A whole growth industry has developed around search engine optimization. You'll find wildly different prices and services. Some are quite helpful, but most are ultimately inadequate. Here's how to sort between the multitude of offerings and what to watch out for. This 2,600-word article includes a list of questions to ask of potential vendors that will help you understand how they work -- before signing a contract. The information contained in this article can save you many thousands of dollars and lots of pain.
What You Need to Know about Outsourcing Search Engine Optimization
There's a lot you can do yourself to make your webpages and website navigation system "search engine friendly." Your goal here is to help the search engine spiders to both find your webpages and accurately index your webpages. But what if your site is still not ranked on top?
Why Outsource SEO?
When you've done all you can in-house to optimize your website and to get links from other sites -- and you still aren't ranked high enough, then it's time to bring in the "big guns," search engine optimization vendors that employ the latest techniques of the trade to get you top ranked. Not forbidden, spammy tricks, of course, like same color text as background, small invisible text, cloaking, etc., but precise and specialized knowledge about how search engines operate.
I see two types of search engine knowledge:
Enduring knowledge
-- the basic, enduring wisdom of making your webpages friendly to search engines.
Perishable knowledge
-- the special "tricks of the trade" that exploit particular search engine's peculiarities that may be different three to six months from now.
The average merchant, marketer, or consultant can and should master the "enduring knowledge." But the "perishable knowledge" is a whole discipline unto itself. It consists of taking advantage of various anomalies of search engines that either appear on the search engine forum discussions or that an SEO vendor has discovered through proprietary research and observations across the scope of its client's websites.
To rank at the top of search engines these days is difficult. Recently I spoke with Bruce Clay of BruceClay.com, a leader in the SEO field. He characterized the problem this way:
"The number of sites trying to be in the Top 10 has doubled in the last 2 or 3 years. As a result, more companies are using SEO firms, making it 20 times as hard to achieve a Top 10 ranking than previously."
Unfortunately, if you want to get to the top for competitive words, you can't really do it yourself any more. The learning curve is just too steep and the body of knowledge required to crack the Top 10 is just to large and changeable for the average person to keep up with. You'll probably need to outsource SEO.
What SEO Vendors Do
There's a big difference in what SEO vendors will do for you, and the differences aren't all reflected in a vendor's description of services. Nevertheless, I'm describing typical services so you'll understand how each of them fits in the overall strategy.
Initial ranking report
Provides a report showing rankings of your site on various search engines for various keywords and keyphrases. This report becomes a benchmark from which to measure future progress in rankings.
Keyword research and analysis to discover keywords best-suited for a business
In consultation with the client, determines the most important primary keywords (3 to 5) as well as secondary keywords and keyphrases (perhaps 20 to 25) that may bring in additional traffic.
Optimization of webpages
Optimizes an agreed upon number of webpages, always your homepage and 5 to 25 other webpages on your site. Each would be optimized in metatags, title, headings, body text, alt tags, hyperlinks, etc. to rank high for particular words and phrases. Each webpage might be optimized for 3 to 5 keywords or keyphrases.
Analysis and correction of navigation system
Examines your site navigation system looking for trouble areas and offers suggestions to correct problems that may be present, such as frames, lack of HTML links to interior pages, and dynamically-generated pages. The normal package price doesn't usually cover correcting these problems.
Site map
Creates a webpage pointing to all webpages in your site -- or, for lager sites, a site map to your most important webpages.
robots.txt file
Creates a small file tells search engine spider what not to index on the site.
Submission to key search engines
Submits by hand your homepage and any key webpages to all the important search engines for your region.
Submission to Yahoo! Directory
Uses Yahoo! Express ($299) to submit your site to the Yahoo Directory -- important for PageRank analysis of incoming links to your site.
Submission to Open Directory Project
Submits your site to the Open Directory Project (dmoz.com) and follows up until the entry is included in the directory.
Submission to other appropriate paid directories
Submits your site to appropriate paid directories such as LookSmart Directory, Business.com, and perhaps others. Paid submission beyond Yahoo! Directory varies from one SEO vendor to another.
Submission to other appropriate free directories
Submits to all significant directories covering the website's particular industry or field.
Monthly ranking reports
Provides monthly ranking reports so you can track ranking progress for your keywords and keyphrases. Progress is usually visible after 3 to 6 months.
Minimum number of incoming links
Obtains a minimum number of incoming links to the website. This may include links from directories above. Usually, linking campaigns are not included in the basic package of services offered by an SEO vendor.
Deceitful Methodology and an SEO Code of Ethics
Be aware that you'll find great variety in SEO vendors. Some are quite ethical, in that they will do nothing on your behalf that could get you into trouble with search engines. Others use all sorts of methods that, if spotted by a search engine or a competitor, could get your site banned. One of the top SEO Vendors was recently penalized by Google for some kind of behavior that left them listed by Google but with no PageRank. Oops!
To protect yourself, ask what kinds of methods the SEO vendor uses to get high rankings. Ask: Do you employ any methods prohibited the guidelines recommended by each search engine for site inclusion?
Be very skeptical of companies that build entry pages or doorway pages on a website that they own and control, since doorway pages can get your site penalized as can links to link farms developed by the SEO vendor.
Bruce Clay has developed a SEO Code of Ethics (www.bruceclay.com/web_ethics.htm) that some SEO vendors have agreed to, but there is no industry-wide ethical standard at this point. Ask any potential SEO vendors your are interviewing if they are willing to agree to Bruce Clay's Code of Ethics. If they can't, ask them in which particulars they can't agree. At least it will help you determine how that vendor views the SEO process.
Most SEO vendors don't seem to offer as part of their main package reciprocal linking campaigns to get incoming links. Linking campaigns are normally charged separately. I've seen several prices quoted for linking campaigns. One company offers to obtain 100 incoming links for $3,000. That's $30 per link. Other estimates vary from $10 to $75 per link. Since reciprocal linking campaigns are very labor intensive, I recommend doing these yourself or hiring a high school student to do this for you.
Because reciprocal linking campaigns are so time intensive and generally obtain only links from sites with a low PageRank, many SEO vendors avoid reciprocal linking altogether. Rather they'll help you obtain incoming links through offering free articles to other websites and submitting press releases. Press releases tend to be reprinted and rehosted in several places so that links contained in them come from a number of industry sites.
Differences between Top Firms and Smaller SEO Vendors
One major difference between top firms and smaller vendors is how much time they spend optimizing a webpage or site. You sometimes get what you pay for.
Smaller firms often optimize 10 or 20 webpages by making them search engine friendly. They also use some advanced methods to get them indexed well. They will certainly help you get higher rankings than you've had. But after optimizing a webpage, few smaller firms will go back again and again to move it higher and higher in the rankings. Moreover, smaller firms seldom do their own proprietary research. Rather they rely on comments in the various search engine forums where SEO specialists share what's working for them.
Some larger firms become adept at working with major corporations which can be distrustful of smaller firms. However, some larger firms may not offer any more services than a smaller firm could. Instead of tackling the most competitive words for their clients, they'll instead recommend and help administer a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. Now PPC is a good thing and may be quite appropriate. But when consultants advise using PPC to quickly, it may be to avoid the difficult SEO work ahead.
Larger firms, on the other hand, have greater resources to serve customers. Some do in-house research on the current operations of search engines. When a change occurs in the ranking algorithm, they can tell instantly and assess the effect over dozens of clients' sites that they are monitoring constantly.
Bruce Clay runs a shop with about 25 employees who care for 100+ clients. The kind of services his company offers seem to me to be uncommon in this industry. He told me that over a one year contract his company will spend about 35 to 40 hours per webpage on account analysis, keyword editing, tweaking, and telephone consultations with clients. He charges $3,000 per year per webpage -- 40% up front for the first quarter, and the final 60% split of the remaining three quarters. Subsequent years are 20% less than the first year. He doesn't avoid the most competitive keywords, but advises his clients that it will take longer to achieve Top 10 listings for these.
If a large firm will really spend more time on getting your website top rankings, then it's worth the price (if you're in a competitive industry). But there's seldom a way to know for sure ahead of time. Results are what count.
SEO Pricing
There is no easy way to figure out SEO pricing. There are several methods of charging for SEO services:
Package of Services. Most SEO vendors offer package deals that provide specific services for a specific number of webpages optimized and a specific number of included keywords included. Such packages may vary from $500 to $10,000 or more. Usually you'll find that the package is customized to meet the particular client's needs, so final prices may vary from any prices given on the website. It's typical to ask for a significant down payment with additional payments at various milestones.
Maintenance Fee. After initial website optimization, some firms charge a monthly maintenance fee to keep monitoring and tweaking the site. Others don't. Some packages may include one year of monitoring and tweaking built into the price.
Pay Per Click. A few companies, including some legitimate SEO vendors, make no apology for setting up an appropriate and non-spammy doorway site designed to attract traffic. Some offer this plan as an alternative to a package of services. Essentially, this approach is "selling traffic," pure and simple. The PPC approach can be quite attractive for clients who know how much traffic for the keywords and keyphrases would cost at Overture or Google AdWords. You clearly get what you pay for. But if you find a vendor who works exclusively with this Pay Per Click method and doesn't offer any package alternative, I would avoid him. With this method, of course, once you stop paying, all your traffic through the doorway site stops too.
Hourly rate. You can pay by the hour for actual work performed. This could be useful for additional work from an SEO vendor you trust. Of course, if a vendor is dishonest, any money you give him could be money down the drain.
I know of no standard way for you to determine whether a particular price is appropriate or fair and to be sure you get what you pay for. Your best insurance is to ask the following questions.
Questions to Ask Prospective Vendors
To learn about services and integrity you need to ask the hard questions. Here are some you ought to include:
What methods do you use to achieve top rankings? Listen for doorway pages, cloaking, bait-and-switch redirect pages, and link farms -- any of which could get you in trouble if used to boost rankings for your site. The methods may work for a while, but are too risky and may get you penalized.
How can you help me get links to my site? You don't want incoming links from unrelated kinds of businesses. Beware of fancy explanations of what are really link farms or cross-linking schemes between a vendor's clients. There should be nothing shady here, nothing that could get you penalized.
Do you subscribe to any Code of Ethics? If so which? What do you think of Bruce Clay's SEO Code of Ethics? Which elements can't you agree with?
How long does it take to do your job? How many hours do you spend on a typical webpage? Over what period will you be working on my account? Be aware that results may take 3 to 6 months to show up.
What kind of guarantee do you offer? Most guarantees offered by smaller SEO vendors are silly. They set the goal so low that it can be achieved by minimal work. Be suspicious of guarantees of performance. But ask, do you guarantee that you will refund my money if my site is penalized because of your SEO work on my site?
How does your pricing work? It should sound straightforward and reasonable.
What keywords and keyphrases have you optimized that you are proud of? Look up some of these and see what methods seem to have been used to achieve this. How competitive are these keywords? You can tell the relative value of keywords by checking their PPC cost on Google or Overture.
Are you associated with any trusted industry organizations? Do they belong to BBBOnline or a nationally-know SEO professional organization? If so, check with these organizations to see if they have had any complaints.
Do you speak at SEO Conferences? This shouldn't be a requirement -- all are not good speakers. But if they do speak at conferences, that means that their peers trust them.
How is your site ranked for SEO keywords? The best SEO vendors prove their skills by getting top rankings for "search engine optimization" or "SEO" and others. This is important to you if you need to optimize for a very competitive keyword or keyphrase. But if your industry isn't too competitive, you may not need top ranked SEO vendors working for you.
Can you give me the names and phone numbers of several clients you have worked with? Be sure to check these references. Ask how easy the company was to work with. Ask if they feel they're still getting their money's worth. Ask about the company's work ethic and follow-through on promises. Ask the client if they could recommend the company unconditionally and without reservation to others.
Finally, ask for the SEO vendor to send you a detailed proposal in writing. This proposal should spell out exactly what they propose to do, the time period, payments, and a legal recourse for you if they don't do what they promise.
For further information on outsourcing SEO, read the Marketing Sherpa Buyers' Guide to Search Engine Optimization Firms: 3rd Edition. It includes profiles of 121 search engine optimization firms, including a handy comparison chart and index by clients. It also offers tips on how much to pay, estimating ROI, and avoiding dangerous practices that can hurt your rankings.
