Too Good to be True
SEO is a long-term and organic process and if someone guarantees that they can take your website to the top of Google’s rankings in no time, that is a big warning sign.
Also, a lot of SEO providers will promise you that you’ll be on the first Google page within a month. That’s not a real guarantee because Google’s algorithms are too complex to achieve that result in such a short period of time. SEO usually starts showing true results at around 6 months
Yes, eventually you can get to the top of the first SERP (Search Engine Results Page) but, nobody can guarantee that you’ll stay there.
Not Interested in Your Business Goals
If companies don’t bother to understand what your business goals are and how the SEO will align with them, you shouldn’t trust them at all. In most cases, these companies promise a lot of traffic without even knowing whether this promised traffic is relevant or not.
They Have Weak Content Strategy
If you’re going to trust someone to optimize your website, you must be impressed by their website and their own content first. If the provider’s website is filled with outdated content and it’s hard to navigate, it’s more than clear that they don’t understand SEO at all
Also, inspect the provider’s blog. For a good SEO, it’s very important to constantly update your blog. If they haven’t posted a blog post in a while, it’s a sure sign that they’re not interested in improving at all.
Poor Communication
SEO should be the provider’s entire business model. It should not be a side hustle for a couple of freelance marketers that want to earn an extra buck.
So, before you decide to hire an SEO company, send them a few emails and schedule a call to feel them out and see if they’re a legitimate company or not. If there’s no significant organization and/or poor communication, get out of there as quickly as you can.
