1. The SEO Company Suggests Specific Keyword Densities: They tell you that your blogs and other content should be written with the sole purpose of embedding all the right keywords as often as you can. Run away even faster if the company tells you that the best keyword density is 12.4%. I’m guessing that the average engineer at Google is a lot smarter than the average SEO consultant. That being said, you’re better off writing content that REAL PEOPLE will enjoy and link to rather than writing content to try and lure the search engines into ranking you better. Yes, you need to get your keywords in your content, but try make it “natural” sounding.
2. Crazy Directory Submissions: The company offers to submit your website to a TON of online directories. Run away even faster if they suggest that they have a proprietary list of “high quality” links and directories that no one else knows about. A lot of these “submit your website to 478 directories” tools that came out a few years ago. I’m saying that most of the directories that let anybody submit their websites to are likely not worth much to you.
3. Too Focused On Link Buying: Shortly after a $1,000 “assessment” fee, the company’s initial step is to ask you to create a $3,000 monthly budget so you can buy some links. Anybody can buy links, but, there needs to be some effort to create high-quality inbound links that you don’t have to pay for every single month that goes by. SEO strategies, particularly in the B2B sector, should be about leverage. Start with creating quality content and spend your money their instead.
4. Black Hat SEO Tactics: The SEO company suggests any form of black hat SEO techniques like putting hidden text on pages, redirecting users to a different site, offering different content to search engines vs. human users or anything that sounds like you are trying to trick the search engines or “game” the system. Remember: Google has some really smart people, so it’s not worth trying to beat the system. Focus on building your rank ethically and by following best practices or search engine guidelines.
5. Complicated Explanations: The company can’t explain the rationale behind their strategy and tactics in ways that the average person can understand. Though search engine optimization can be nuanced, unless you’re in a highly competitive sector, you don’t need to have an advanced degree to understand some of the basic best practices of SEO.
Have you had a good or bad experience with an SEO consultant or agency? Please share your experience below.
Blog Post Written by Taylor Vowell
Taylor Vowell is a certified inbound marketing specialist with a background in graphic design and website development. www.tmrdirect.com