honesty in SEO?

Over the last year, I have read numerous e-books, blog posts, and forum advice on the subject of search engine optimization (SEO). I have also run across hundreds of companies offering the service. You would think that with the availability of search optimization information on the internet for free, that everyone would be doing it for their own websites. Unfortunately, not everyone has the time and experience to do it right. After all, if you have one shot at making your website famous, you don't want to screw it up by trying to optimize it yourself when you've never optimized a site before. Sure, there are obvious tactics that seem to work every time - for example, getting quality linkbacks. But then there are the trickier tactics that could land you in search engine limbo. (Trust me - I can speak from experience - you don't want to be there. I am still wrestling with Google for re-inclusion of one of my sites, and I still don't know what I did wrong.)

This is often why businesses turn to professional SEO services for their organic listing optimization. Sure, it is going to cost you a pretty penny, but you're paying for their time (in lieu of your own), and hopefully some high quality links from some highly ranked sites. You're also paying for experience - a company that (hopefully) has had success with thousands of websites in the past.

One thing that always bothered me about these professional SEO services, though, is their "guarantee" that they will get you placed where you want. What a sham! Considering that the organic search listings are controlled by the search engine companies and not the SEO professionals, I don't see how anybody can make this kind of guarantee. You would think that their reputation would catch up with them pretty quickly. That's why SEO companies with an established presence and repeat customer base is important.

I was pretty impressed with Customer Magnetism, a search engine optimization company with an honest approach at SEO services and the guarantees that they carry. They quickly debunk the bogus "guarantee" strategy offered by so many of their competitors, and offer a much more realistic one of their own. Since most of your fees go towards link building with their service, that means that even if they don't quite place you where you wanted, you'll still have some quality links to show for it. They also list specific examples of the sites that they have worked with in the past, all of which you could contact to check as a reference. Compare this to many SEO services who don't list any of their previous clients, and don't reveal what they will do for you because it is an "industry secret".

Even better, they offer a free custom research report, and competitive analysis with optimization recommendations. I may just have to take them up on that offer for a few of my newer sites.