As Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to gain attention and become a much-needed service, I feel it’s important for businesses to know what they’re getting into.

The way I look at it, there are 3 types of SEO companies:
1) Companies that promise the world and very rarely deliver.
2) Companies that deliver via unethical, “black hat” approaches.
3) The real deal.

In particular, I’d like to briefly touch on unethical SEO companies. Today I was working on a client’s SEO campaign and while researching backlinks to competitor websites, I noticed a plethora of irrelevant, spammy backlinks. In fact, some were totally inappropriate.

The websites I was researching are for law firms throughout New York, and I was surprised to see backlinks from sites for mail-order brides, online gambling, prescription medication, and other irrelevant pages. The question I ask myself is: If lawyers knew their firm was listed on a mail-order bride website, would they be happy? Probably not.

Before hiring an SEO company, make sure you do your research and get a feel for their strategy. In the long run, you’ll be happy you did.

Aaron Schoenberger
The Brainchild Group