How to Tell If Your Provider of SEO Services Sucks

Sometimes wake up calls are the worst things to do in this world. It's hard to be given a wake up call and it's definitely harsh to give somebody else a wake up call. Sadly, you can't keep throwing good money after bad. You can't keep pouring money down a money pit. It just doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense as far as your personal finances are concerned. It doesn't make any sense as far as your business is concerned.

If you are in a contract with a provider of SEO services in Singapore or surrounding areas and you feel that you could be getting more out of the deal, here's how you can tell. Keep these in mind to determine whether you have contracted with the right provider of SEO services or not. These hallmarks highlight the qualities of faulty or outright worthless providers of SEO marketing services

Zero Improvement From the Day You Hired Your Provider

This should be quite obvious. If your rankings are exactly the same now as the day you hired your provider of SEO services, something is wrong. In fact, something is very wrong. Either the company is just taking you for a ride or they don't know what they're doing. Whatever the case may be, you need to break away from that provider and hire somebody who can take you where you need to go.

This is completely unacceptable if you have been contracting with that company for more than six months. Six months is plenty of time to gain some improvement. If your rankings have not improved at all or very marginally, something is very wrong and you need to move on as quickly as possible.

They Keep Telling You to Wait

Although SEO is a long term strategy, your SEO marketing company totally sucks if they keep telling you to just wait. They will tell you that they're working on your campaigns. They keep telling you that they have the best plans. They even give you reports.

But all of these don't really matter. What matters are results. And if you can't even get them to admit that something is wrong or get them to step up their efforts, you might want to think really hard of letting that company go.

All that they're really doing is prolonging your agony. All they're really doing is extending your ordeal. You need results because your competitors are going to eat your lunch sooner rather than later if you allow yourself to be kept waiting by your SEO provider.

They Keep You in the Dark

One key aspect of a low quality provider of SEO services is when they keep you completely in the dark. They don't give you any details, they don't give you any reports. They just essentially tell you that they are on the job. That's all they would tell you. You are just encouraged to look at eventual rankings later on.

Well, that's too little too late. If you feel that you're being kept in the dark and all your requests for documentation and reports are simply either being ignored or deflected, kill the contract. Seriously. Tell them that you're not getting what you bargained for and you're going to walk.

Usually, by that point, they would start being more forthcoming with reports. But be careful of companies that you would have to threaten first to treat you the way you should have been treated in the first place.

"Explains" Campaigns Loaded with Jargon

If you ask for key results regarding the SEO campaign that you paid for, but all you get are reports loaded with jargon, you might want to become skeptical. As the old saying goes, either you dazzle them with brilliance, or you befuddle them with BS. In this situation, it's probably more of the latter.

If they can't explain what they're doing and what they're after in plain eighth grade English, something is very wrong. Seriously. It's not that complicated. If they feel that they have to hide behind industry jargon in the hopes that somehow, some way, you'd think that they're more credible or they're professional and you just leave them to their genius, you are allowing yourself to be fooled.

Insist on reports that are in plain English. If you can't understand a term, don't be shy about asking for an explanation. It doesn't mean that you're an idiot. It doesn't mean that you have limited intelligence because you don't get these terms. Why should you? You're not in the SEO industry. Don't be shy about asking for explanations.

They Won't Agree to Milestones

If a company who claims to be an expert in SEO services won't even agree to long drawn out milestones, you know something is very wrong. Either they don't know what they're doing or they can't commit. Whatever the case may be, it is not a positive situation for you.

This is a very basic request. If a company can't even commit to some sort of basic milestone, think twice about their capabilities. Maybe you're too small for them. Maybe your account is too insignificant. Keep walking and look for a company that would respect your account enough to agree to milestones.

Focuses on Building Links Instead of Earning Them

Keep asking a lot of questions regarding actual practices. High quality providers of SEO services would tell you that links are earned. These are real professionals. They would focus on positioning your company with high quality content and creating a great public image for your company so thrid party websites in your niche and in your locality would voluntarily link to you.

That's right, they would link to you out of their own free will. You're not paying them. You're not going to their websites and filling out forms to create a link. All of this happens with a high degree of editorial control and is 100% voluntary.

If the company that you're dealing with doesn't get this and keeps talking about building links or filling out forms to get links, don't do business with that company. Sure, such practices can get your website ranked. There are certain fast and dirty tricks that still work. However, it's anybody's guess how long they will continue to work.

Don't roll the dice with your brand. It's too precious for that. You don't have the time for that. So do yourself a big favor and if you notice that the company that you're thinking of doing business with talks about building links way too much, skip them. They are bad news.

Has Zero Ideas About Brand Building Online

If you raise the issue of brand building, you know you're dealing with a professional company when they take the ball and they get back to you with an impressive brand building campaign. On the other hand, if you're dealing with a company that is clueless regarding brand building, they would resort to telling you about building links and getting as many mentions of your domain name from all over the web. If a company does that, be very suspicious.

Keep the tips above in mind. You may be stuck in a bad situation with your current provider of SEO services. The good news is, by having a clear idea about bad practices, you can make better decisions as far as who to hire, who to fire, and who to keep.