When hiring someone to look after your ranks and traffic, you first need to know what to look for in an SEO company.

SEO is crucial for a successful online presence. So is the SEO company you choose.

Choosing a good SEO company can completely transform your business. It can allow you to boost traffic, rank higher, and maximize your sales. So, think thoroughly before you hire SEO experts.

Unfortunately, not all companies can deliver on their promises, and there are many fakes around you should watch out for.

Today, you’ll discover what to look for in an SEO company.

What To Look For In An SEO Company?

This section will look at the seven things you should look for in an SEO company.

They’ll help you define the qualities of a good SEO company that delivers on its promises while keeping you safe from fakes.

1. Has Proven & Data-Driven Results

The first thing you should look out for in an SEO company is its portfolio and case studies.

Marketers can promise you everything. But actions speak louder than words, and that’s why you should look at the results company could bring.

There are three things you should seek – rankings, traffic, and sales.

However, looking at case studies can be alluring, especially if they could bring tremendous results within a few weeks.

You should be careful, though. There are no quick fixes or shortcuts when it comes to SEO.

When a company promises a quick fix, it’s usually fake, and you should stay away.

Ideally, try to find case studies similar to the SEMRush case study. It takes at least a couple of months to years before qualitative results can be measured.

2. Check References & Reviews Online

Online reviews are a great thing to watch out for in an SEO company. It allows you to see how customers view the company. But don’t trust everything you read on the Internet.

We trust online reviews a lot, maybe even more than we should…

That’s right, 72% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Unfortunately, what they don’t realize is that these reviews can be fake. An SEO company can buy fake reviews to get more customers.

Uncovering them can be very difficult because they look just the same.

But there are a few things you can look for that can make spotting fake reviews easier. It would be best to look at the number of reviews, ratings, and generic names and pictures.

If you see a sudden spike in the number of reviews or only a 5-star rating, it’s usually fake.

Also, be sure to find reviews on multiple places, not just on the company’s website. Look on social media, G2, and Trustpilot to ensure they are real.

After you’ve found a company with genuine reviews, it’s time to examine them.

You should look for detailed reviews and describe the exact process of a working relationship with the SEO company.

It will help you see if this is what you are looking for and whether it would be a good fit.

3. Understanding Your Business

Every legit SEO company knows that to make your website successful, it must first understand your business.

You must know everything about your audience, competitors, goals, and aspirations.

If you start working with an SEO company and ask you nothing about your business that makes you huge promises, you should probably quickly run away.

Looking for a company that is trying to understand your business should be on top of your “what to look for in an SEO company” list for choosing an SEO company.

It should tailor its plans and strategies to suit your needs and achieve the desired results.

Ideally, it should find a way to achieve it as quickly as possible within a few months. That’s a good sign of a legit and high-quality SEO company.

4. Effective & Timely Communication

A great SEO company should be the one that can communicate to you every aspect of the collected insights.

That means you shouldn’t just be looking at random words like CPC or ROI.

Instead, a good SEO company should simplify these terms and make you understand each of them so you can be in the picture of what’s happening.

The company you choose to go with should also be timely in their responses.

They shouldn’t take days or weeks to respond to your message. Imagine when you would like to make a few changes or ask something about the strategy used, and you only get the reply weeks later.

This shouldn’t happen and is a sign of a bad SEO company.

Communication and timeliness are some of the most important things you should look for in an SEO company.

5. Know The Latest Trends & Strategies

Technology is moving forward at a rapid pace.

Only the best companies can catch up with the newest trends and stay updated with the latest technologies.

These are precisely the companies you should choose to handle your website’s SEO.

SEO is constantly changing, and you must quickly adapt your strategy to it or risk penalizations and poor results.

If the company you’re considering is using decade-old tactics, it’s not a good fit.

Try to find an SEO company that is up-to-date, quickly adapts, and uses the newest SEO tactics for maximal efficiency and the best results.

6. Transparent

Transparency is the biggest determiner in choosing the right SEO company.

In essence, transparency means how open a company is about its strategies, tactics, risks, and results.

It’s about walking you through the whole working process, informing you about all details.

If a company tells you they don’t want to go into details, it’s a bad sign.

Maybe they are telling you that they use top-secret methods they can’t reveal until you pay them, or they will walk you through the whole process and tell you it’s risk-free.

Either way, these are excuses and usual signs that the company is working in bad faith. This is primarily what you should look out for in an SEO company.

7. Can Illustrate What They Can Do For You

This thing is very similar to the previous one, but it’s more in-depth.

While in the previous section, you’d learn about the basic outline of the strategy; you’ll discover the step-by-step process of achieving individual objectives in this section.

You won’t learn only that an SEO company will increase your rankings because you get more backlinks.

You’ll learn the exact strategies for getting more backlinks like guest posting, broken link methods, and other techniques in more detail.

You’ll get an actionable in-depth plan about what, why, and how.

This is a crucial thing to look for in an SEO company because it showcases a company’s knowledge and skills. And you can usually see whether they are worth your money or not.

What Is A Good SEO Company NOT?

We’ve talked about what to look for in an SEO company in the previous section.

In this section, you’ll discover what a good SEO company is not. We’ll talk about the most common signs of a bad SEO company.

It’ll prevent you from choosing fake companies and keep you and your business safe.

1. Does Not Simply Promise

Most people believe the brand’s promises. There is no reason they shouldn’t.

But even though most brands deliver on their promises, some only make false claims they can’t fulfill.

These promises work mostly because they are incredible and can give you fast results. 

If you see an SEO company claims to increase your rank in 4 days, it looks very alluring.

Most companies can help you achieve the same in a few months, while this company can do it in 4 days.

But I am sure that you’d find none that worked like that if you look into the case studies.

This is because it’s an unrealistic claim, just a fake promise to bait you into cooperation with a company that will steal your money.

If a company is only promising with no past actions, it’s a sign of a bad SEO company.

2. Does Not Makeup Results

This is closely connected to the previous steps.

If you find a fake or lousy SEO company, it will over-promise everything, and some of them will even show you “real-world results.”

Generally, if the results are too good to be true, they usually are.

If an SEO company has case studies where it shows the promised results, observe them.

You should especially look for a business they did a case study on.

Go to Google, search for it and find out if they achieved what they say they did. You can also contact the business and ask them about the cooperation.

They’ll certainly have no problem telling you more, and you’ll find out if the results are valid.

3. Does Not Practice Black Hat SEO Techniques

There are still some SEO companies that practice black hat SEO techniques.

But this is a no-go, and letting an SEO company use these techniques on your business can completely ruin your chances of ever ranking high.

It can destroy your online presence…

The most common black hat SEO techniques include buying reviews, keyword stuffing, and duplicate content.

Your website is trying to trick Google into making you rank higher.

Stay away from SEO companies practicing black hat SEO techniques.

They can give you fast results from the beginning, but once you get flagged, you’ll never be able to remove the damages.

4. Does Not Do Constant Maintenance

Every good SEO company knows that optimizing a website isn’t a one-time thing.

It requires constant maintenance and is a never-ending process, even if you achieve your objectives. For instance, if you want to rank #1 for a specific keyword and achieve it, it isn’t over.

You must constantly work upon it, or you may lose your rankings and fall behind.

SEO needs constant maintenance.

Google is regularly changing its algorithm, and there are new trends you should be able to adapt to quickly.

If an SEO company doesn’t offer a maintenance plan, you should look somewhere else.

5. Does Not Care About Your Competitors

SEO isn’t a one-fit solution for all companies.

It’s highly individual, dependent on your audience, company, and niche. And if an SEO company doesn’t care about your business or your competitors, you’re in trouble.

While a company can have experience working with similar businesses, it can’t assume that the same strategies applied in the past will bring you the results.

So if an SEO company doesn’t ask you about your industry or competitors, it’s a bad sign.

It’s probably not a very experienced company, and you should look somewhere else if you are looking to get the best results.

What If I Decide To Do SEO On My Own?

Of course, you can! It’s not impossible to be doing SEO for your site on your own. Fortunately, you can speed it up with our intelligent SEO Suite – BiQ Cloud.

It features all tools you need for keyword research, competitor analysis, and so much more.

All of these SEO tools will allow you to do everything quickly and effectively.

Let’s take BiQ’s Keyword Intelligence for reference. It’s straightforward to use. You have to type in the target keyword and immediately get a list of related keywords, questions, etc.

It’ll maximize your productivity and simplify the whole workflow.

It’s an excellent solution if you want to do things yourself and avoid wasting your valuable time with fake SEO companies.

Conclusion

Finding the right SEO company is crucial for a successful online presence.

If you decide to find an SEO company instead of taking matters into your own hands, be sure to choose someone who cares about your business.

It’s the only way to get the desired results and make your company successful

Today you’ve learned about what to look for in an SEO company. Which of the tips from today’s post did you like the most?

Be sure to let me know in the comment section below!