Answer these Ten Questions Before You Charge for SEO Services

Posted by Internet Marketing

Aug 1

It’s no secret that I’ve been frequently dissapointed by the level of knowledge of many SEO companies, even those who have a big presence in the industry. In fact, I believe that in the current search marketing environment, less than 30% of companies that spend money on organic search ranking services are getting a good deal.

So… I have an invitation to everyone who works at search firms of all sizes and shapes – look at the ten questions below and answer them (in your own head or on a sheet of paper or in an email to your boss). If you can do it without breaking a sweat, you’re probably in the 30% providing value. If not, might I recommend a bit more research and hands-on experience before you start offering paid services.

What four search engines comprise 90%+ of all general (non site-specific) web search traffic?
Explain the concept - "the long tail of search."
Name the three most important elements in the head section of an HTML document that are employed by search engines.
How do search engines treat content inside an IFrame?
What resource and query can you use to determine which pages link to any page on SEOmoz.org and contain the words "monkey" and "turnip"?
What action does Google threaten against websites that sell links without the use of "nofollow"?
What is the difference between local link popularity and global link popularity?
Why is Alexa an inaccurate way to estimate the traffic to a given website?
Name four types of queries for which Google provides "instant answers" or "onebox results" ahead of the standard web results.
Describe why a flat site architecture is typically more advantageous for search engine rankings than a deep site architecture.
BONUS (Answer this one and I’ll be very impressed): Name twelve unique metrics search engines are suspected to consider when weighting links and how each affects rankings positively or negatively.

If you manage a staff of SEOs, contract work from an SEO or are thinking of hiring an SEO, ask for some answers. If you’re in the business of SEO, make sure you’ve got solid answers.

I’ll post my answers tomorrow afternoon or evening for comparison