10 Reasons Not to Hire an SEO

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SEO is a real business that delivers real results when performed by REAL professionals. However, there are a lot of reasons why SEO might not be good for your business, or a positive match for your beliefs.  Here’s our top 10 reasons why you SHOULD NOT hire an SEO.

Blue bars on a white piece of paper.
  1. You believe that SEO is a scam – This seems like a pretty solid reason not to buy SEO.  If this is your view and there’s no changing that view, than absolutely do not hire an SEO!  If you are on the fence here then think about it critically from the search engines point of view.  They WANT to find the best sites on the internet and list them first, SEO helps them do that.
  2. You don’t have a marketing budget – It’s going to cost money, and if you have no desire to spend any money on your business, than SEO is not for you.  It’s fairly expensive and takes time for results.
  3. You have too much business all the time and have no desire for more – What a great problem to have! Let us know what you do for marketing because now you’ve piqued our interest.
  4. The SEO service you’re looking at costs “Just $299 a month!” – Run for the hills. This company may not be as expensive, but you might as well spend that money on freebies to hand out to your friends.  The results for extremely cheap SEO are dismal and can actually be damaging to your online reputation.
  5. You have lots of time and would like to try your own hand at it – By all means, go for it!  It’s a lot of work but very rewarding and a great experience if you get it dialed. Keep in mind that this is a lot of technical people (like us) full time jobs. It’s going to take a lot to make big things happen.
  6. The SEO service you’re interested in is telling you about their link purchasing deals… RUN!  This IS a scam run by scammers. Search engines do not want you to buy links and this can hurt your SEO.
  7. Your friend was scammed by a shady SEO salesmen – We hear this story all the time and unfortunately it’s common in the industry. Lots of agencies will promise you the world and deliver very little. Ask for prior clients to contact and get a feel for what they are like to work with and the results they provide.  Pick out the clients on the site so you can be sure they aren’t fake businesses.
  8. You think that web design IS SEO – Yep, this is very common. Design is the marketing side, and SEO is the sales side.  They work together and both must exist, however, SEO can work without good design, just not as well. Good design won’t sell anything without SEO.
  9. SEO to you is a bunch of keywords stuffed on the page and poorly written non-native English text that won’t convert – There’s a lot of this out there but it’s pretty easy to fish out. Check and see how an agency creates content and who really does the work, again, ask for prior clients phone numbers.
  10. You think the competition is too strong and don’t believe there is any way to outrank them – Getting past that mindset is going to be very hard and maybe your plan isn’t to grow any larger. This will make it tough to work with you for SEO and maybe it’s best to avoid it altogether.

If you have any concerns that aren’t addressed here, please reach out, I’d love to hear them.  There are a lot of reasons as to how SEO can completely change a business.

Check out the Is SEO Worth it article if you’re still on the fence!

Charts on a laptop screen in an office setting.

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