It can be quite difficult to select a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Vendor. One of the main reasons is because each vendor has different service offerings and quite often it’s like comparing apples with oranges. This White Paper will offer you tips on some crucial aspects of Search Engine Optimization and helps understand how you can compare services of different vendors. After reading this White Paper you can ask the right questions to SEO vendors and their answers will help you select a vendor who matches your needs.

Section I: How to shortlist SEO companies.
Use Google, Yahoo and MSN to search for SEO companies using keywords like Search Engine Optimization, SEO Companies, SEO services, Search Engine Optimization Services etc. Do not restrict yourself to just organic rankings, but look at paid listings also. There is a popular misconception that all good SEO vendors will rank on the first page of Google. Many SEO companies get credit links from the bottom of their client’s web site which can get them on the first page of Google. But they might not be able to use the same strategy for your web site. So it’s not necessarily true that only companies ranking naturally on Google’s first page are good. It might take you some time getting used to this concept, but once you consider this, it will open up your mind to a lot of potentially good vendors. You should ideally shortlist 3 to 5 vendors (by looking at the information available on their web site). However if you have more time, you can expand this list to cover 10 vendors. Make sure to have at least one local company on the shortlist. Although we at SEO Solutions believe that geographical boundaries are not a limitation to successful SEO, we also strongly believe that all things being equal, a local company should always be selected.

Section II: 10 Tips to compare a SEO Vendor
Once you have short listed these companies, start using the tips given below to finalize a vendor

Download pdf 10 Tips to Consider When Hiring an SEO Vendor