Selecting a great SEO agency for your marketing campaign may be a challenging task. There are lots of agencies available 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 looking for an SEO agency to not only look into their past and current client base, but additionally to inquire about their achievements. What Google rankings have they attained for past clients? How long did it take? And the way much did the web site traffic increase? More often than not, it may take around 3 months or more for rankings to improve on Google and traffic should increase from about 50% upwards. At this stage, you might also want to inquire should the agency offers any subscriptions for post-optimization upkeep. A good 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’ SEO services should include keyword research, competitor analysis, external link building, and off-page promotion. It might also help to ask your prospective company if you’re required to approve anything before they go ahead with it. Should they say ‘yes’, it is a good sign they’re honest and willing to work closely with you. To improve your rankings, an SEO agency needs to employ quite a few tasks, not only one or two, so be wary of businesses that just offer limited or dodgy services.

The proper SEO company is essential to provide the proper SEO services and features to the business. Not every SEO can handle all the different types of businesses in the market. Hence, some SEO agencies usually focus 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 is determined by the SEO industry vision and modus operandi.

Every SEO company will operate differently based 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.

Something else to consider 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 generally known as “black hat SEO” and also can get you banished from search engines, which can be hugely detrimental to your business. Also keep an eye out for automatic, bulk submissions to major search engines. Automatic submissions are not considered best practice and it is must more good 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 can be using “black hat” techniques.

It is important to take into account that high prices within an SEO agency do not necessarily mean the most effective quality. Instead, choose a company 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 really is probably too good to be true. Collecting several quotes is a good way to start and always make certain quotes are supported by a contract, so you know exactly what you’re getting for your hard earned money. It’s going to also help to ask what their payment terms are and should they have any fees for early termination.

Inevitably, a trustworthy SEO agency should offer and conduct thorough and specific keyword research as a part of their SEO services. Most businesses 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 input here opinion, the keywords used should be based on their research, analytics and competitor scope, not about what you tell them. Simply, they’re meant to be the SEO experts – not you! “Guessing” your keywords is not efficient and also a great SEO agency will research your keywords thoroughly before recommending them.