With everyone and their neighbour offering SEO services in Malaysia these days, clients are having a headache deciding which SEO Company to engage. Here are some pointers to help you (hopefully) choose a good SEO Company:
1. Company Background & Track Record
Ask the SEO Company how long have they been providing SEO services. You don’t want to engage a fly-by-night company that’s here today and gone tomorrow …along with your hard-earned money.
Are they truly SEO specialists? If you’d look around, you’ll notice that even web hosting companies and web designers are providing SEO services these days, either to join the new Internet “gold rush” or to look for new sources of income because margins for their traditional business is being compressed.
Ask for examples of websites that the SEO Company has worked on – see if they’re big clients or mom-and-pop shops. Check if those websites were optimized for the best keywords or easy keywords.
Check the SEO Company’s own rankings. Any SEO Company worth their salt should be able to rank well for keywords like seo malaysia, seo company, seo consultant, seo services or even seo.
2. SEO Methods & What’s Included
Ask the SEO Company how will they optimize your website. I have come across an SEO Company whose only method for link-building was by commenting on blogs. Seriously!
Will their methods involve link exchanges or link buying? Will you need to put a backlink to their website?
Ask if they will just give on-page recommendations or will they implement for you too. Will they set up Analytics and Webmaster Tools, install sitemaps and create/claim your Google Places listing as well?
Which search engines is the SEO Company targeting? How long can you expect before seeing any results?
What reports will the SEO Company be providing? Does it include monthly keyword rankings report, and for which search engines?
3. Fees, Guarantees & Payment
Ask about extra charges. Some SEO Companies have low service fee but charge you seperately for directory submissions, article writing, SEO maintenance, etc.
If the company provides a ranking guarantee, ask exactly what are they guaranteeing. I have come across a company that guarantees to get x number of keywords (from a customer-chosen y number of keywords) into the first page of Google, Yahoo or Bing – combined! Considering that Google receives 80% of the total search volume and the top 4 organic results get more than 70% of the clicks, doesn’t the guarantee sound like marketing gimmick and nothing more?
What is the payment schedule like? Most SEO Companies will require you to make full or partial payments upfront. Will you be comfortable paying upfront?
Conclusion:
It is not easy choosing an SEO Company in Malaysia, especially with so much “noise” in the market. Almost everyone claims to be the best or no. 1 SEO Company, and most provide money-back guarantee too.
What’s worse is, “taking a chance” on just any SEO Company can get your website penalized (-50,-100, etc. type penalty) or totally removed from the index, in a worse case scenario.
Hence, you should take your time to evaluate the companies – use the guide above. Get a few quotes and see which ones fit your budget but also sounds reasonable. Definitely do NOT just engage the cheapest because real SEO work requires many man-hours, lots of content and advanced tools.
A desperate SEO Company may accept your job for a ridiculously low fee, but they will cut corners in the end – remember that these companies are also running a business.