Help Centre
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO
How to choose a good SEO provider
Here are some dos and don’ts to help you choose an SEO partner who’ll actually deliver results.
- Do ask your SEO services provider to explain how they’re going to accomplish those goals. But you should be wary if they try to confuse you with a lot of technical jargon, or a doomsday list of everything wrong with your website that they claim will fix it.
- Do ask for a Competitor Analysis report. A good provider will analyse all 10 results that are listed on page 1 for the queries you intend to target, to determine which are the top 10 sites that Google is listing for those searches. This will reveal how much effort the competitor sites have put into their SEO, and, so in turn, how much effort you would have to put in to convince Google to list you ahead of them. At Lime, if we determine that the competition is too intense for those queries, we will advise you accordingly – which may mean targeting different queries or opting for other forms of marketing.
- Don’t trust websites with top lists of SEO agencies, like “best SEO agency in Australia”. Many websites with such lists invest vast sums of money in their own SEO to rank high for those search terms, and they often sell the positions on their lists to anyone willing to pay. But given the scarcity of good SEO practitioners, many of the best providers are booked to capacity through word-of-mouth referrals alone, and have no need to invest in such tactics — which means it’s often the shady companies that end up on those lists.
- Don’t believe “magic recipe” claims. Be wary of anybody who claims they have some secret sauce that will get you to rank #1 on Google.
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Do clarify precisely what your provider intends to deliver
A good SEO provider will give you a clear understanding of how your website is ranking compared to online competitors, and will discuss a plan of how to achieve certain goals.
Other SEO providers may not provide clear reporting or communicate effectively with you about their strategies and progress. This lack of transparency can make it difficult for you to assess the effectiveness of their services.
Google Ads is not SEO!
Some unscrupulous people mislead customers into paying for high-cost PPC campaigns — where, as long as you keep paying, it’s possible to appear on top of the search results… amongst the sponsored listings. When your budget for the day is used up, your site’s listing will disappear.
If your website is listed on page 1, but not amongst the free Google listings – that is not SEO.
Low Quality Link Building
The practice of low-quality or spammy link building involves obtaining links from irrelevant, disreputable or manipulative websites.
When the referring site is irrelevant and of low quality, its backlink offers no value to users and does little to help build your website’s popularity. Search engines usually ignore such links.
It can get worse however when an inbound link is toxic – sourced from a link farm, paid link scheme, or a website with a high spam score. Having several such links in your profile will look deliberate, and can then result in penalties or even your site being banned from search results.
Building a good backlink profile is imperative for link popularity. Focus on gaining high-quality, organic backlinks through legitimate means. This will improve your search engine rankings and establish your website as a trustworthy and authoritative source.
Poor content quality
Content is a critical component of SEO. Cheap providers may produce low-quality or duplicate content that not only fails to engage users but can also lead to duplicate content penalties from search engines.
Wasted money and time
Some SEO service providers lack the necessary expertise, or don’t bother to identify the target audience, nor conduct a thorough purposeful keyword research and competitor analysis. When unimportant, generic or overly competitive keywords are targeted, your website will fail to attract the appropriate types of visitors you need.
Risk of penalties
Engaging in low-quality or unethical SEO practices can lead to search engine penalties, which can be challenging to recover from. It can take a long time to regain your website’s rankings and reputation.
Rebuilding costs
If you later decide to invest in high-quality SEO services to rectify the damage done by cheap providers, you may incur additional expenses to undo the harm caused by previous tactics.
Damage to brand reputation
Your online reputation is crucial, and using cheap SEO services that engage in questionable practices can harm your brand’s image and credibility.