How do you understand your search engine optimization hire will deliver? Continue reading for 5 warning signs that you need to be looking elsewhere.

Part of what makes SEO complex is that there are things you can control and things you can not.

First, Google and other search engines are secretive about the algorithms that they use, but there are 200+ factors factored into page positions.

To increase the complexity, your website can rank quite differently on computers versus cellular devices, based on many different factors including whether your website is mobile-friendly.

Second, while you may maximize the backend of your site and revise copy to make it keyword rich, your competitors may do the same and more. The world wide web is an endlessly energetic space where countless opponents fight for eyeballs.

And, it may take months of experiments and testing to find the formula that works for your business and your market.

The seller guarantees recommends or traffic using spammy back-likns misspelled words.

Disreputable search engine optimization companies practice what is known as “black hat” strategies to get you higher rankings.

One such strategy involves purchasing backlinks, meaning different websites that include links back to your institution’s website. Disreputable search engine optimization agencies will register your website with “free” sites of low quality or by an irrelevant industry to boost your traffic amounts, which could help you in the short run but will hurt you down the road.

The legitimate way to get back links is to provide rich, useful content to your readers. If they find value in your information, they will link their readers.

Another “black hat” tactic would be to include misspelled words to your website simply because those misspellings are popular search phrases. This makes your business appear unprofessional at best.

Think it’s not a lot to attempt to game the system? Black hat approaches are heavily penalized by the search engines and can get your website barred from search results altogether or make it impossible to send advertising emails. Getting back in their good graces can take weeks or even months.

A good search engine optimization partner should understand your organization’s value proposition, your clients, and your competition.

If a potential search engine optimization vendor says, they can simply run a couple of keyword reports and do not need to meet up your company’s leaders, workers, or a client or two, beware.

Occasionally SEO companies are excellent at a couple of things and try to match you into their box. But if their specialization skill will not help your institution’s situation, then you won’t get anything from hiring them.

Make sure they are creating a plan that addresses your unique needs. If you receive a proposal that looks like a template that they slapped your logo on, keep looking.

They are the cheapest SEO business you could find.

I love to share this analogy once I talk about SEO or some other advertising vendor. I don’t want affordable sushi. Mid-priced sushi will not make me ill and tastes just like the pricey sushi, so it is a great middle ground.

It is the same with SEO sellers. Just because a search engine optimization company charges the most does not mean they are the best. Or, they might have an amazing sales staff that knows how to close. In my experience, mid-priced search engine optimization companies are the best match for my business.

On the other hand, employing a bare bones SEO company as it is the least expensive will damage your company. These businesses tend to use illegal or questionable methods to boost your rank short-term. But when your company gets captured, Google will penalize you by placing your organization on the equivalent of a Do Not Fly list. Getting off the barred list means you will be paying still another vendor, even more, cash to clean up the mess and get you back in search results.