Valuable quality mark or a smart marketing gimmick?

Too many - probably also to you - SEO - Search Engine Optimazation - is a shady area. An area in which many large and small companies have focussed themselves on in the last few years, with only a little or no knowledge at all. Many people found themselves with a negative result, and due to that they are reluctant to invest in these shady enterprises again.

Often, not daily, I come in contact with companies who have invested thousands - sometimes even tens of thousands of Euro's in to their hazy and non transparent optimization practices.

Without any knowledge they are an easy prey, often wrongly informed or not informed at all, they blindly trust on smooth talk. Sometimes the results are disastrous.

Shadyness offers opportunists a 'quality mark' market

Through the shadyness many companies try to win over the customers and gain their trust by offering a SEO Quality Mark

What kind of safety does a SEO quality mark grant you?

A SEO quality mark grants you no guarantee that the company involved follows the rules as indicated by the search engines. Also it grants no guarantee that the company has any knowledge.

A lot of these quality marks are drafted by only one or just a few companies in the SEO branche. A quality mark offers only real quality if it forms a standard for everyone to obey. To keep this objective and controlable, the setting of these standards has to be done by a large group of companies/persons from the market segment and tested by an approved commitee. If only a few companies or persons set the standards, you can say that it is not a quality mark of any value.

Real life teaches us that those 'quality marks' and 'initiatives' by the so-called number ones in the SEO area, still offers optimization that can be harmfull to the customer!

Atfer the erection of one of those quality marks, it became clear that one of the members did not obey the rules, a customer was harmed and the member in question... only mildly reprimanded and told to "not do this again". What kind of value then offers a quality mark?

A SEO quality mark therefore only is a quality mark that offers a semblance of security because there simply is no official quality mark available and often there are no consequences for the misbehaving members!

Checking SEO companies and SEO skills

To you the question remains "Who can I trust with a SEO order?"

When buying a car you rely on the information and appearance of a cardealer. Based on experiences from friends, family and familiars you make your decision. You wouldn't buy just any car, anywhere, would you?

So why would you do that with an order that can be decisive for the succes or failure of your companies activities on the internet?

If you follow the checklist below, you can get a better (unfortunately not complete) image of the SEO company you want to do business with.

Short SEO checklist:

• Do you get information in simple language that you really understand?
• Does the company give you insight in how they operate?
• Does the company give you insight in their portfolio and can I approach other customers. Does the company itself provide this possibility?
• Are there visible results for the optimization with customers, and,
• is the companies own result for optimization visible?
• Has there been negative feedback?
• Are there customers who have been harmed by the optimization practices of this SEO company?

Besides this, it's wise to trust your own feeling and see through the expensive cars and the tailor-made suits. That a lot of money is paid for services, doesn't mean the service has been well. ;)