A business website faces the need to be optimized with the expansion of the business. This is where Search Engine Marketing comes in, and can be executed, basically, in two ways - SEO and Pay Per-Click (PPC). SEO is time consuming but can be done either by yourself or by hiring an SEO Services Company.

Need for Search Engine Marketing

PPC involves paid ads that appear in searches with a yellow ‘ads’ icon. The ones that appear in pages without ads icon are organic listings obtained through SEO unlike paid ads. People mostly rely on organic search results while trying to discover websites. 

Getting more traffic, more sales or to just expand the visibility of the business are the main reasons businesses choose search engine marketing. They can then invest on SEO to achieve the target by either having an in-house SEO expert or by hiring an SEO agency.

What to know before hiring one

There are many SEO service providers out there – shady ones and good ones. A background check is most recommended before hiring one. Observe their claims and you should be able to identify many fake ones fairly easily. Some claims include:

• Payment for Organic listings – This is a myth. You don’t need to pay to get listed organically in search engines. 
  
• Top rank in Google guaranteed – Another false claim. It’s not possible to guarantee top rank in search engines. Google keeps changing the rules to filter bad sites from genuine ones. In addition to this, you will have competitors who will be trying to get listed too. SEO is very competitive.
  
• A One time job to boost your SEO – Many companies claim they can get your website ranked permanently in the first page if you use their services for a specified time period. Rule them out of your list because SEO is not a one time job. You need to constantly change your website to preserve its quality with relevant contents. Google notices and rewards fresh content. If your competitors offer better content than yours, your website rank will drop. It’s simple as that.
  

Expect many more false claims when you are looking for an SEO partner. It’s recommended that you go beyond the first page of search results while trying to find one. Not every good SEO company appears in the first page of search results. The ranks keep changing. 

The most important thing you have to remember is to keep asking questions to your prospective SEO consultants. The questions should be about their background, success stories for credibility, their modus operandi, whether they use ‘automatization’ software for link building, whether you will be informed about the modifications, their service pricing structures, and even the keywords selected for optimization. Keep probing them to get an idea of their expertise.

To conclude, you should be able to clearly identify the professionals from the amateurs. You should have a target, a budget and a set of questions that you need to ask an SEO company. Anyone with a computer, internet and SEO tutorials can claim to be an SEO expert. Search Engine Optimization is more than meets the eye. It requires hard work, dedication and time.