#1: Talk About Secrets. Its OK to have them, but to use them as a point of sale in SEO is wrong. If your outfit is great, then plastered throughout their websites copy will be honest declarations about hard work being the only SEO solution.

#2: Forget About the Social. Social networking is tough, and there are some companies out there who earn a lot of money working only the social networks day-in and day-out. Then there are others who dont even touch it. Ideal SEO Agencies should be somewhere in-between those two extremes.

#3: Build Links From Nothing. For a site to link back to you (and increase your search relevancy) they need a reason, and good SEO Agencies should help you provide it. Content creation or help with freelance article work ought to be at the top of the list.

#4: Quickly Pushing More Services onto You. Having you pay extra for big projects and web design is one thing, but if you sign up for SEO and realize youre going to have to pay for ten other services on top of it, whats the point? Differentiating between honest, paid help and aggressive sales tactics is fundamental.

#5: Stay Open Only From 9 to 5. The fact that SEO is a business that operates entirely online gives the SEO Agencies a remarkable ability to stay open. If they are treating it like a normal workday, be careful”the internet doesnt work like that.

#6: Spam. Especially when it comes to commenting on blogs and posting to forums. For the bad SEO Agencies, this is often their entire social media strategy: post generic text, link back to customers site. Buyer beware, indeed.

#7: Do No Research. If the company trying to optimize your business knows nothing about your sector, how are they going to help you? Bad agencies jump right into SEO and treat it like the same process for everyone. Good agencies know that its nothing like that.

#8: Never Develop. The internet changes every second. New ways of search and venues for information pop up every day, and what was a monopoly yesterday can be a bit player tomorrow. Top SEO Agencies will embrace this with gusto, because they have to.