What I am hearing new and more of is that many people who obtain SEO services are now turning to lists and ratings of SEO companies with websites like TopSEO’s to help them sort through the refuse SEO companies. “On their homepage the large slogan is 2000 companies measured, only 80 chosen.” The question is, what are the criteria used to sort out the 1920 companies who weren’t preferred?
Rankings
But just when you think you’ve got impressive you can use…buyer beware…I have got that a very fresh winner listed by TopSEOs.com in 2008 as a TOP SEO company that doesn’t now rank well for their own brand name – this reeks of troubles. Major SEO problems.
We cultured about this company because one of their clients called us to clarify the situation of how he used the SEO company schedule at TopSEO’s to help get a good TOP SEO company, this company was highly rated which made him sense more at ease as he left his old offshore SEO firm who didn’t achieve well either.
I don’t know the due conscientiousness process that TopSEO’s does for listed “top SEO companies”, but to truly make that list important and honest I would recommend that they do some of the following:
- Stop accepting sponsorships, it creates a conflict of interest, if you want to be the consumer reports of SEO then you have to remove opportunities for those conflicts
- Calling past clients of SEO companies to see if the SEO Company’s client list is truly reflective of whom they have truly worked for Reviewing results of those past clients
- Investigating the tactics used to achieve rankings, including the low value links, high value links, linkbait, social media work, etc.
- Setting up automated brand keyword searches (use digitalpoint - or Aaron Wall’s SEO rank checker for firebox ) to make sure that those on the list don’t fall for their own brand name when they do they should be investigated
- Interview the staff to get an idea for experience / results in SEO
- Develop a quiz that gauges a company’s abilities
- Subscribe to their blogs, see how often they post, are their posts getting comments, delicious adds, stumbles, etc?