Picking a great SEO agency for your marketing campaign can be a tough task. You will find lots of agencies around who focus 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 just 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 just how much did the web page traffic increase? Sometimes, it can 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 if the agency offers any subscriptions for post-optimization maintenance. An excellent company should, since maintaining high SEO rankings requires ongoing care.

It also helps to look for an SEO agency that offers a full variety 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. If they say ‘yes’, it’s a good sign they are honest and willing to work closely with you. To increase your rankings, an SEO agency needs to employ an assortment of tasks, not simply 1 or 2, so be wary of businesses that only offer limited or dodgy services.

The proper SEO company is necessary to provide the correct SEO services and features to the business. Not every SEO can handle all of the several 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 operators. 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 with regards to service standard and creativity.

Something else to check 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 major 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 beneficial for you if a business conducts manual submissions. Always make certain that an SEO agency is open about their methodologies used – any secrecy could mean they may be using “black hat” techniques.

It is important to do not forget that high prices in an SEO agency do not necessarily mean the top quality SEO. Instead, choose a company according to their client base, reputation and their very own site optimization and Google rankings. Similarly, if a company is offering you “guaranteed” #1 rankings for a ridiculously low price, it’s probably too good to be true. Collecting several quotes is a good way to start and always make sure quotes are backed by a contract, so you know exactly what you are getting for your hard earned money. It will also help to ask what their payment terms are and should they have any fees for early termination.

Finally, a trustworthy SEO agency should offer and conduct thorough and specific keyword research as a part of their SEO services. Most companies shall include keyword research as a given, but be wary associated with any company that asks you to provide the keywords for their work. While they might ask for your opinion, the keywords used should be according to 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 as well as a great SEO agency will research your keywords thoroughly before recommending them.