Good SEO Companies vs. Bad SEO Companies

There are a lot of SEO companies out there today. Choosing the right one is critical to your organization's success. High-quality SEO firms will help grow and maintain a strong online presence. Their optimization methods are comprehensive and use industry best practices. Good SEO service is always transparent to the client. Good SEO companies will always be able to demonstrate the business value of their services.

Bad SEO companies do not enhance online presence, they threaten it. Some use methods that clearly violate published search engine guidelines. As a result your website could be penalized by the search engines or removed from the rankings completely. Other companies offer services which are meaningless to search engine optimization. They may provide some vague data as evidence of success but unfortunately these services add no value to your business.

How do you distinguish good SEO companies vs. bad SEO companies? Use your instincts as a consumer. “Too good to be true” is even more true online. Some general differences are in the table below but they won't tell you everything. Very aggressive service strategies could be good or bad. The same is true for simplicity of service. Learn more by reading articles and reaching out to search engine optimization companies. Selecting the right SEO company may well determine your ultimate success online.

Good SEO Examples

• Uses industry best practices and follows search engine guidelines.
• Services focused on long-term sustainable growth.
• Takes time to understand the unique business goals and objectives of clients.
• Set realistic expectations and goals for optimization.
• Flexible service offerings depending on each client.
• Concentrate on achieving ranking improvements at the top four search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN/Live, and Ask.
• Delivers comprehensive services including: natural optimization, link building campaigns, Pay-Per-Click management, and Social Media Marketing.
• Achieves quality rankings for keywords relevant to your business.

Bad SEO Examples

• Engages in link spamming/farming, hidden text, and other methods that violate search engine guidelines.
• Offer quick fixes with no plan for future.
• Little to no interaction with their clients.
• Guarantee immediate results, ex. “top rankings in a week!”.
• One-size-fits-all service.
• Offer submission to hundreds of search engines. (Fact: the top four search engines make up 93.7% of US market share.*)
• Relies on a single method for optimization which leaves you vulnerable to changes in ranking methodology by the search engines work.
• Offers wild promises for rankings, ex. “guaranteed page one” for meaningless keywords.