Questions to ask your SEO "expert"
Posted 12-08-2008 at 11:34 AM by NikkiPilkington
Things to ask your SEO “expert”
The world of SEO (search engine optimisation) can seem bewildering and confusing to the average SME website owner, and can leave you wondering which was to turn.
Do you give your hard earned money to the person that GUARANTEES you a front page position in Google?
Or the one that tells you there’s a lot of work to be done on your site?
The person that tells you they have a “special relationship” with Google?
Or the one that tells you it could be weeks before you see results?
Decisions decisions…
Nikki Pilkington of UK search marketing experts NikkiPilkington.com gives you a few questions to ask potential suppliers of SEO, along with the answers based upon her own 14 years experience.
1. How many years experience do you have?
While I’m not saying that newer SEO companies are bad, it’s always worth looking at how many years experience your potential SEO consultant has.
I’ve been in the web business since 1994 and since 1996 have concentrated mainly on search engine marketing.
That means I’ve made mistakes and learned from them, watched search engines evolve, and have found out what works and what doesn’t.
My work isn’t guess work, or trial and error – it’s based on many years experience which means I can get you a good result in as short a time as possible.
2. Do you have any technical expertise?
It is one thing knowing the theory and/or practice of SEO, but what happens when the site you own isn’t pure html, but is in .php, .asp, etc? Your SEO needs to be able to know how to manipulate the code of your website in order to perform the “code driven” elements of SEO.
At NikkiPilkington.com we have a thorough grounding in all major web programming languages, including html, PHP, ASL, MySQL, C++ and more – For those that we are not knowledgeable about, we have a wide network of experts to call upon. All in all we have all the skill and expertise needed to optimise your website.
3. Do you perform the optimisation in house or outsource it?
There’s nothing wrong with outsourcing – as long as you, the client, knows what is going on. You need to know that the people you are talking to are the people actually performing the optimisation. Talking to a “middle man” can sometimes lead to a case of “Chinese whispers” and make things complicated.
At NikkiPilkington.com all optimisation work is carried out in house, as is all keyword research and monthly reporting. The only thing we outsource is our invoicing and debt collection.
4. Will you tie me down to a long contract?
Long contracts are great – while everything is going well. If things aren’t going quite so well, you need to be able to make a decision to leave if needs be. If you’re tied in to a 18 month contract, that’s a long time to have things going wrong! And don’t forget, while things are going wrong with SEO Company A, you can’t employ SEO company B to fix it, as they could be counter productive, duplicate effort, or even worse.
At NikkiPilkington.com, our minimum contract is 6 months, but after that you can cancel with just one months notice.
5. Will you help me to develop search engine friendly content for my site?
Some SEO companies see their job as just optimising what is already there, and then leaving you to your own devices. The problem with that is that any website that wants to do well in Google and other search engines needs to grow, to create and add new content all the time.
In order to ensure that you get the best out of any new content, you will probably need advice from your SEO company.
At NikkiPilkington.com we’re on hand for all of our clients, too look over and advise new content. We’ll make suggestions as to content you could add, and also help you to ensure that the new pages have the best possible search engine impact. This is all part of our monthly service.
6. Can you write my copy for me in an SEO friendly fashion?
Whether you are designing a new website or adding to your current site, it is important that the copy is written with search engines as well as visitors in mind, so it’s good if your SEO company can offer this service.
At NikkiPilkington.com, we can offer copywriting with search engines AND visitors in mind. Over 14 years experience means we know what will and won’t work.
7. Do you specialise in search engine optimisation or is it just an “added extra”
Many web designers, marketing companies, graphic designers and more offer SEO.
And don’t get me wrong, some of them are good at it and can give it the attention it needs. But there are also those that offer SEO as a supplementary service without paying it the proper attention it needs and deserves. Nothing wrong with this – you pay your web designer to design your website, not to promote it – just be aware where peoples strengths lie.
At NikkiPilkington.com our only business is internet marketing and web site promotion. The majority of the work we do is SEO, or search engine optimisation. And for 14 years that’s been the core of our business.
8. Can you show me how to maintain results myself?
It’s all very well getting good results, but being tied into your SEO company, paying a retainer for months/years on end, but eventually you want to do the work and ongoing work yourself.
Some SEO companies keep their cards close to their chest, not wanting you to know their “secrets.” This is no good for you if you want to carry on the optimisation and promote yourself.
An NP.com we are happy to provide you with the training that will ensure you can carry on our good work. Out half day or full day training sessions give you everything you need to continue building traffic and listings for your website.
9. Can you guarantee me front page Google listings?
“GUARANTEED top Google listings”
“Number 1 in 3 days!”
“We have a special relationship with Google”
All of the above are comments I’ve heard over the past few weeks.
The simple facts of the matter are:
-No-one can guarantee a front page listing.
-Google doesn’t have “special relationships” with SEO companies.
-Google themselves say in their webmaster guidelines:
*PUT GUIDELINES HERE*
At NikkiPilkington.com, we don’t guarantee front page listings, we don’t claim to get you to number one and we most certainly don’t pretend we have a special relationship with Google.
What we do is promise you that we will do our best to get you the positions that you want in an ethical way and within Google’s guidelines.
10. Will you use doorway pages?
When faced with a site that wants/needs lots of keyphrases, many SEO “experts” will resort to doorway pages.
Doorway pages, according to Wikipedia are:
PUT DESCRIPTION HERE.
Google says about doorway pages:
PUT DESCRIPTION HERE.
In short, they’re a bad idea.
At NikkiPilkington.com we will only optimise your website in a “ethical” professional manner.
We will not use doorway pages; we will instead work with you to create new content if it is necessary, or we will work with the pages you already have.
The world of SEO (search engine optimisation) can seem bewildering and confusing to the average SME website owner, and can leave you wondering which was to turn.
Do you give your hard earned money to the person that GUARANTEES you a front page position in Google?
Or the one that tells you there’s a lot of work to be done on your site?
The person that tells you they have a “special relationship” with Google?
Or the one that tells you it could be weeks before you see results?
Decisions decisions…
Nikki Pilkington of UK search marketing experts NikkiPilkington.com gives you a few questions to ask potential suppliers of SEO, along with the answers based upon her own 14 years experience.
1. How many years experience do you have?
While I’m not saying that newer SEO companies are bad, it’s always worth looking at how many years experience your potential SEO consultant has.
I’ve been in the web business since 1994 and since 1996 have concentrated mainly on search engine marketing.
That means I’ve made mistakes and learned from them, watched search engines evolve, and have found out what works and what doesn’t.
My work isn’t guess work, or trial and error – it’s based on many years experience which means I can get you a good result in as short a time as possible.
2. Do you have any technical expertise?
It is one thing knowing the theory and/or practice of SEO, but what happens when the site you own isn’t pure html, but is in .php, .asp, etc? Your SEO needs to be able to know how to manipulate the code of your website in order to perform the “code driven” elements of SEO.
At NikkiPilkington.com we have a thorough grounding in all major web programming languages, including html, PHP, ASL, MySQL, C++ and more – For those that we are not knowledgeable about, we have a wide network of experts to call upon. All in all we have all the skill and expertise needed to optimise your website.
3. Do you perform the optimisation in house or outsource it?
There’s nothing wrong with outsourcing – as long as you, the client, knows what is going on. You need to know that the people you are talking to are the people actually performing the optimisation. Talking to a “middle man” can sometimes lead to a case of “Chinese whispers” and make things complicated.
At NikkiPilkington.com all optimisation work is carried out in house, as is all keyword research and monthly reporting. The only thing we outsource is our invoicing and debt collection.
4. Will you tie me down to a long contract?
Long contracts are great – while everything is going well. If things aren’t going quite so well, you need to be able to make a decision to leave if needs be. If you’re tied in to a 18 month contract, that’s a long time to have things going wrong! And don’t forget, while things are going wrong with SEO Company A, you can’t employ SEO company B to fix it, as they could be counter productive, duplicate effort, or even worse.
At NikkiPilkington.com, our minimum contract is 6 months, but after that you can cancel with just one months notice.
5. Will you help me to develop search engine friendly content for my site?
Some SEO companies see their job as just optimising what is already there, and then leaving you to your own devices. The problem with that is that any website that wants to do well in Google and other search engines needs to grow, to create and add new content all the time.
In order to ensure that you get the best out of any new content, you will probably need advice from your SEO company.
At NikkiPilkington.com we’re on hand for all of our clients, too look over and advise new content. We’ll make suggestions as to content you could add, and also help you to ensure that the new pages have the best possible search engine impact. This is all part of our monthly service.
6. Can you write my copy for me in an SEO friendly fashion?
Whether you are designing a new website or adding to your current site, it is important that the copy is written with search engines as well as visitors in mind, so it’s good if your SEO company can offer this service.
At NikkiPilkington.com, we can offer copywriting with search engines AND visitors in mind. Over 14 years experience means we know what will and won’t work.
7. Do you specialise in search engine optimisation or is it just an “added extra”
Many web designers, marketing companies, graphic designers and more offer SEO.
And don’t get me wrong, some of them are good at it and can give it the attention it needs. But there are also those that offer SEO as a supplementary service without paying it the proper attention it needs and deserves. Nothing wrong with this – you pay your web designer to design your website, not to promote it – just be aware where peoples strengths lie.
At NikkiPilkington.com our only business is internet marketing and web site promotion. The majority of the work we do is SEO, or search engine optimisation. And for 14 years that’s been the core of our business.
8. Can you show me how to maintain results myself?
It’s all very well getting good results, but being tied into your SEO company, paying a retainer for months/years on end, but eventually you want to do the work and ongoing work yourself.
Some SEO companies keep their cards close to their chest, not wanting you to know their “secrets.” This is no good for you if you want to carry on the optimisation and promote yourself.
An NP.com we are happy to provide you with the training that will ensure you can carry on our good work. Out half day or full day training sessions give you everything you need to continue building traffic and listings for your website.
9. Can you guarantee me front page Google listings?
“GUARANTEED top Google listings”
“Number 1 in 3 days!”
“We have a special relationship with Google”
All of the above are comments I’ve heard over the past few weeks.
The simple facts of the matter are:
-No-one can guarantee a front page listing.
-Google doesn’t have “special relationships” with SEO companies.
-Google themselves say in their webmaster guidelines:
*PUT GUIDELINES HERE*
At NikkiPilkington.com, we don’t guarantee front page listings, we don’t claim to get you to number one and we most certainly don’t pretend we have a special relationship with Google.
What we do is promise you that we will do our best to get you the positions that you want in an ethical way and within Google’s guidelines.
10. Will you use doorway pages?
When faced with a site that wants/needs lots of keyphrases, many SEO “experts” will resort to doorway pages.
Doorway pages, according to Wikipedia are:
PUT DESCRIPTION HERE.
Google says about doorway pages:
PUT DESCRIPTION HERE.
In short, they’re a bad idea.
At NikkiPilkington.com we will only optimise your website in a “ethical” professional manner.
We will not use doorway pages; we will instead work with you to create new content if it is necessary, or we will work with the pages you already have.
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