As SEO experts, one of the things we struggle with is the thousands of “SEO” companies saying they can get you ranked on search engines. Anyone and everyone says they can do it and most businesses don’t bother to do their homework before hiring an SEO company. They take the word of the “experts” and entrust their business success…and then they get burned.
Fly by night companies know they can throw some technical jargon your way and unless you challenge them on it they sound incredibly brilliant and know just what to do to get you at the top of the search engines. Take this example: your SEO team says, “We noticed you are a window washer in Newport Beach and you aren’t ranked for “Newport Beach Window Washer” on Google. We can get you ranked for just $99 a month.”
Makes perfect sense, right? Not so fast. One minute of research will reveal that “Newport Beach Window Washer” or even “Window Washer Newport Beach” isn’t what people are searching for. The most widely searched terms are “Window Washing Orange County” and even “Window Cleaning Newport Beach.”
So why pay money for a term that people aren’t really using? This is a common issue among “expert companies” and if you don’t do some of your own research you will never know. Meanwhile you are paying dearly for something that doesn’t matter.
The lesson: Do your homework and double-check what your SEO vendor tells you. Google Ads offers a great tool to research keywords and you can see for yourself what people type in. You don’t have to master this but a little education goes a long way.