SEO consulting practices differ from one SEO Consultant to another. Hiring an SEO Consultant who uses optimal SEO practices can make the difference between high search engine ranking and not being found in search engine results. If you are marketing a website or are responsible for reviewing SEO Consultants or SEM Experts for your company, you cannot afford to overlook this information. Read this article and you will find the top 10 SEO practices to consider before hiring an SEO Consulting Firm.

1. Find an SEO Consultant with a proven track record of high ranking in search engines and make sure their clients are still ranking today. SEO Consulting practices of yesterday do not matter because the search engines' considerations for higher search engine ranking change with time.


2. SEO, search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing your site to be viewed as you intended by search engines and your online target audience. Hire an SEO Consulting firm which understands that your online market may differ from your offline market and that the demographics of that market may change as well. Find an SEO Consultant who understands your online market and the search engines will be more likely to find your site.


3. Your SEO Consultant should include SEM, search engine marketing, practices in their SEO consulting formula. SEM is a form of internet marketing used to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results. It differs from search engine optimization and the SEO Consulting firms that use SEM provide benefits to their clients by obtaining higher search engine rankings. Hire an SEO firm that does not use SEM and your competitors will rank higher.


4. Find an SEO consulting services firm that uses social media marketing and web 2.0 content to provide higher search engine ranking for their clients' websites. If the SEO consulting firm does not include social media, do not hire them.


5. If your SEO Consultant focuses on obtaining search engine rankings lower than the top 10, or past the first page listings in search engines, you are wasting your time. 89% of clicks on search engine results are made on the first page listings.


6. Hire an SEO Consulting firm that acknowledges a difference between organic ranking and paid keyword advertising. Achieving search engine ranking through paid keyword advertising is like turning a traffic faucet on and off. Pay and the traffic is there. Stop paying and it goes away. A professional SEO consulting firm will use best SEO consulting practices to rank your site on the first organic rank, which is number 4 in search results, within the most competitive paid keyword advertising categories. If a search engine user clicks on your organic listing, that visit to your website is free.


7. Find an SEO Consultant that has a history of ranking in the #1 position on Google. 42% of clicks that come from search engine results are made on the #1 position in Google search results. 67% of the online searches are done on Google. Rank in the number one position in Google and receive 42% of the traffic on that keyword. Rank organically and that traffic will not go away.


8. Make sure your SEO Consultant is using ethical practices to promote your website. If your SEO Consultant is using poor SEO consulting practices, black hat tactics, your URL could be banned from search engine results.


9. The best SEO Consultants focus on obtaining one way links back to your site to increase your website's value to the search engines. If your SEO Consultant does not include backlinks in your SEO/SEM plan, you will have a difficult time ranking in search engine results.


10. SEO Consulting firms using research that can be substantiated by hard numbers and statistics are the only companies worth your time. If your SEO Consultant cannot back up research with solid stats of daily visitors, competitive keyword data, and keyword advertising competition, you will not benefit from high search engine ranking. This data is accessible to professional SEO Consultants and should always be available to you, the client.