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How to find out if a web design firm understands SEO |
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Our clients are often confronted with a multitude of firms claiming to provide SEO services. But are these companies credible? Usually not. SEO has become a buzzword that firms use to sell more websites despite very limited experience/understanding of SEO. So here's what we recommend. Get your firm on the phone and ask to speak with someone regarding SEO. Ask the following questions:
- After optimization, how long will it take for my website to rank in the search engines?
- Can you guarantee results for my website?
- What is pagerank?
- Why is pagerank important?
- What is the difference between white-hat and black-hat seo?
- Are there any good conferences that I could attend regarding SEO?
- What conferences have you attended regarding SEO?
- Can you offer examples of clients who are currently ranking top 5 in Google for a popular keyphrase?
Want more questions? Why not get them directly from the source:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291
Now, for the answers:
- Somewhere between a few days to a year or more. Yes, it actually does vary that much. Ranking time can be affected by the scale of the project, site structure quality, site content quality, page rank, domain age, and many many other factors.
- Quoted from Google, "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
- Quoted from Google, "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using
its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value.
In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote,
by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume
of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that
casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important"
weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important"." For a better explanation, see our article on pagerank.
- This is the heart of what determines which sites are listed first! http://www.google.com/technology/
- Black-hat marketers attempt to mislead search engines and visitors in order to gain higher rankings. Although it might work temporarily, these practices can get your website black-listed! Not a good idea if you care about your domain.
- SES (search engine strategies), SMX, Pubcon
- Regular attendance to SES
- Yes! Contact us for examples!
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