Whether you're using an SEO company or not, you've undoubtedly encountered some statement like this:

"After reviewing your website, we've noticed that you do not show up on the first page for Google for your keywords. If you call me today, I can guarantee you the top spot."

At KitelyTech, we see this all the time. Though many SEO companies are doing reputable and great work when it comes to helping clients, there are also plenty of SEO companies that are taking advantage of businesses and using questionable practices.

But what is SEO? It's a process of techniques, tactics, and strategies that are used to increase the visitors to a website by achieving high-ranking placement in the results page of search engines. Common practices include updates to on-page aspects, such as: mobile-readiness of the site, upgrades to the code that makes the site read more easily by search engines, reviewing the content, images, and off-page factors - like incoming links to the website and qualified connections with other websites that are trusted.

If your business is like most businesses today, you are probably using a service to monitor your website and move it up to page one of the search engine rankings. Unfortunately, you might not know if you are working with a qualified agency or a group of hacks. Well, with these best practices sourced from years of SEO experience, you will be able to determine if your SEO company is taking advantage of you.

First, you should identify what exactly the company will do for you and what their deliverables will be. You should set reasonable timelines and plan to follow up on them. Furthermore, you should ask this SEO company to create a list of keywords and explain why these terms were picked. By doing this, the company you are employing will be forced to understand not only your company, but the competition you are facing. Next, you should demand a plan, or, better yet, an audit. Your SEO company should clearly identify primary issues. Additionally, they should have a plan for correcting these issues.

After all of this, you should expect this SEO company to craft a proposal with one-time fixes and ongoing efforts. Additionally, you should be wary of a flat, monthly fee for updates, because most projects require lots of work up front, but need considerably less effort as time continues to pass. Also, you should ask for a monthly report. The report should include an in-depth analysis of the work that was performed the previous month, and the results of the effort. The report should include a recommendation of what should be done next to achieve your desired results and rankings. Lastly, you should push for accessibility. Your SEO team should always be available to field questions and explain the report data.

If you have questions about SEO, your current SEO company, or you would like to work with KitelyTech's SEO services, feel free to contact us today. KitelyTech has many years of experience working in SEO and a wide variety of additional tech fields.

Author Bio:

Rachael is a content writer at Kemistri who has written on a from colored diamonds to SEO software. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, sketching, cooking, and video games.