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How to choose a SEO studio and avoid scam?

There are now thousands of digital marketing agencies in the UK that provide a large number of services such as Google advertising, SMM and SEO.

For most companies looking for an internet marketing contractor, choosing the right company is a real challenge.

Unfortunately, as practice shows, not all digital studios are honest. You can often encounter both outright fraud and complete unprofessionalism.

We, Top Results Agency, over the years of our work have seen a large number of businesses that had previously encountered unsuccessful experiences in ordering SEO services. In this article, we want to tell you how you can identify a potential SEO contractor that you should avoid. And most importantly, how to do this before you have not yet paid for the services (or only paid for the first stage of work).

How to spot a dishonest (Scam) SEO studio?

Here is a list of red flags. If you are currently negotiating with a potential Internet marketing contractor and see something from this list, we recommend that you think about it

  • Result guarantee. If an SEO agency promises to provide you with results on the first page of Google in a short time for super competitive keywords or increase organic traffic to your site five times in 1-2 months, then you should immediately start looking for a new contractor. Remember that no professional SEO specialist will ever promise you this! As a contractor, we can only optimize the client’s site in accordance with Google’s recommendations, but the final decision about how long, for what keywords and in what positions your site will be ranked, is decided only by Google. Also SEO is not the best solution if you are interested in rapid traffic growth. According to our statistics, you can get your first organic traffic only after 3-4 months of SEO work.
  • Lack of site audit at the first stage of work. And so, you have found a contractor, agreed on the terms of cooperation, and are offered to immediately begin technical SEO work. Let’s give an analogy. You have a headache and see a GP. A good doctor will always analyze your condition, conduct the necessary tests and draw up a treatment plan. And a not-so-good doctor may simply write you a prescription for generic pills without bothering to look for the reasons that caused your headache. Also in SEO: you cannot start work until a technical analysis of the site has been carried out, an audit of competitors, potential clients, a work strategy, and a semantic core (a list of relevant keywords for which SEO will be carried out) have been drawn up.
  • Low price. If you are offered SEO services at a price much lower than the market average, then most likely you will not receive quality services.
  • Reporting. Regardless of the chosen work strategy, you should periodically (once a week or once a month) receive a report on the work done. The report must include the amount of work performed, why this work was carried out, and KPIs. If your contractor does not send you reports and, moreover, cannot explain exactly what was done and what results were achieved, this is a reason to think.
  • Lack of contract. Everything is probably clear here. If you are offered to start work without drawing up a contract, that means something is definitely wrong.

These were the major red flags that will allow you to avoid wasted money and frustration with SEO. Statistics show that every third client who contacts us has already had a negative experience of working with SEO agencies.

How to choose an SEO contractor?

Here are some tips from us on how to choose an SEO firm and minimize the risk of experiencing poor results in the future:

  1. Do not hurry. Find several options. Hear rough work plans from several potential contractors. It is normal for different SEO companies to have different views and approaches to working on the same product.
  2. Ask your friends. If you have friends or acquaintances who already use or have previously used the services of SEO agencies and are satisfied with the cooperation? Word of mouth is always the best advertising, and if you start working with a studio that you found through recommendations from people you know, then the likelihood of success will be extremely high!
  3. Read reviews of a potential contractor on independent sites that are protected from fake reviews (we recommend Trustpilot and Google Reviews).
  4. View the portfolio of potential candidates. If the portfolio contains links to company websites, then it is absolutely normal if you call them and find out about their experience in cooperation with the SEO studio.

Now you know how to choose an SEO contractor and reduce the risk of losing money. Receiving organic traffic on the dynamically developing Internet is one of the keys to your online business, and with an effective SEO contractor, the chances of this increase many times over.