SEO Proposals & How to Evaluate Them

SEO services come in a variety of forms; however, good quality work is difficult to find. Like any other industry, there are things to look for when trying to winnow the wheat from the chaff, and it is no different when it comes to search engine optimization proposals. On the surface, many proposals may look reasonable, and often similar. Knowing what to look for will make it easier to pick the best SEO option for you and your business.

Below you will find an easy-to-read list to help you pick out a good SEO proposal from one that is more likely than not going to cost a lot of money without delivering much (if anything) in the form of search engine result improvements.

Signs of a Bad SEO Proposal

An SEO proposal should give the client the option to veto keyword selections made by the SEO.Offers a Guarantee: No search engine optimization company can offer an honest guarantee for first page rankings. Generally, the guarantee is either convoluted and heavily in favor of the SEO service provider, or is based on extremely low-competition keywords which would drive little to no useful traffic, even if ranked on the first page of major search engines.

Does Not Offer Details: SEO shoppers should be weary of proposals (or conversations with a sales person) which do not offer at least some details about the type and scope of work which will be completed as part of the SEO campaign. For example, if the SEO includes Link Development as part of the service, there should be an explanation which explains the type of approaches that will be utilized.

It Offers a Set of Packages: If the proposal offers a selection of SEO packages to choose from, in some cases it is not going to meet your needs. Even though package options make the decision of picking services easier by offering upfront pricing for SEO services, they sometimes fail to address the needs of each individual business. The customization of SEO services is an important aspect of the process as it can help avoid overpaying for services you might not need, or not having a campaign that is aggressive enough to match the competitiveness of your niche.

Measures Success by Rankings: This may seem counterintuitive, since the entire point of SEO is to improve rankings; however, if rankings and subsequent traffic are not accompanied by conversions (whatever form they may take) will result in a failed campaign. The success of an SEO campaign must have multiple KPIs (key performance indicators) including ranking, traffic, time-on-site, conversions, and ROI evaluation (to make sure that the funds being invested on SEO provide a positive return on investment).

Offers Only Link Development: An SEO campaign which only relies on link development is fundamentally flawed. Even though links are an important part of ranking improvements, they are not going to provide stable and sustainable ranking improvements without the support of proper technical SEO in combination with a content strategy.

If you can keep these potential pitfalls in mind, it will be much easier to avoid signing up for an SEO service contract which will turn out to be nothing more than a money pit. If you are unsure about the quality of an SEO proposal you have receive, please feel free to get in touch with us, and we will gladly evaluate the details of the proposal for you.