1. Guaranteed Results: Guaranteed search engine rankings are simply a sales ploy. It is impossible to guarantee a particular set of results since the search engines constantly evolve and change the way they rank websites. At best, a search engine optimization company can make an educated guess as to what type of results they might be able to achieve based on existing factors (e.g. current rankings, competition level, etc). If an SEO company offers a guarantee, it should serve as a warning.
2. No Graduated Approach: A graduated approach means having a plan to gradually grow the ranking potential and the rankings of a given website. If you have a brand new website and the SEO company you are considering offers to rank you for your industry’s top terms in their first stage of work, then this should serve as a warning. Just like no one can earn an advanced college degree before paying their dues at the undergraduate level, a new website cannot (in overwhelming majority of cases) rank for top industry terms before it can rank for low and mid-level keywords.
3. Quick to Change Pricing: If the salesperson is too quick to change pricing (without changing service parameters) in order to close the sale, then it is highly likely that they were overcharging for their services from the beginning. If this is the case then the SEO company has taken no initiative to determine the value of their services, and simply tries to get the highest fee possible from each client. This is not the type of company you want to work with.
4. Provides a Quote without Detailed Discussions: If you receive a price quote or proposal after a brief phone call or soon after sending in a quote request, you should be weary. One of the most important parts of doing search engine optimization is finding out what the client wants and needs. That information should then be used to determine whether the website in question is capable of achieving those goals. If you receive a written price quote or proposal soon after you have submitted a quote request then the sales person could not have done enough research to be able to price the proposal correctly and simply went for the highest price she thinks he can get from you.
5. Claims Authority Based On Own Rankings: Some SEO companies will claim that they can get you results just because of the fact that they themselves have good rankings in the search engines. What they fail to mention is that the ranking is due to the age of their site and the massive number of incoming links, which they are not going to be able to provide for you (in most cases). So this is a false argument on their part. There is no logical correlation between the rankings of an SEO company’s website and their ability to attain the same type of ranking for their clients.
