Selecting a Reputable SEO Provider

Article Posted 2005 February 10, Thursday
by Paul J. Bruemmer
trademarkSEO
Santa Ynez, California | United States

Selecting a reputable SEO provider can be an awesome task because there are so many different firms to choose from. Some handle only large corporate clients, while others accept a wider range of firms. It's important to select a reputable SEO firm that follows search engine submission rules. While submission software programs are available, it's important to select a firm that performs manual submissions. There are so many questions to ask so I'll give you some ideas below.

A reputable SEO provider will offer a café-menu of SEO service options, and will hand submit your site to search engines and directories, giving you a copy of the submission acceptance. Reputable firms will also provide you with reports on traffic and conversions, per your specifications. When selecting a provider, you should clearly define the services to be included in your SEO campaign.

Optimization Services

A very important part of the optimizing process is the identification of relevant key words and keyword phrases, which are then placed throughout your web page content by skilled SEO copywriters. Also important are the proper HTML tags added to the site by SEO technicians who know what the spiders are looking for when indexing search engine databases.

Complete Keyword Phrase Research

The key to a successful SEO campaign is thorough keyword research, the first step in the optimization process. It is a highly specialized and time consuming process of selecting the best terms (keywords and keyword phrases) to use on your site based on site goals and the term's popularity, relevance, and competition. Once your provider has identified a good list of terms, s/he gets back to you for a review and update of the list, for use within your content and HTML code. It's important to consider using as many relevant keywords and phrases as possible, including generic, specific, and trademark terms.

Site Review

This is an important consulting task where the site is evaluated from a technical aspect. For instance, search engine spiders don't like Flash, heavy graphics, and frames. Dynamic content can be invisible to search engines unless treated properly. A good provider will identify and correct these potential problems.

Body Text Edit/Copywriting

This is another key task in optimization and is done by the page. SEO copywriters will insert relevant keyword terms into your copy, following the density desired by different search engine spiders. Google and other engines recommend creating a page for every topic, using links to explain off topic items. Usually, each page is optimized for one keyword term.

Title Tag Optimization (<title></title> Element)

The title tag starts with a keyword and contains 5 to 7 words, or 50 to 80 characters. It is an important element to all search engine spiders. Additionally, the title tag usually becomes the hyperlink describing your site in search engine results pages (SERP). This is what users see when deciding what to click on.

Description Meta Tag Optimization

The description tag contains keywords in a description up to 150 words or 250 characters. This is an expansion of your title tag and is also an important element to search engines.

Manual Submission

It is very important to manually submit to major search engines and directories, and a good provider will send you the submission confirmations. Submission alone does not guarantee good positioning. It's the optimization of pages that determines high rankings due to good content and properly coded pages.

Paid Inclusion

These are fee based listings, available in various search engines and directories. Overture's SiteMatch service will get you listings in Yahoo!, AllTheWeb, AltaVista and other portals for $10-$49 USD per URL. Another important paid inclusion for commercial sites is the Yahoo! Express listing for $299 USD per year.

Link Popularity Strategies

What's important here is to get well trafficked sites to link to you. Not easy to do these days, and a reputable SEO provider knows how to get quality links without resorting to link farms.

Creation of New Pages

A reputable SEO provider will advise if new pages are needed, based on keyword research.

Paid Search Options

Many times, a good balance between paid and organic search is required to meet site goals, and a good SEO provider will utilize paid search and paid inclusion.

Reporting, Tracking and ROI

A reputable SEO company will provide stats on site visitors at monthly, weekly, or daily intervals. Conversions and ROI tracking is also available.

Customer Service

A good SEO provider always offers follow-up and customer service, as customer satisfaction is a major goal.

How Effective Is SEO?

Marketing Sherpa recently referred to search engine optimization as "... the ultimate cost effective, online guerrilla marketing tactic that generally has the highest ROI of any type of Internet marketing." Search marketing is so effective and verifiable through tracking software that research data, case studies, and the media are replete with examples.

Case studies are reported regularly in the media and are posted on the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) site showing the dramatic results achieved by SEM providers for their clients. A recent article in Wired reported on an SEO campaign for a niche seller of automotive refurbishing tools over five years. The client saw online sales climb to 44 percent of total sales after optimization. The campaign produced hundreds of keyword listings in Google's top 10 to increase total sales 40 percent. The site attracts about 1 million unique visitors per month.

A recent study of client data by Oneupweb found that a site positioned on Google's top three pages through organic SEO techniques can double its conversions through exponential traffic increases. The first month after positioning, site conversion rates rose 142 percent over baseline. The second month, conversion rates almost doubled (194 percent) over baseline. When tracking unique visitors, the average site on Google's top three pages showed a 337 percent increase in traffic the first month after optimization and a 627 percent increase the second month.

The Advantages of Outsourcing SEO

SEMPO research indicates most firms plan to perform SEO in-house. However, this may not be the best option. Here's why:

You'll get faster, better results when experts do it for you. SEO experts who focus on submission and maintenance full time offer a wide range of choices in methodologies and pricing that result in the right SEO strategy for your Web site and industry. SEO is a complex process that requires expertise to maintain long term results.
SEO work requires a lot of trial and error and has a steep learning curve because of ongoing changes in search engine algorithms. When you outsource, you avoid the resubmission errors that can get you blacklisted on the engines.
Outsourcing versus in-house is more cost effective because SEO firms can pass on economies of scale after the initial investment of time/knowledge, methodology, development, and technology expenditures. In-house investment by individual web sites can be substantial and lack cost maximization.
A reputable SEO firm will provide up-to-the-minute options, recommendations and technical advice for Web site changes that improve rankings. Typically, in-house efforts are behind the curve because most instructional material published on SEO tactics is obsolete the day after it's published.
Search engine positioning changes daily. The cost of recurring research and methodology development to maintain listings can turn the tables on in-house profitability. A reputable SEO firm is better prepared and has the flexibility to deal with changes.

Reviewing the above information while interviewing SEO vendors should help you arrive at a good final decision. If you have any questions please contact Paul Bruemmer.

Bio for Paul Bruemmer

Paul Bruemmer is founder of trademarkSEO. His distinguished career in Internet marketing began with the inception of the Internet. A prolific author, educator and Internet visionary, Paul pioneered the concept of search engine positioning before "search engine optimization" was part of the lexicon. His company provided search submission services to over 10,000 websites, including many of the most prominent names in American business.

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