Things to look out for when outsourcing SEO work

[theshortstack]

Afternoon all,

It's got to the stage where I'm looking to outsource some of my <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> work to a third party. I've known the company for a while and feel like I can trust them with this, but seeing as it's the first time I've done this, I'd like to get some feedback from GPWA about the best way to structure our working arrangement.

Currently, I've had a scope of work and a quote of the pricing involved, but I'd like some security from my point of view so I was wondering how other parties have worked with <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> companies in the past.

I was thinking of suggesting that we work for 6 months and then see how things are going. Is that a resonable amount of time? Are there other things I should be looking out for when looking to set up an agreement like this?

Cheers,

 

[Guard Dog]

Afternoon all,

It's got to the stage where I'm looking to outsource some of my <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> work to a third party. I've known the company for a while and feel like I can trust them with this, but seeing as it's the first time I've done this, I'd like to get some feedback from GPWA about the best way to structure our working arrangement.

Glad we at GPWA can help ha ha.

Currently, I've had a scope of work and a quote of the pricing involved, but I'd like some security from my point of view so I was wondering how other parties have worked with <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> companies in the past.

I was thinking of suggesting that we work for 6 months and then see how things are going. Is that a resonable amount of time? Are there other things I should be looking out for when looking to set up an agreement like this?

Cheers,

6 months is a reasonable amount of times. I would give them access to your site, but make sure you have a backup plan. Example: I hired a VERY well-known SEO guy many years ago. We has a specific deal where he would get me to rank #1-5 in Google for a difficult search term. That was part of our deal for releasing the $$. He 'forgot' about that part of the deal and took my site completely down by removing all my files without telling me. He took those files hostage and when I found out I had to point him to the deal we made before he would release the files back to me.

So:

* Have an iron-clad contract
* Give them access to your website, but not access to delete anything without permission
* Backup your content daily


Basically... make sure you protect yourself. Most SEO guys are *NOT* very good, BTW. Get references (many, not just a few)