Hiring An SEO Company - What Does Google Say

Hiring An SEO Company - What Does Google Say

When it comes to understanding what Google thinks about Search Engine Optimization, I prefer to listen to the folks at Google themselves. Usually this involves quoting the Google Webmaster Guidelines, or quoting Matt Cutts, Senior Engineer at Google - head of Quality Control and their authorized spokesperson. The first thing that Google says in their Webmaster's Guidelines page devoted to hiring an SEO company is: "Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site."

Coming from Google, that's no joke. This is a clear statement to site owners that if you hire a company to optimize your site, and they break the rules, there's no playing dumb. "Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site's presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index."... so whether you knew the techniques your SEO company used violated Google's policies or not, your site will be penalized or banned nonetheless.

After warning of the dangers of hiring an unethical SEO company, Google goes on to recommend that site owners become informed about how search engines work. This is Google's attempt to get people to understand that there's no secret, magic formula that SEO companies have to cause your site to rank higher. In the end, it comes down to taking the time to build a great site with lots of great content, with some basic common sense optimization procedures to ensure Google can find your site, understand what it's about, and can see that other sites on the net like it enough to link to it.

Not all SEO Companies are Created Equal
Google's discussion on SEO companies, however, is not all fire and brimstone. While Google clearly warns of the dangers of "over aggressive" SEO companies, they also point out all the benefits that responsible SEO companies can provide."'Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners""... a good SEO can also help improve an existing site."As you can begin to see, SEO companies that perform these types of "natural" SEO services are actually appreciated by Google and the other search engines. Search engines recognize that responsible SEO companies can help improve the quality of the Google index by producing high quality content, making that content easier to find and decipher, and helping to promote that content to other site owners who may choose to link to it if the quality is good enough.

Natural SEO
In my post entitled, "What is All Natural" SEO?", I discuss Google's philosophy when it comes to search engine optimization. To summarize, Google and the other search engines only allow natural behavior when it comes to designing, building, and promoting your website. What they consider to be unnatural is any actions performed that aims directly to manipulate their algorithm in an attempt to cause your site to rank higher in their index.

The Bottom Line
If you're thinking of hiring an SEO company, feel free to listen to all the "experts" out there as to what techniques are acceptable or not. However, it's always wisest to listen to the folks at Google in the end. Educate yourself about the various optimization techniques out there and demand to know what which of these techniques your SEO is using. Read my post that discusses various link building efforts. Some techniques will work in the short term, but if you're caught, the penalty can be devastating. Just like in real life, there's always a shortcut, but there's also always a price to pay in the long run. There's no substitute for taking the time to build a great site, with high quality content, that builds gradually over time into a true authority on your subject matter. Don't be afraid to optimize.

There are some powerful optimization techniques you can use that Google permits and will gladly reward you with. Focus on building a great site, and staying within the rules, and your short term reward will be peace of mind. Your long term reward will be loads of free search engine traffic, and the respect that comes with doing things the old fashioned way... with hard work and patience.