Organisation who see that their website is not attaining the first page after a Google search may well start to look for a SEO Company to help them realise search engine placement on page 1. This is critical for those companies who trade largely on the internet, such as Online Marketing companies, as their search engine positioning on page 1 could be the difference between great sales and porr, even average sales.

More care should be taken than just a search for such businesses and then looking at the cost of their services, as there may be businesses who are not as ethical as others. They may make exaggerated claims, such as to guarantee to get the client to Search Engine Placement at No.1. Given the competition for top ranking, especially for some clients in a large marketing area, just getting anywhere on the first page is a success.

The client should be sure that the search engine optimisation company is trustworthy, which could be done by asking them for a list of their customers and then contacting the clients to get their reviews. This would also give some clue of how long they have been operating and how successful they are, however in the real world there may well be a new company that is trying to break into the SEO market and is very ethical in its practices.

One way of confirming how good a SEO company is would be to do a web search and see where their web site comes in the organic results segment, i.e. the results below those that are sponsored. If it isn’t on page 1 then are they going to do a decent job on the client’s web site?

How long a client web site has been on page 1 will tell you if the Search Engine Optimization Company is using ethical or White Hat methods to optimise the site content. If the client reports that they have been on page 1 but now are way down the list or not showing at all, then this means that the Search Engine Optimization Company has been using unethical or Black Hat processes. These are recognised by the search engines and can lead to the web site being removed from the search index, which means that it will not be shown in search results at all.

White Hat processes provide a long lasting place near the top of the organic results and only relentless competition from other clients in the same market place should have an affect that position, apart from short term Black Hat optimised sites of course.

In short the best way of locating a trustworthy Search Engine Optimization Company is by referral and asking people who are clients or such organisations.