It’s a great relief for small and medium businesses to find Google SEO consultants specializing in virtually every trade nowadays.
However, you have definitely heard stories of unscrupulous consultants and agencies that had ripped off and never delivered excellent results to their clients. Unfortunately, every business faces this true and sad reality today.
To avoid these scammers, most businesses trust big-name consultants to help with their search engine optimization needs. However, these specialists can be quite expensive. In fact, they will often favor high-budget projects to maximize their workload.
If you need to work with a new prospect, you can use these five questions to know whether you’re working with a reliable agency.
Reviews are a Complete Contrast of Company Claims
Before you use the Google SEO consultant’s free website consultation service, check out review websites and forums to know more about these companies.
Most of the time, you’ll find positive reviews about truly reputable consultancies and agencies. However, if you find plenty of negative reviews about the agency, then reconsider your prospect and find a new company.
Refuse to work with companies with overwhelming negative reviews that contrast their company website’s claims and case studies. Additionally, you can ask the clients the prospect features in their case study if the results are true to the prospect’s claims.
‘Too Good To Be True’ Case Study Results
Almost every Google SEO consultant understands that data-backed information is the best way to go with company marketing. True enough, amazing high-figure or doubled expected results will capture the interest of small and medium business owners.
Additionally, if the prospect’s data proves believable with measured metrics, then SMEs will definitely want to work with this prospect.
Unfortunately, even with data-backed claims, some results they claim can be too good to be true. The only way to know is to speak with the client they worked with who received these amazing results and verify it.
Extremely Old Data to Support Their Best Practices
Data is a powerful medium because many audiences want ideas and solutions with evidences. Your prospective Google SEO consultant may mention data and methods they used that worked in 2014-2015. In fact, they might add that they won an award because of their groundbreaking work and even their client during the time attests to it.
While not entirely a sign of shadiness, it is better to work with a consultancy that can present more recent results than ones with ages-old data. The reason for this is Google and other search engine algorithms have changed through the years and will continue to change. Therefore, what worked in 2014 may not work in 2019 onwards.
Requires No Involvement From Clients
A true sign of shadiness is when your consultant claims that you don’t need to get involved in the entire SEO process. Any good agency knows clients want regular updates and involvement in the entire process. As a client, you want to know what you’re paying for and where your money is going.
You’ll want to see if their procedures are legitimate. In fact, it pays to know how your digital campaign’s overall performance is going on a daily or weekly basis. It is possible the SEO company is using “black hat” or illegitimate strategies, which is the reason they don’t want to involve you in the process.
‘We’re All You Will Ever Need’
There are over 200 plus factors that Google and other search engines consider when placing a website as the top search engine result. It’s not just about the website traffic or low-competition keywords the agency uses.
If you’re working with a digital marketing company, it is possible they’re all you’ll ever need. However, an SEO company isn’t everything you need to get on top.
Wrapping Up
An excellent consultant presents the most recent case study with positive results to their new clients. In fact, their previous clients will attest to their performance and work ethic. By remembering these five points, you’ll definitely avoid working with a shady SEO consultant!
