Selecting a great SEO agency for your marketing campaign may be a challenging task. There are many of agencies out there who focus on Search Engine Optimization, but how can you trust that each will really push your Google rankings to the top?

It always pays when searching for an SEO agency to not just look into their past and current client base, but in addition to inquire about their achievements. What Google rankings have they attained for past clients? How long did it take? And just how much did the site traffic increase? Routinely, it takes around 3 months or more for rankings to increase on Google and traffic should increase from about 50% upwards. At this stage, you might also want to inquire in the event the agency offers any subscriptions for post-optimization maintenance. The best my company should, since maintaining high SEO rankings requires ongoing care.

Additionally, it helps to look for an SEO agency that offers a full range of services. 'On-page services' like website analysis, content optimization, page optimization, internal link building and ranking and traffic management should be offered. 'Off-site' SEO services should include keyword research, competitor analysis, external link building, and off-page promotion. It might also help to ask your prospective company when you are necessary to approve anything before they go ahead with it. If they say 'yes', it's a good sign they're honest and prepared to work closely with you. To improve your rankings, an SEO agency needs to employ an assortment of tasks, not simply a couple of, so be wary of businesses that only offer limited or dodgy services.

The correct SEO company is necessary to provide the correct SEO services and features to the business. Not every SEO can handle all the several types of businesses in the market. Hence, some SEO agencies tend to concentrate on certain niche markets to hone their skills and creativity. There can be special requirements from certain niche markets which only skilled and creative SEO agencies can handle. These may cost a little more than the other general SEO company providers. It depends upon the SEO industry vision and modus operandi.

Every SEO company will operate differently according to their modus operandi and business objectives. Although most have similar offerings and services, some may stand out more than others with regards to service standard and creativity.

Something else to look out for is any agency that offers to improve your rankings through suspect methodologies like spamming, keyword stuffing, hidden text, high-ranking doorway pages and link-farming. These are often known as "black hat SEO" and may get you banished from major search engines, which can be hugely detrimental to your business. Also keep an eye out for automatic, bulk submissions to search engines. Automatic submissions are not considered best practice and it's must more good for you if a business conducts manual submissions. Always ensure that an SEO agency is open about their methodologies used - any secrecy could mean they are using "black hat" techniques.

It is important to keep in mind that high prices within an SEO agency don't necessarily mean the top quality. Instead, choose a company determined by their clientele, reputation and their own site optimization and Google rankings. Similarly, if a business is offering you "guaranteed" #1 rankings for a ridiculously low price, it really is probably too good to be true. Collecting several quotes is a good way to start and always ensure quotes are supported by a contract, so you know exactly what you are getting for your hard earned money. It shall also help to ask what their payment terms are and should they have any fees for early termination.

Lastly, a trustworthy SEO agency should offer and conduct thorough and specific keyword research as a part of their SEO services. Most companies will include keyword research as a given, but be wary of any company that asks you to provide the keywords for their work. While they might ask for your opinion, the keywords used should be based on their research, analytics and competitor scope, not on the you tell them. Of course, they're meant to be the SEO experts - not you! "Guessing" your keywords is not efficient as well as a great SEO agency will research your keywords thoroughly before recommending them.