SEO firms or consultants can be of great benefit to your business, but unfortunately, there are some frauds out there. You can’t just assume that someone is an expert in the field because he says he is. It’s up to you, the consumer, to take the time to do your due diligence, but the following questions can help you get a straight answer and figure out if the company is the right one for you.

1. How long have you been in business? A company that has only just started might not be legit. That’s not to say that no new company is trustworthy, but you will want to know more about the people behind it and their experience with SEO before committing to them.

2. How is success measured? There needs to be a specific method of checking for success if you are going to hire someone to do your search engine optimization for you. Otherwise, there’s no telling if you are getting what you paid for.

3. What are some of your more successful campaigns? An SEO company that has been in business for a while should have some case studies of happy clients to show you. If they don’t, you might want to look elsewhere.

4. Can you share your general SEO process? This question needs to be asked because you don’t want spam tactics being used. A badly done SEO campaign can destroy your company’s online reputation and ruin your search engine rankings, so make sure the company isn’t using anything but white hat techniques.

5. Do you offer a guarantee? If the answer is yes, clarify, but be suspicious. It’s impossible for anyone to guarantee specific results when it comes to search engines, so if someone says they guarantee top spots, you should look elsewhere.

6. How will I know what you’re doing? Your SEO company should give you frequent updates on what they are doing. How frequent? That’s between you and your SEO firm . . . you should be able to request updates more often if you need them.

7. What is the long term plan? SEO isn’t just about optimizing your content and leaving it, a good strategy is ongoing. Check with the company to see what their long term plan is for your site.

Ask the right questions and you should be able to tell if the firm you are considering hiring is legit or not.  What is your advice to selected an SEO firm?