Organisation who see that their website is not appearing on the first page after a Google search may well start to look for a SEO Company to help them accomplish search engine placement on page 1. This is vital 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 success and failure.

This should be more than just a search for such organisations and then looking at the cost of their services, as there may be organisations who are not as ethical as others. They may make excessive 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 big marketing area, just getting anywhere on the first page is a great success.

The client must be sure that the search engine optimisation company is reputable, which could be done by asking them for a list of their clients and then contacting the clients to get their opinninons. This would also give some clue of how long they have been in business and how successful they are, however in the real world there could well be a new company that is attempting to break into the SEO market and is absolutely ethical in its approach.

One way of seeing how good a SEO company is would be to do a web search to acertain where their web site comes in the organic results section, 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 SEO Company is using ethical or White Hat techniques to optimise the site content. If the client reports that they used to be on page 1 but now are way down the list or not showing at all, then this means that the SEO 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 give a long lasting place near the top of the organic results and only severe competition from other clients in the same market place should affect that placing, apart from short term Black Hat optimised sites of course.

In short the best way of getting hold of a reputable SEO Company is by referral and asking people who are clients or such busineses.