Questions to Ask Your Potential Search Engine Optimization Company - Part 2
In part one, I went over questions that you should ask your potential search engine optimization company regarding its tactics. That set of questions is critical, as before moving forward with any of the myriad of search engine optimization companies out there, you should always determine whether or not they will put your site at risk of penalization in the major search engines (leaving your website worse off than when your campaign started).
However, many people researching search engine optimization companies are unaware that potential penalization is even an issue - they are primarily interested in the results that the search engine optimization company can achieve. This installment of the three-part series will focus on questions to determine the competence of any search engine optimization company that you are considering. To find out whether any particular company is worthy of your trust in terms of results, consider asking the following:
"Do you require that I make changes to my website content?"
Any search engine optimization companies that answer "no" to this question are either using shady tactics or are only scratching the surface of true search engine optimization. Certainly, there are some elements that can be changed on a website that are largely transparent to the user, including title tags, meta tags, and alt tags. While making changes to these elements can create a boost in rankings, it will not give you the search engine dominance over your competitors that you desire. Remember, search engines are interested in matching content (what appears on your web pages) with search queries (the phrases that people are typing into search engines).
The problem with a search engine optimization company only manipulating the largely unseen elements is that search engines recognize that these elements are determined by the owner of the website and may not actually reflect the real content that appears on the pages. In order to perform well across the most popular engines, you must make certain that your search engine optimization company accurately addresses popular search queries within your pages. And this almost always requires changes to your content.
"Will you be adding additional pages to my website?"
If a search engine optimization company answers "no" to this question but answers "yes" to the question above, it likely means that it will be employing what I call the "shoehorn" approach to optimization. This means that the firm will try to shoehorn keyphrases into existing pages on your website, rather than expanding your website to include new content.
The trouble with this approach is that your existing pages are unlikely to directly address the search query. When search engine optimization companies shoehorn in keyphrases, they may achieve high rankings for you, but you probably won't have many long-term visitors. For example, assume that your company makes widgets and you have an "about us" page on your site that gives a brief history of your company, as well as contact information and driving directions. If your search engine optimization company optimizes this page for "custom widget pricing," and you subsequently achieve high rankings for the phrase, it does not necessarily mean that you will see much benefit. One can deduce from the query that people are looking for actual pricing information, not information on where your company is located or when it was founded. Another web page that directly addresses their search query is just a click of the back button away.
Adding new, informational pages to your website is a standard approach for the inclusion of quality search engine optimization phrases. Think of it this way - your search engine optimization company should not be thinking, "Where can we shoehorn this phrase in?" Search engine optimization companies should instead always be thinking, "How can we best address this query with a new page?" The difference in results can be dramatic.
"What will you be doing besides working on my site directly?"
If a prospective search engine optimization company tells you that it will only be making changes to your site itself, this means that it will not be spending any time working on your site's link popularity.
