Measuring SEO Vendor Performance

I have been an internet marketer for over 5 years now. When I first started, the term "SEO" was still rather new and unknown to many business owners. Now, it is a term which almost all business owners are familiar with, though what it actually means can be interpreted in many ways.

By definition, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This alludes to the process of tuning a website to gain more exposure from search engines when users search for certain keywords or phrases.

For many owners of commercial or personal websites, gaining more exposure from search engine results pages (SERPs) is a high priority and the primary focus of their online marketing strategy. In their quest to research ways to improve their website's performance, website owners will inevitably come across the term SEO. This is where it can quickly become confusing for such website owners, as searching for the term SEO in popular search engines will turn up many results linking to pages describing any of the following as SEO techniques:

on-page code optimization

backlink creation

article writing

site indexing optimization

These are often offered as paid services by both reputable and otherwise unknown vendors. Many of these vendors tout different variations of the above mentioned techniques, each claiming to know what works best.

Google's Ranking Algorithm

As the most prominent search engine, Google has developed its own, internal algorithm to decide how best to rank websites in its search engine results pages. The aim of Google is to show links to the most relevant websites for searches of matching keywords. ie, a search for the keyword "car" would ideally show results linking to websites about cars, not boats. While Google does frequently offer tidbits of public advice on what techniques it uses internally to rank websites in results pages, the complete algorithm is always kept secret.

Measuring SEO Vendor Performance

Due to all SEO service providers never knowing completely how Google's internal ranking algorithm works, it is near impossible for such vendors to truthfully guarantee results to their clients. Many SEO companies do make claims of being able to increase the search engine result page rankings for clients based on their previously attained performance with existing clients.

Most all established SEO companies will maintain periodical ranking results of the clients' websites for certain search terms in the major search engines.

When website owners are choosing from potential SEO service providers, it is important to know of the SEO company's previous performance in increasing the rank of existing clients' websites in search results pages for target keywords. Website owners should insist on the potential vendor to show them historical ranking data for websites against the target keywords that the vendor has provided SEO services for.

Some keywords have more competition and are thus harder to attain high search engine result page positions for. Website owners should ask potential service providers to show them existing achievements for keywords similar to those which they want to rank highly for.



Leon Stafford is an internet consultant in the Asia Pacific region. He has spent most of his adult life working in various roles in Information Technology. Now leading a small web development and marketing company, Leon enjoys sharing to the community some of the knowledge he has professionally acquired.




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