The 4 Worst Questions to Ask a Search Engine Optimization Firm

Your company may be ready to get some help doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Too often, people ask qualifying questions that won't help them figure out whether or not an SEO firm is right for them. Here are the 4 worst questions to ask a firm you are considering to do SEO for your site.

1 . Do you think we can catch XYZ company's traffic and revenues?

The truth: Honestly, SEO firms have no clue. First, I ask the client for the source of their traffic and revenue data. Typically, it is compete.com or something like that. Here are some of reasons why we don't know:

Companies like ours are usually brought on board for search optimization process alone, so, unless the client can find a data source that shows just their traffic from search (which won't be all their traffic), we can't answer this question. With social media, offline advertising, e-mail marketing, etc., your competitor may be beating you in traffic because they did a Super Bowl ad. Does that traffic show up in compete.com? Yes. Can you do a Super Bowl ad? No. Therefore, there's a good chance you won't catch them.

Instead, you might want to ask a better question, such as:

• How long does it typically take for your clients to break even on an SEO project?

This question allows the client to dig in a bit and not worry about "catching someone else," when you have no idea of the accuracy of the statistics. It gets you to a point where you are trying to make sure that you fully understand the investment you are making and how long you should be patient.

2 . Can you guarantee a specific number of links?

The truth: Yes, I can guarantee you a specific minimum number of links, but that means I'll be buying links, using directories, article sites, forum signature tags, social media profiles, and the like.

But all links are not created equal. The best links are often the hardest ones to get. They take time -- and sometimes you never get them. Linkbait, infographics, widgets, and other popular ways of getting links all contain an element of risk, since you never know how well they will "take off," yet they are sometimes the most valuable ways you can attract links.

Better questions you should ask include:

• Knowing that links are not all created equal, how do you determine what kind of links we need?
• What process do you deploy and what tools do you use to determine whether our campaign needs brute force anchor text links, authority links, links from people's homepages, and if we need hundreds or thousands of links?
• Does the SEO firm report only the number of links they've obtained for a client, or does the report show how your company is gaining against your competitors in the areas where you believe they are beating you? (Note: Even at my SEO firm we are just starting to develop this concept.)
• How will you diversify our link building campaign, so we are getting the easy-to-grab, low-hanging fruit, but also building and marketing content to attract more high quality authoritative links?

3 . Can I be in the top 5 for this keyword?

The truth: Again, I have no clue, because ...

1. Personalized search means different people get different results.
2. Universal search might display a news item, local result, or video for a few days pushing your rankings down.
3. Google makes so many changes to its algorithm, that you can be #1 today, and #8 tomorrow, and back again to #1 without your SEO firm changing a thing! Google tests about 1.5 changes to its algorithm each day.
4. Your competitors won't be taking your higher rankings lying down. Most will be deploying strategies to capture your spot -- and sometimes they may succeed. It's an SEO firm's job to find out when that happens and create a strategy to counterattack.
5. Your site may not really deserve at top 5 ranking for that keyword. This is the hardest thing to tell a client. But for the client who doesn't produce quality content, doesn't engage in social media, doesn't use Facebook, doesn't use PR, etc., the truth may be that maybe they just don't deserve at top 5 ranking. Maybe the people outranking you have been around for 10 years and you just launched last year. Let's be honest. Sometimes your competitors engage with their customers better than you do. And because they invest more in brand monitoring and customer service, that in itself might get them more links.
6. Sometimes sites that rank higher than yours are spamming, which you probably don't want to do, since the possible short term gain vs. the long term hit (being dropped from search engines) is not usually worth it.
7. To rank for "head" terms, that is, the most commonly used search terms, takes time, especially if you are trying to build a legitimate link profile.
8. You may too new to compete for the terms you want without a major investment in some blockbuster strategy that will attract a ton of legitimate links within a short time.

Helping potential clients understand the complex factors that go into getting high rankings is an expectation-setting exercise. Frankly some people will not sign up with an SEO firm that tells them the truth, that their new site that isn't likely rank high for "hotel reviews" in 3 to 6 months.

There are questions you should ask, however:

• How do you correlate rankings movement to conversions?
• Will you be able to help me understand how moving from top 5 to bottom 5 for a keyword impacts my bottom line?
• On what keywords is it realistic for me to get ranked well?
• Given my conversion rate, is there enough search volume to get a positive Return on Investment (ROI)?

4. Do you have relationships with people at the search engines?

The truth: Yes, but am I going to use them for you? Maybe not. SEO firms are hesitant to overuse their connections, for fear their inside contacts will stop responding to their messages completely.

The question you should ask:

• If something goes horrifically wrong on my site and I lose rankings for a long time, what is the process you will deploy to rectify that and how long are you willing to wait before we totally shift gears?

What you need to know is, if you are doing nothing wrong, that your SEO team can articulate a very strong argument to the reconsideration request folks that is so solid they can't help but say, "Yes, you're right," and get you back in. You should not be expecting your SEO team to have a direct line to Matt Cutts (a well-known Google spokesman to the SEO community). And to be totally honest, even for those of us who do have such a contact, he may not get back right away.

I hope this frank discussion will help you ask better questions, whether you're trying to hire outside help or interview candidates for an in-house position. These questions will help arm you against the snake oil salesmen that can be found in any industry. Good luck -- and "buyer beware."