Best SEO Company? or Bad SEO Company?

How to spot a bad SEO company & what questions to ask them!

You have been bombarded with emails and phone calls promising you overnight success. Crushing your competitors and high organic ranking. In the top 3 positions on Google organic searches within a few months. Now you ignored most of them! But now find you don’t have the time or knowledge to get your website up to date and start getting conversions. So, you start searching! Where do you search? Yes, an online google search for the best SEO company! You’re not alone! We understand what it is like running a small business. At some point, you need to trust a company or person to do this very important role for your company. So, what to watch out for and what to ask!

If it’s too good to be true it probably is!

If they promise No. 1 ranking on keywords or phrases and instant results then they are lying. Unless they rank obscure searched words and phrases to your business. Google does not publish their algorithms but does provide some general guidelines. Including referencing content and a good user interface to provide the best experience. Generally, quick fixes in the past were possible. But these used ‘black hat SEO’ techniques in an attempt to manipulate the Google algorithm. Google wised up to this very quickly. Heavily penalizing websites that used these techniques. Sometimes hurting a business online for months or longer.

So, what should your SEO company be doing?

Firstly, the SEO company need to understand your business model. And the intention of your website to your customers! Secondly, the SEO company should provide short term plan. This may include fixing current issues, online accounts and other issues. Thirdly long-term website and SEO strategy. SEO takes time to develop and roll out and is on an ongoing process. In competitive markets, rivals will also be improving their online presence. Ask for evidence or examples of the SEO companies past work. If there have been significant changes in the company since that work. Google reviews can be great to gain some background feedback. But beware it is also easy to manipulate these with fake good reviews hiding bad reviews lower down. Some companies who experience a bad SEO company won’t bother to write a bad review. Whilst some SEO companies ask or harass clients to gain good reviews or endorsements.

Questions to ask yourself!

So, you’re paying a monthly charge? During the first 3 or 4 months, you can see some progress. They research your site, provide some reporting and make some changes. How many hours did each task take? Can they justify the monthly fee? You may be locked into a contract! Are they obliged to itemize the tasks undertaken and associated hours?

Ask them questions!

Don’t feel shy to ask what they have done and how long it took. If you don’t understand their explanation then ask for a better explanation. They may need an SEO representative that can! We know an SEO company in Melbourne, Australia that told a client to trust them. Told that “trust was essential” and they could not explain any of their work as it was an “industry secret”. Other companies start out well possibly with the best intentions. Then somewhere down the line lose their way. And your SEO investment is devalued. This can also be caused by an SEO company aggressive expansion plan to grow their business. This leads to new customers or demanding customers getting preferential treatment. This can be seen with many small to medium companies having too many clients! Fat Dog SEO only takes on a select clientele that we know we can help with their goals, keeping it small and honest.

Keep control of your online assets!

Don’t allow any company to take control of your online assets. Ensure at all time your privileges to all your online assets are secure. Sure provide management level access but do provide administrator rights! If they get this level they can remove your rights to access your own accounts!

How is Fat Dog SEO based in Australia different?

Fat Dog SEO highlight and explain audited issues. Then after consultation and approval from the client proceed. At the end of the month, the client receives an itemized invoice with the cost & hours taken. Don’t be fooled into paying monthly! Which often the client will supply!

Your website should reflect industry standard best practices. These may include internal linking, website speed or load times, content and structure. Whilst reflecting your industry trends, clients and your company. This can be difficult if the SEO company doesn’t understand your business.

Remember their maybe technical issues with your current site and even poor content! But a good SEO company will not focus on a single attribute but all SEO factors. Some factors that are basically black hat techniques should be avoided at all costs! This may damage your site forever! We will cover bad SEO techniques in the future in more detail. But may include inbound spam links & listings, poor content, fake social media, meta keywords, buying links and so on.