Choosing an SEO or AdWords Consultant

In an industry that to many seems full of charlatans, rip-offs and con-artists, there are in fact many honest, professional SEO and PPC experts who can truly help your business and save you money. But how do you find them among all the noise and “Be #1 in Google” spam emails filling our Inboxes?

Over the next couple of articles I want to provide some practical advice on what to look for when selecting an SEO or AdWords Professional. Regardless of where you are located it really breaks down to these 2 Key Rules: Deal Locally and Verify Knowledge!

Rule #1 – Deal Locally!

I believe in supporting local businesses, which helps our local economy and in turn benefits us all, but there are several other reasons I strongly recommend you chose a local Internet Marketing Consultant or agency.

a) Local Search and Market Knowledge – Over the last few years Google has steadily moved towards displaying localized search results based on the searcher’s location. If you are marketing to local consumers you need a company which understands the local market and can view the same search results your customers see.

What I’m referring to is that if you search Google for “Internet Marketing Companies” from a Vancouver location, Google knows you are in Vancouver and will give priority to local companies in the results rather than companies from L.A., New York or Toronto.

However, if someone in Toronto does the same search they will see Toronto companies at the top, not Vancouver. Make sense? So if I’m a Vancouver company targeting Vancouver customers it’s helpful if your marketing company can actually see the same search results your customers see.

An example of how this can be a problem is a client who asked me to review their SEO and who was receiving monthly Ranking Reports showing they were not on the first page of Google for their key search terms.

Their Optimization Company insisted they needed to continue to do on-going optimization to improve their rankings, but when I searched the same keywords locally in Google.ca they ranked #1 to #3 for all the keywords.

The reason? This non-local (India-based) SEO firm was using a server in California to produce ranking reports, so results were based on searches in Google.com, and as viewed from California, not Vancouver. This was either done intentionally, or out of ignorance, but kept this client paying for results which they had already achieved.

This rule also applies to marketing throughout Canada. You should choose a Canadian Marketing Company which understands Canadian culture, language variations and regional differences.

b) English as a Second Language. One cornerstone of both SEO and PPC is being able to understand and research the keyword search terms potential customers are most likely to use when searching for your products or services. This includes common misspellings, and can extend to the actual text used on the main pages of your website.

Should you entrust this to someone whose first language isn’t English? And who lives in a country where working conditions and earnings are questionable? I’m referring to those constant emails I get from companies wanting me to out-source my SEO services to India.

An example which ties the first 2 points together was a client whose AdWords Management I took-over. They were a local Vancouver retailer targeting Vancouver area consumers, however in their keywords was the word “Montreal”, while local cities surrounding Vancouver, like Burnaby and Langley, weren’t included.

The Reason? They had just left an India-based Marketing Company whose knowledge of Canadian geography and local search terms was limited – to say the least!

c) What IF…? A final reason for dealing with a local Internet Marketing company is your ability to take action if things go wrong.

If you deal with a company in another country, or worse, on another continent, what recourse can you take if they fail to deliver on promised results or services? Most likely none and this is part of what has lead to many consumers having such a dim view of the SEO industry.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an unregulated industry with more scams and rip-offs on the web than I can count. Dealing with a local consultant provides the opportunity to take action if you feel cheated, your site is damaged, or services weren’t delivered. These actions could include complaints to the Better Business Bureau or Court action. It’s also generally easier to resolve a dispute if you are able to meet with the other party face-to-face.

I end this first article on Choosing an SEO/SEM Consultant by reminding you that price isn’t everything, and that there are many advantages to doing business with a local Optimization Consultant or Internet Marketing Firm.

My next article will deal with Rule #2 Verifying Knowledge!

In an unregulated industry without standards or universal certifications how do you know the person you are dealing with knows what they are talking about? I’ll provide a few suggestions to quickly check for Red Flags.