Choosing an appropriate SEO service provider for your ecommerce site can be a tricky process, especially if you are not conversant with SEO. There are a number of things to consider such as the reputation of the SEO provider, whether they know the tactics of proper SEO, if they follow reputed and ethical SEO practices as well as if they deliver as per the claims they make etc. Here are some tips to help you select the best SEO service provider for your ecommerce business.

Rankings online

One of the first things you should check in your prospective SEO vendor is their page ranking online. A 7 or 8 ranking is ideal not less than that. You can use Google or Yahoo’s page ranking tools to measure the site’s ranking. You should however be aware of the fact that page ranking can be enhanced temporarily through artificial methods. You should also check and see where the SEO provider site is placed in Google’s Directory. The various listings on Google Directory will be sorted based on page rankings. Thus, if the SEO vendor site is placed on a higher category, it is a good indicator of the company’s reputation. You should also check the popularity of the links on the SEO provider website. Check for the rankings of crucial keywords on the SEO vendor site. You can use special keyword selector tools to assess the popularity of these keywords, which have been prominently used by the website. If they have placed undue importance on a less popular keyword, it is not a good sign of their understanding of SEO.

Evidence of thought leadership

Thought leadership is a much-publicized term. The true testament to the thought leadership of any SEO firm is in the number of published articles the firm has to its credit. The more white papers, research reports and books the company has written and published the more credibility and thought leadership it enjoys. If it has also conducted many conference presentations or acted as keynote speakers in important seminars it is a good sign of their popularity and credibility. If the leaders or top management of the SEO Company is providing useful tactics on SEO measures, it is a positive indicator as well. If the SEO firm is often quoted in various media that too is a good sign.

Ethical SEO tactics

Your prospective SEO vendor needs to adopt ethical SEO tactics. This is paramount as not following ethical procedures can hamper your company’s credibility and reputation permanently. One way to check this in the prospective SEO vendor is to see if the site is greybarred in the page ranking indicator of Google. If it is, then it means the SEO company’s site has been banned. Make sure to search using the URL of the site, on Google, Yahoo etc. If the site’s links do not show up it means it has been banned. Another way to check the ethical practices of an SEO firm is to check the client pages. If the SEO company’s clients have hidden links, tiny text or hidden text, it means they are following deceptive practices. If the SEO company claims they do not follow deceptive practices it is not a good sign because they are lying to you. Comparing the SEO company’s page content with what has been cached on search engines is another way to check for authenticity. If the content between the two is vastly different it means the SEO site is spamming.

Check reviews for reputation

The reputation of your prospective SEO vendor can be assessed by means of online reviews, customer opinions and feedback as well as references.

Guarantees are a no-no

If your SEO service provider is guaranteeing that your site will gain top page ranks once you give them your business, it is a false claim. No SEO company can ever guarantee page rankings because it not within the control of any SEO firm.

Ongoing income

Most SEO vendors would like to sustain themselves on the long-term. Hence, while they will explain the basic principles of SEO functionality they will not go in-depth about the details. Instead, they will try to get regular work from you by means of low priced monthly deliverables like meta tags, doorway pages or keyword research activities.

Evolving is important