How do you rate someones experience/credibility/reputation in SEO?

[addz123]

SEO is such a fast changing, dynamic industry where SEOs with old tricks can go out of date within a year.

As such, I was just wondering what factors people would use when judging the knowledge and credibility of someone in SEO.

I've also been asked this by a partner who doesn't really know anything about SEO, because he basically couldn't work out who to trust or listen to.

For me personally, I rate people who have at least 5+ years experience in SEO, manage big websites or clients, and speak at industry events. The last one if the most important for me because it just adds so much credibility. I'd probably trust someone more with agency experience too as I know that gives them a lot more case studies/clients/website data to look at and learn from others.

I also use stuff like Linkedin or google someones name to try to find out about them.

 

[murph]

Honestly, I'd trust no one but myself these days. I'm no expert by any means, but at least I wouldn't try anything too risky!

 

[FWSJay]

Yeah, myself only with something really important. Even though it can be a very profitable business model, the ones who really know make so much more ranking their own sites, and wouldn't consider offering their services out at almost any price....

 

[Murray]

I ask them about link building..

That is the make or break for me.

 

[Edwin]

I'm guessing most of the best SEO will be too busy to have to stoop to "proving" their credibility. The demand is enormous for people who know what they're doing.

But yes, link building is definitely an interesting issue to look at - and any SEO who says "don't worry about link building any more" should be off your list immediately.

 

[Blossom]

Ask them what the most difficult things they've ranked for are and what positions they got over what period of time. If they will give the information, ask for the sites and look at the backlink profiles. Visit their own site and look at its backlink profile just to see the kind of links they can build if all else fails.

The most dangerous things to look for are 1) people who claim they know SEO but it's only because they've made their site rank for their own name/terms that are never searched for - these are generally the ones that 'guarantee' rankings and 2) Blackhat strategies that will only last in the short term.

Some interesting links here which may be useful: http://moz.com/community/q/what-questions-to-ask-in-seo-interview

 

[martin-s]

To my mind, the number one question should be about you, not them. "Do I deserve to rank well for this phrase?".

Like it or not, "link building" is now either expensive (good quality outreach) or dangerous. If you want to rank your website for something, start with looking at the strategy required to make your business deserve the ranking.

 

[addz123]

To my mind, the number one question should be about you, not them. "Do I deserve to rank well for this phrase?".

Like it or not, "link building" is now either expensive (good quality outreach) or dangerous. If you want to rank your website for something, start with looking at the strategy required to make your business deserve the ranking.

This is one of the issues that I've thought about too. An SEO can only do so much for you, but if your site sucks then there lies the issue.

But then you have the issue of requiring an SEO person not just to do outreach/earn links, but also dictating the whole content strategy, design and functionality of the website. So it's not really an SEO person anymore it becomes a website strategist or creative director.

 

[Edwin]

That could be a cunning way to test a potential SEO. Give them the example of a really "bad" site (assuming you've got a number) and if they start making huge promises based on what they will do rather than on major changes being made to the site itself, run a mile...

 

[monaghan]

I regularly get offers of high quality SEO from people with obscure gmail addresses, happy to pass on these addresses for you

I have a few customers who have been doing SEO work for years, I'd be happy to pass on your details to them if you wish.

 

[killaclown]

surely if you google "seo agency" or "seo consultant" the results would be proof enough.

Try logging the results for a couple of months before making your choice. Choosing companies that have not moved or moved little.

Check the work they have stated they have worked on.

Speak to the company and do some more basic business due dilligance.

 

[Blossom]

surely if you google "seo agency" or "seo consultant" the results would be proof enough.

Try logging the results for a couple of months before making your choice. Choosing companies that have not moved or moved little.

The problem with that is you don't want to hire someone who puts all their time and effort into working on their own rankings - and they will need to in order to rank for such competitive terms long-term.

Logigng the results would help but the rankings will always shift a lot in that area as well - a lot of penalisation goes on.

There are also plenty of companies that rank fairly well but charge extortionate prices for stupid things, like £XXX for them to post 5 comments on websites with good PR/domain authority.

 

[Retired_Member38]

surely if you google "seo agency" or "seo consultant" the results would be proof enough.

Try logging the results for a couple of months before making your choice. Choosing companies that have not moved or moved little.

Check the work they have stated they have worked on.

Speak to the company and do some more basic business due dilligance.

We are on the receiving end of a lot of (unrequested) seo pitches by email and a lot of companies are using the 'hire us, we rank for .... ' approach.

The first issue with your idea is that if you find yourself in need of an seo company, you might not have the luxury of an 8 week wait while you monitor the search results. If a penalty wiped out your sales and you have staff to pay... you probably need to move on this yesterday, not August.

Then tied to the issue above, is some garbage tactics will work for longer than 8 weeks, but are clearly not viable long term. I don't want to name and shame a particular company so I've blanked this out a bit, but I just searched for a major seo related phrase (easily more prestigious than the two you quoted) and someone in the top 5 has this as their link profile:

That anchor text profile is a disaster waiting to happen. Yes it has worked for them right now, but it would be foolish to base a long term strategy around doing something like that. (before you all go running to google to look, "SEO service" wasn't the phrase I checked )

If they think the above is an acceptable link profile for themselves, then are they going to do the same for you?

If you hire them and they do the same, the chances are that in however many months from now you both get burned. But they are just an internet website, probably run from someones bedroom. They'll just dump their domain name and be back in business next day (a handful of seo companies 301'd their sites almost on a weekly basis not so long back because of issues like this remember). If you were a 'real' business with a real shop front and everything else, you probably don't have the luxury to just dump your domain at the first sign of issues. So tactics like that are not appropriate at all

 

[ratboy]

Monkey - found who you are discussing.

Looks like they burned their old domain and started new on another.

Not the best "Case Study" really...!!

 

[julian]

In 15 years of doing me own s.........e..........o! I've only ever had 1 site really really smashed down by google (that was in update 1 a while back) - you live and learn.

Truth is I want to vomit at the mention of the phrase seo, white hat, black hat, but it is a necessary evil :!:


My gut feeling is that if you have to pay for seo then you should not be in business in the Internet - or in the niche you want to rank in anyway.

The reason is, that if you need to pay someone else to seo your site, in most cases it means you arrived too late in the game, or have done something wrong technically, or you don't understand the internet enough to know that there is no such thing as seo..

 

[addz123]

My gut feeling is that if you have to pay for seo then you should not be in business in the Internet - or in the niche you want to rank in anyway.

The reason is, that if you need to pay someone else to seo your site, in most cases it means you arrived too late in the game, or have done something wrong technically, or you don't understand the internet enough to know that there is no such thing as seo..

I completely understand what you're saying but it still seems harsh. Even if it's just on-page SEO, website structure and technical implementation there are services an SEO company can provide that's got nothing to do with link building.

 

[Retired_Member38]

or you don't understand the internet enough to know that there is no such thing as seo..

I suspect that most companies ranking for any major phrase would disagree with that comment

I don't think you can show us an example of anyone at all ranking for a legitimate, big money phrase completely by accident, or just because they're a brand. Anyone in that position would have actively been applying 'seo' to their site/links...

 

[julian]

Touché, nowt wrong in companies point their resources towards a keyword or niche - its just how they go about it.

It seems there's such a tragic history of bad 'seo' that companies don't know where to turn to these days (especially sme's) to get a solid, affordable long term solution.

don't worry though..

"thanks to 1&1s seo tools customers can find you anywhere!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asds6XQ54ws

I suspect that most companies ranking for any major phrase would disagree with that comment

I don't think you can show us an example of anyone at all ranking for a legitimate, big money phrase completely by accident, or just because they're a brand. Anyone in that position would have actively been applying 'seo' to their site/links...

 

[Blossom]

My gut feeling is that if you have to pay for seo then you should not be in business in the Internet - or in the niche you want to rank in anyway.

The reason is, that if you need to pay someone else to seo your site, in most cases it means you arrived too late in the game, or have done something wrong technically, or you don't understand the internet enough to know that there is no such thing as seo..

Or you don't have the time?

 

[namealot]

The vast majority of the time Seo is there to try and compensate for inadequacies and failings? Without tackling rectifying the problem I would say paying others to write articles link to you etc “quick fix” and means your not leaning? Because if you have a, design, product, service, relevant useful up to date content etc If it does what is should at the right price people link, write articles etc free…? The end users is not google or a web spider ? If you go heads up with a site that offers all it should and yours doesn’t no amount of seo will make you the eventual winner In the wild west of Domains SEO = turd painting, snake oil sellers..?