Search Engine Optimization(S.E.O) is a very valuable resource to businesses, especially since E-Commerce is king in 2019. When businesses look towards improving their S.E.O, they may go down the “not so critically acclaimed” path of finding an S.E.O marketing package. This is, honestly speaking, a terrible idea for businesses. S.E.O wise, these companies could actually make your site worse. But the point in question is that, going with one of these companies, is a waste of your business’s time, and money. The following are warning signs that can indicate a S.E.O company is scamming businesses for a quick buck.

1. Promised First Page
A lot of companies like to promise their clients that they can get their website to the first page of search listings. First of all – is getting to the first page doable? Yes, but it is very difficult and time consuming. But the question comes down to – how will they attempt to do it, much less guarantee it? What if a similar website is part of their clientele, what happens then? Do the two businesses compete, or do they prioritize the highest spender? In principle, there is no way to promise these kind of results. The best strategy towards achieving first page is to use Google Keyword Planner. Through this, businesses can review analytics to compare to the highest performing pages in their respective fields.

2. Bundled S.E.O
What some companies might to do raise your S.E.O score is to post links. These links will point to your website and be shared across hundreds, or thousands, of different websites. This used to be a common and effective practice, however nowadays it can be problematic, and many companies continue to do it.

Google can blacklist your site.

Temporary Boost

3. Claims of Insider Knowledge
Google has a specialized algorithm to the way it conducts it’s S.E.O results and rankings. Even Google employees themselves do not know the exact way the algorithm works. For that reason, any company that claims they know someone who works at Google, and can boost your ranking with their knowledge, is flat out lying. To really know what they’re talking about, an S.E.O expert has to know through work in the field, experimentation, and experience of getting things right. Therefore, in order to find the right company to do your S.E.O, the best thing to do is view previous work. Call previous clients, browse their portfolio, etc. Undertaking such a project is costly, and therefore it is absolutely vital to find a reputable company.