The updated description Nigel Ayling wrote for this group inspired this post. Hope it’s useful.
5 SEO contractor warning signs.
1) Promises top ranking on Google search. No legitimate agency does that. No worthwhile, long term, organic strategy can promise that.
2) Uses cheap overseas outsourcing. It’s just not worth it – it can cause damage to your SEO through bad links, and damage to your reputation through low quality content they put on your website.
3) Talks about providing you with plenty of links to your website. This will inevitably be terrible quality links that Google could even penalise you for. Worthwhile links take time, money and effort to produce.
4) Doesn’t give itemised invoices. You have a right to know exactly what they have done and how much you’ve paid for it.
5) You find yourself spending a lot on Adwords and don’t know where the money is going, or if you’re getting useful results.
6) Doesn’t give clear, concrete answers when asked what SEO strategies they use. They should be able to tell you exactly what they will do, and why.