So you have decided to use SEO as a marketing tool for your business, well done! Now the search begins for a SEO Agencies or SEO company that can help your website appear on top of organic results. Chances are you will come across a lot of SEO companies that will claim that they can guarantee results. In fact there are a lot of SEO companies that claim to achieve guaranteed results on search engines on both the paid and organic section.

Guaranteed SEO is in fact a BIG FAT LIE and here’s why:

We ran two searches; Guaranteed SEO and Guaranteed SEO Packages and obtained the following results;

1- Guaranteed SEO

2- Guaranteed SEO Packages

There are a staggering number of companies offering guaranteed SEO and the truth of the matter is that these companies exist because there is a demand for guarantees. Businesses want guarantees because they have burnt their fingers before and there are SEO providers who are prying on their needs, providing them (this much needed) assurance.

In fact the search term is so popular that some SEO companies have an exact match domain in order to rank high up on SERP’s.

Tactics used for providing these guarantees

Some of the most commonly used tactics used by SEO companies providing such guarantees include;

  1. Picking the wrong keywords for the SEO campaign e.g. Low search volume keywords. Ranking is not the only measure or rather a good measure for SEO success. The amount of quality leads/conversions being generated through the campaign are a better measure.
  2. Adding disclaimers which end up negating all the guarantees provided in the first place e.g. Blame the delay in achieving rankings or drop in rankings on search engine changes.
  3. Using black-hat SEO techniques that result in Page 1 rankings but only for a very short period of time.

Google explicitly warns against guarantees

Google has clearly stated that there are NO guarantees in SEO and has clearly warned business owners against SEO agencies or consultants making any such claims.

Here is why such guarantees don’t work

  1. Search engines are built using a proprietary algorithm which contains roughly 200 factors for assessing the rank of a webpage. No one knows what the exact factors are therefore in reality no one can guarantee a ranking on organic listing.
  2. You can’t control what your competitors are doing with their SEO so in reality you have no control over your rankings as well. For any given keyword there are a number of players competing, this means that if your competitor pushes hard on a particular SEO strategy that ends up lifting their rankings up then you are going down a spot or two.
  3. Google updates its algorithms at least 500-600 times a year and to add to this most of these updates are not announced. What this essentially means is that you cannot predict what will be coming next. If you end up getting affected by any such update then all you can do is counter-attack.

What should you rather look for when finding a good SEO company or SEO agency?

Google does provide some pointers on what you should be looking for when searching for a good SEO provider. Below is a screenshot from one of their support forums,

In our experience there is nothing like starting your search for an SEO through search engines (of course without using the word guarantee in your search term) because if they have achieved Page 1 rankings for their own website chances are they can produce similar results for you. Looking for references through business contacts is another good option.

To sum it up, there is NO such thing as guaranteed SEO, no matter how many SEO companies or SEO agencies want you to believe the contrary with their aggressive marketing techniques. SEO is a long term activity that requires patience and persistence and of course a good SEO consultant or SEO expert on your side.