SEO stands for "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer."

 What is SEO?

SEO stands for "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer."

Using SEO services is a big decision that can improve your site's ranking and save time, but also puts your site and reputation at high risk.

Make sure to research the possible advantages and disadvantages that irresponsible SEO can bring to your site.

Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services to website owners, including:

Reviews of the content or structure of your site

Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages and use of JavaScript

Content development

Online business development campaign management

Keyword research

SEO training

Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Advertising with Google will not affect how your site appears in our search results.

Google does not accept payment for including or ranking sites in our search results, and there is no need to appear in our organic search results.

Free resources such as Search Console, our official Webmaster Central blog, and discussion forums can provide a wealth of information on how to optimize your site for organic search.

Start

For small local businesses, you may be able to handle most of these tasks yourself.

Here are some useful references:

Check out our video series, each 30 minutes long about building an online presence for your business.

Google Webmaster Guidelines

Google 101: How Google crawls, indexes and serves pages.

The SEO getting started guide explains a lot about what SEO is for.

While you don't need to master this guide if you hire a professional to handle SEO, it doesn't hurt to get acquainted with these techniques so you can tell if the SEO wants to use techniques that are not recommended or, worse, are strictly prohibited.

Remember, it can take time to see results: usually between four months and a year from the time you start making changes until you see their benefits.

If you feel you still need additional help from a professional, continue reading about how to choose an SEO.

Choosing SEO

If you plan to use SEO services, the sooner the better.

A good time to hire an SEO is when you are considering a site redesign or planning to launch a new site.

That way, you and your SEO can ensure that you design a search engine friendly site.

However, good SEO can also help you improve your existing site.

Make a commitment that you will implement the recommended changes.

It takes time and effort to implement the changes that SEO recommends;

if you don't want to take the time to make these changes, there's no point in hiring a professional.

Interview your prospective SEO.

Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:

Can you show me examples of previous work and share some success stories?

Do you comply with Google's Webmaster Guidelines?

Do you offer online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?

What types of search results would you like to see and in what time limit?

How do you measure success?

What is your experience in my industry?

What is your experience in my country / city?

What is your experience developing international sites?

What are the most important SEO techniques for you?

How long have you been in this business?

How do I contact you?

Would you like to share any changes you have made to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendation and why?

Find out if SEO is interested in you and your business.

If not, look for something else.

Good SEO will ask questions like:

What makes your business or service unique and valuable to customers?

Who are your customers?

How is your business making money, and how can search results help?

What other advertising channels do you use?

Who are your competitors?

Check your SEO business references.

Ask previous clients if they thought this SEO was providing a useful service, was easy to work with, and had positive results.

Request a technical audit and search of your site to learn what SEO thinks needs to be done, why, and what results to expect.

You may need to pay for this service.

You may need to provide read-only access to your site in Search Console.

(At this stage, don't give written access.) Prospective SEOs must be able to provide realistic estimates of improvement and roughly the work that needs to be done.

If they guarantee that the changes they make will get your site to appear in the top place in search results, find another SEO.

Decide if you want to hire an SEO.

Preventive measure

There are many SEOs who can provide valuable services to clients, but there are also irresponsible SEOs who tarnish the industry with overly aggressive marketing efforts and try to manipulate search engine results through unfair means.

Practices that violate our guidelines can result in negative adjustments to your site's presence on Google, or even removal of your site from our index.

When an SEO submits a set of recommendations for your site, ask it to corroborate its recommendations with trusted sources, such as Search Console help pages, Webmaster blog posts, or Google-approved responses on webmaster forums.

Here are a few things to consider:

One common scam is the creation of "shadow" domains that redirect users to a site using fake redirects.

These shadow domains are often owned by SEOs who claim to be working on behalf of clients.

However, if the relationship worsens, the SEO will redirect the domain to another site, or even to a competitor's domain.

If that happens, it means that the client is paying to develop a competing site that the SEO fully owns.

Another prohibited practice is posting keyword-packed doorway pages on client sites.

SEO promises to make pages more relevant to multiple queries.

This is wrong because every page is rarely relevant with a wide variety of keywords.

However, what's more dangerous, the doorway page also often contains hidden links to other SEO clients.

Such doorway pages can reduce a site's link popularity and redirect it to SEOs and other clients, which can include sites with inappropriate or illegal content.

Lastly, avoid getting involved in link schemes, such as buying links from other sites to increase your ranking.

This is against Google's quality guidelines and may result in manual action on some or all of your site, which will negatively impact your site's ranking.

If you think you were being scammed by an SEO, you can report it.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about fraudulent practices or unfair business.

To file a complaint, go to: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click "File Complaint Online", call 1-877-FTC-HELP (US only), or send a message to:

Federal Trade Commission

CRC-240

Washington, D.C.

20580

If your complaint is directed to a company in a country other than the United States, please send it to http://www.econsumer.gov/.

Useful guide

Be wary of SEO companies and web consultants or agencies sending you unsolicited e-mails.

And surprisingly, we also get this spam email:

"Dear google.com,

We visited your site and found that it is not listed in most of the major search engines and directories ... "

Be skeptical of unsolicited e-mails about search engines, just as you would e-mail advertising for "diet-in-sleep" pills or requests for remittances from criminals.

Nothing can guarantee a # 1 ranking on Google.

Watch out for SEOs who claim to guarantee rankings, claim to have a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise "priority submission" to Google.

There is no priority submission for Google.

In fact, the only way to submit your site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this at no cost.

Be wary of companies that are confidential or don't tell you exactly what to do.

Ask for an explanation if anything isn't clear.

If an SEO creates fake or misleading content on your behalf, such as a doorway page or "dumped" domain, your site will be completely removed from Google's index.

In the end, you are responsible for the actions of the company you are using, so it would be nice if you know in advance how they will help you.

If an SEO has FTP access to your server, the SEO should be able to explain all the changes it makes to your site.

You don't need to link to SEO.

Avoid SEOs that boast about the effectiveness of "free for all" links, link popularity schemes, or submit your site to thousands of search engines.

These kinds of useless methods don't affect your ranking in search results on major search engines - at least not what you expected.

Choose wisely.

If you plan to use SEO services, you should do some research about the industry.

Of course, Google is one way to do it.

Without intending to comment on a specific company, Google came across several companies claiming to be SEOs engaging in unacceptable practices in the business.

Be careful.

You have to understand where your money is going.

While Google has never sold better rankings in our search results, some other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results.

Some SEOs promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section and not in the search results.

Some SEOs even change their bid prices in real time to show as if they have "control" over other search engines and can position themselves however they want.

This scam doesn't work on Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separate from search results, but make sure you ask the SEO which fees are incurred for permanent inclusion and which are for temporary advertising.

What are the other things to watch out for?

There are several warning signs that you are dealing with rogue SEO.

This list is not exhaustive, so when in doubt, rely on your instincts.

Just stay away if SEO:

Has a shadow domain

Post links to other clients on the doorway page

Offer to sell keywords in the URL field

Does not distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages

Guaranteed ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases that you'll naturally get

Operates with multiple aliases or fake WHOIS info

Getting traffic from "fake" search engines, spyware, or scumware

Have a domain that has been removed from Google's index or is not even listed on Google