Should You Hire A Search Engine Consultant?

As a small-business owner with a Web site, you know that one of the most important things you can do is get your site ranked high on a search-results page at Google, Bing and Yahoo. But how to achieve that high ranking?

You’ve learned all about keywords, link building and unique page titles. The question is, how do you do it? And should you go it alone or call in the hired guns?

“The right answer is somewhere in between,” says Gord Hotchkiss, CEO and president of Enquiro, a search marketing agency, and the chairman of SEMPO, a nonprofit organization serving the search-engine marketing industry. “It needs to be a partnership,” he says. “You don’t want to lose control.”

First, beware guarantees. “If it sounds too good to be true, it is,” says Hotchkiss. “We would all love to have guarantees, but no one has that influence over what Google shows as No. 1. A guarantee is a red flag.” Over-promises can lead to “black hat” practices–like keyword stuffing and link farming–which can get a site banned from search engines. Once that happens, it’s very hard to get back in Google’s good graces.

Naomi Grossman’s article in Forbes explains the pros and cons of doing your own SEO and of working with an SEO consultant. Read the article here.

It’s always a good idea to talk with more than one potential search engine optimization company and compare them. Ask them about their position on ethical SEO versus aggressive Ssearch engine optimization

[Update See our article 10 Signs That Your SEO Consultant Is a Quack for much more.]