Skip to main content

Search engine optimization firms; how to pick

Many of the readers of iProceed blog are quite aware of our advice against hiring search engine optimization (or 'optimisation') firms that promise all kinds of ranking in search engines. Here is why we think that these promises do not make long-term strategic sense:



  1. Search engines, particularly the larger ones like Google, Yahoo, etc., are always refining their algorithms so that optimization for one algorithm may not work as soon as it is changed. In any case, search engines do not disclose their algorithms and almost all of the models of the algorithms out there are purely speculative.
  2. New search engines are always emerging (e.g. Clusty) and they can take a totally new approach to serving search results.
  3. While some SEO firms might actually get you a ranking that they promise (sometimes through rather dishonest means), do not forget that the same firms or their competitors are working to reach that same first or the second page of search results. Thus, no rankings are ever permanent.

So should you optimize your website?

Absolutely! But not with the sole purpose of being on the first page of search results. If you optimize your website using simple guidelines from search engines, your website is likely to be indexed by the search engines the right way. If you do not have in-house optimization capabilities, then it is acceptable to have a search engine optimization company do it for you as a one-time project. Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, which together control about 80% of the search market, typically do not recommend that you formally optimize your website as long as you follow the standard practices of web design.

So how can you make sure that you can use your website to market your business?

  1. Focus on your customers. High rankings in search results are a result of websites that are content-rich and frequently updated. If your focus is on selling through your website, then search engines will not like you a whole lot. So spend the money that you would on SEO on search or contextual advertising. Even better - generate some content yourself. (Related link: How to market your website?)
  2. If you do hire a SEO consultant, pay for performance and stop paying as soon as the promised results are not delivered. Be careful about pushing too hard and sign a good agreement because the SEO firm might be motivated to use dishonest practices to get you the rank but then your website might be banned by the search engines (which will literally kill your business).

Recommended link: Leveraging the power of blogs to grow your business