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10 Signs Your SEO Firm Isn’t Worth the Money [Free Ebook]

 

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SEO Snake OilSearch engines are a powerful driver of inbound marketing traffic and leads. While all marketers should have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, they also need to be careful about who they partner with to execute this strategy. SEO isn't easy. It takes a significant amount of time dedicated to content creation and link building.

Too many companies spend money on SEO agencies that over-promise and under-deliver. In HubSpot's newest ebook, we examine the common signs of poor SEO agencies and consultants. SEO is too important to inbound marketing success to waste time and money working with a bad partner.

10 Signs Your SEO Firm Isn’t Worth the Money

Sign #1. Making Promises That Are Too Good to Be True

Sign #2. Using “Black Hat” SEO Techniques

Sign #3. Targeting the Wrong Keywords

Sign #4. Employing Shoddy Linking Schemes

Sign #5. Promising to List Your Site in Hundreds of Online Directories

Sign #6. Redesigning Your Site or Creating New Pages Without 301 Redirects

Sign #7. Focusing on Metadata Instead of On-Page SEO

Sign #8. Creating Bad Content

Sign #9. Driving Irrelevant Traffic

Sign #10. Offering a One-Time Fix With No Ongoing Maintenance

Be sure to download our new ebook for the full explanation of these 10 signs!

Photo Credit: Wesley Fryer

Free eBook: How to Spot Bad SEO Services

Free eBook: How to Spot Bad SEO Services

Don't waste money on bad SEO. Learn about the difference between trustworthy and snake oil SEO firms.

Download this free ebook to understand 10 warning signs of bad SEO.
comments Comments

Posted by Kipp Bodnar on Mon, Jul 11, 2011 @ 12:02 PM

COMMENTS

Great list! Let's keep adding to it. In cases where the web designer claims they know SEO and how to drive traffic, some other sure fire clues that they're clueless include:  
> Static pages;  
> Lots of flash;  
> A contact-us form with a bunch of required fields.  
Those recommendations are a huge red flag that they are behind the curve and may not have the SEO chops they claim.

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 12:32 PM by Lindsay Garrison

How about adding poorly designed landing pages. There is no use sending traffic if they are not going to convert when they land there!

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 12:39 PM by Jane

Doesn't it make you laugh when you see a "professional" seo company is advertising services via spam email?

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 12:50 PM by Kirill Kononov

Excellent e-book. Well written. Easy to understand.  
 
A must-read for anyone considering an SEO service. 
 
There are all kinds of people out making some very big SEO promises. This book helps put everything into perspective.  
 
Good job - and thanks.

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 1:11 PM by Bob McCarthy

This eBook lists 4 good online directories to list your site on. Does someone have a comprehensive list of good quality directories? There are so many directories out there it is hard to tell which ones you shouldn't list your site on.

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 2:52 PM by Mickey Murphy

Great question @ Mickey! I hope someone has recommendations for directory listings. I expect some will be industry specific (Global Spec for manufacturers, for example), but I'll bet there are any number of industry agnostic ones that could be beneficial.

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 3:05 PM by Lindsay Garrison

...misspelling the main link to seo eBook in a top listed blog.. 
 
There's no excuse for sloppy work in a world of computers

posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 at 11:04 PM by monty

Monty, 
 
Sorry for the mistake. It has been fixed. Thanks for pointing it out!  
 
Kipp

posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 8:17 AM by Kipp Bodnar

Another caution is the promise of "outsourcing" SEO to an agency or consultant. The client needs to be involved. It's a collaborative effort. 
 
Yet another red flag is suggesting that SEO is a "project" with a beginning and an end. SEO is an ongoing effort. There can be some "heavy lifting" required on the front end, but it's never "done."

posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 2:50 PM by Bernie Borges

Wow it is nice and great helpful for me. Thanks a lot !

posted on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 9:26 PM by web design jaipur

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