When you choose any firm or individual for your SEO campaign, you should ask them how to prove their previous results. Please note, that any list of previous customers doesn’t mean that you will be placed there after the SEO campaign too. Maybe you’ll be listed there, maybe not. Who knows?

The best solution is to make two contracts. One contract is an agreement between you and the firm which works on your site’s SEO (let’s consider this firm as the „first firm“ in the content below). The second contract should be concluded between you and some individual or a firm, which is going to analyse the work done by the first firm. Of course, this is probably more expensive than using only one SEO firm, but this strategy means that you have the control on the overall optimisation process. The SEO audit should be based on the reports provided by the first firm.

So how to start with a SEO audit? Firstly, make sure that the auditor’s firm knows SEO. Ask them to make some pre-work analysis, which includes the target keywords and phrases. Usually, good SEO analysis contains about 5-10 pages written in some office type document. You don’t need 100 pages, since no-one is interested in reading books. Apart from this analysis and the actual audit, look for some firm which should provide the real SEO work. Bear in mind, that this firm must not be related to the audit firm in any way! Otherwise, you could lose much more money than expected.

What a pre-work SEO audit should contain?

• 1) Actual positions and rankings for the targeted keywords
• 2) Number of backlinks on Google, MSN and Yahoo
• 3) The list of all known sites pointing to your website (this list doesn’t need to be 100%-ly precise, since no-one can guarantee you that a link which exists one day, exists another day too and backwards). Usual precision level is 80%-90%.

Once you get such report, you can give the final go-ahead to the firm which provides the SEO works. Ask them for a report each 2 weeks. It isn’t needed to get a report each day, since this would take much time and they won’t focus on the work, but on the reports. Give them high level of freedom, but require very detailed documents of the overall SEO campaign.

If they send you the reports, immediatelly send those documents to your SEO auditors. Let them analyse the work. Generally, there are 4 ways how an analysis might look like.

• 1) No-one is working, a SEO firm only lies to you
• 2) They are working, but more effort is needed
• 3) A SEO firm is working, but the results aren’t achieved
• 4) A SEO firm is working and the rankings improve

Basically, the first and second point means that you should cancel the agreement as soon as possible. The third and fourth point means that your choice was good. Bear in mind, that rankings may not improve immediatelly. Especially when you’re focusing on very competitve phrases, it might take a few months or years in order to meet the desired rankings. Just for sure, there are also other ways how an audit could end.

• 1) The auditors are doing their work well
• 2) The SEO audit isn’t worth it
• 3) Both, the SEO firm and the auditors aren’t working

How will you know that the second case has fallen? For example, the number of visitors raised, the SEO firm is doing the best, but the SEO auditors say that nothing positive happend. If you’re getting more visitors, the SEO campaign is successfull no matter if your site occupies better positions for the primary keywords. Generally, search engine optimisation leads to more visitors not only for the target phrases.

General recommendations for a successfull audit:

• 1) Make sure you’re hiring the right firm/individual
• 2) Make sure they know SEO and their website has good rankings
• 3) Don’t tell the SEO auditors anything about your site’s traffic; But keep informed the SEO firm as much as possible
• 4) Don’t tell the SEO firm that you’re using any audit services

Our website offers you the SEO audit service. Use the “contact us” to get more information, please.