other general SEO company service providers. It depends upon the SEO industry vision and modus operandi.

Every SEO company will operate differently depending on their modus operandi and business objectives. Although most have similar offerings and services, some may stand out more than others in terms of service standard and creativity.

Another thing to look out for is any agency that offers to improve your rankings through suspect methodologies like spamming, keyword stuffing, hidden text, high-ranking doorway pages and link-farming. They are often referred to as “black hat SEO” as well as can get you banished from internet search engines, which can be hugely detrimental to your business. Also keep an eye out for automatic, bulk submissions to search engines. Automatic submissions are not considered best practice and it is must more beneficial for you if a company conducts manual submissions. Always make sure that an SEO agency is open about their methodologies used – any secrecy could mean they are using “black hat” techniques.

It is important to keep in mind high prices in an SEO agency do not necessarily mean the very best quality. Instead, choose a business based upon their clientele, reputation and their own site optimization and Google rankings. Similarly, if a business is offering you “guaranteed” #1 rankings for a ridiculously low price, it is probably too good to be true. Collecting several quotes is an excellent way to start and always ensure quotes are supported by a contract, so you know just what you are getting for your hard earned money. It will also help to ask what their payment terms are and should they possess any fees for early termination.

Finally, a dependable SEO agency should offer and conduct thorough and specific keyword research as a part of their SEO services. Many organizations will include keyword research as a given, but be wary of the company that asks you to provide the keywords for their work. While they might ask for your opinion, the keywords used should be based on their research, analytics and competitor scope, not about what you tell them. As usual, they’re meant to be the SEO experts – not you! “Guessing” your keywords is just not efficient as well as a great SEO agency will research your keywords completely before recommending them.