Of course they can. The real question is: can they help you get on the first page of Google using the right keywords.
One of the most mystifying things in life is the Google search algorithm. Needless to say, many folks in our industry would love to have that formula in their back pocket. What we do know are some of the more common sense items to focus on to help raise your standing in a search result. We use this information to help our clients with their SEO needs.
Let’s talk more about some of the things you should look for when dealing with the so called low cost SEO services. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing keywords and keyword phrases on your website and other related content that will help bring visitors to your website. Let’s take a little time defining what the keywords and keyword phrases should be.
Keywords & Keyword Phrases: When deciding what keywords you should use, think about what people may think about when they are looking for your products or services. Let’s say your company delivers concrete and installs sidewalks and driveways and your location is Fredericksburg, VA. Someone searching for your service may type in “concrete driveways.” The first thing the search engine will do in this case is try to assign a locality to the person doing the search. Without getting into a lot of detail how they do it, let’s just say they do a pretty good job of knowing where the person is searching from.
With that information, the search engine will now look at both words “concrete” & “driveway.” Notice the word driveway is missing the “s” that was originally typed into the search box. This is called stemming. Search engines will want to find “driveway” and it will render any word with or without the “s.” The next step for the se4arch engine is to find all relevant content within the locality containing both words “concrete & driveway.” Once there are no more sites with both words together in the order it was provided, the search engine will render sites that have both words but in various locations in the content. After that, sites will be rendered with one or the other word. Finally, the search will render sites that have some relevance to the original keywords. This is where it gets really fuzzy.
That was probably more info than you wanted to know but it sets the framework to help you understand the right keywords for your business. Some low cost SEO companies will manipulate your keywords so that you will render high in a search result. In our example above, they may recommend a keyword phrase like “concrete driveways walker street.” Since your concrete business is the only concrete business on Walker Street, you will certainly show up high if not number 1. So how many people will search for “concrete driveways on walker street?” Not many I think unless they were looking for you specifically and they knew your location was on Walker Street.
Before engaging any SEO company, put yourself in the shoes of someone looking for your services. Do a search on the web with what you think your keywords should be. Take note who shows up on the first page. Are these your competitors? If so, you probably hit the right keywords. Do a lot of searches with different combinations of keywords. Write the keywords down that provide the most logical results. Target these when you talk to potential SEO firms.