There are no shortage of SEO consultants around now. The internet has exploded in popularity over the next decade and is now an integral part of marketing for any good company. One ever growing area of such online marketing is SEO, or search engine optimisation. If your company's website is an important part of the sales strategy, then this is one key area of marketing you cannot afford to overlook.

 But, as with anything, there are good and bad SEO consultants out there and finding a bad one can actually hinder your progress significantly. Here are some of the signs you DON'T want to see when looking for a potential SEO specialist.

1. No website (or a poorly ranking website)

If your supposed SEO specialist cannot rank his or her own website on the first results page, how can they be so sure they can have yours on there? Let's say, for example, that you're seeking out SEO specialists in Manchester. A quick search for 'SEO Manchester' will return results, invariably, for those providing that service. As this is likely to be a target keyword for such people, you would hope they'd feature on the first page.

2. Unrealistic Promises

Any SEO consultant who promises to get 'any website' into the number one spot on Google before even looking at the site is absolutely not worth paying. Nobody can forecast such results - particularly without even knowing what the target keywords are. Be incredibly wary of promises like this.

3. One Off Fee Only

Anybody who claims to be offering a full SEO service for a one off fee is not performing the SEO correctly. SEO is an ongoing campaign requiring maintenance. It isn't just abuot tweaking your website and sending you on your way.

4. Secrecy

Of course, your SEO consultant is hardly likely to give you all their contacts and a full tutorial on what they do on a day to day basis. Why would they? But they should explain what the campaign involves, describe the process of improving your site and building links to it etc and they should provide frequent reports on your progress - including both the bad news and the good. You really want transparency. So any SEO who refuses to provide such information is someone you should be wary of.

5. Pay Per Click

While pay per click advertising certainly has benefits for some companies, it's a short term advertising strategy unless you are prepared to continue pumping money into it. One relatively known 'scam' is that of promising 'first page on Google' for any keyword within a very short period of time. Often, the 'specialist' doing this will simply ply your money into a Google ad, which, while it will feature you on the first page (if done right) it will show you as one of the sponsored listings down the side or above the results themselves. Any online marketing agency should explain in detail the difference between Pay Per Click (PPC) and SEO to you. They're entirely different.

These are just some things you should be wary of when looking for someone to take on your SEO campaign. As with anyone you recruit for any service at all, do your research and be sure you know exactly where your money is being spent.

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