So many times I hear prospective customers say they are so confused about whom to choose to provide them with SEO - I have to say I genuinely feel sorry for any company taking on board the hunt for a good and trustworthy SEO company who really does what it claims.

Its quite often I come up against competitors adding things  to ‘pack out' a proposal. Things such as ‘Free Google Analytics' -  which is already free to anyone who signs up for it , ‘Free monthly reports', - generally a print out from Google analytics you could have done yourself ‘, ‘performance related charges' - which just worries me as how can you be in control of your budget when traffic volumes can fluctuate so much?? All of these offerings can sound impressive when listed as part of a companies SEO proposal but what are you really getting?

Generally, in my experience, if anything sounds too good to be true - then it is - especially in this industry. As my colleague mentioned in her blog about SEO for £35 a month how on earth can there be any service for this fee?? Can these companies really provide top notch SEO services which drive well targeted traffic from keywords that actually perform AND be pro-active in their approach to manage campaigns? I think not! The thing is - its not about ‘only wasting a few quid' if the campaign doesn't work - its about all the business you could have missed, loss of rankings through bad SEO practice, starting from scratch again....need I go on! It's when you quantify what you will have lost over time that it is vital to make sure you money is well invested for the future of your business online.

I have questions to ask prospective SEO companies that may help sort out the good from the bad:

What happens if a keyword does not perform?

DO they research new ones, make suggestions and action - and if so - do they charge for it.

You may need more links to really push a keyword? Which in essence means more work for the SEO provider - will they charge you for the extra work? If so how much will this be?

What types of links do they build? Be wary of anyone who buys large amount of links on your behalf.

What happens if you drop positions in the search engines? Will they know your site has dropped? Do they notice the change and are they working on it before you notice and will they make you aware of why this has happened? 

If they claim to monitor, then how do they keep on top of search engine activity to catch these fluctuations and what do they do about it?

Can you get to see the work stream of your SEO expert? Believe me in 6 months from sign up you may wish to know what on earth has been going on as you may have seen no real change in your positions.

What happens if I want to change my website? Or add lots of new products? Find out if there are extra charges if more pages need SEO or you wish to rebrand the site etc.

How vital will the keywords be to my business? If the company is claiming to get you number 1 positions, make sure it is for a relevant keyword - not some bizarre phrase that will mean nothing to searchers.

If you are really at a loss ask the company for some REAL customers contact details so you can call them and ask about the service they have received and the success of the campaign.