Sometimes I have to shake my head at the things I hear people say to me about getting ranked well in Google. I hear phrases such as “all you have to do is this” or “it just takes a little of that.” Generally, this comes from people who have never spent any significant time ranking for a keyword that matters.

Some SEO types give the industry a bad name. They do this by making “guarantees” or promising things they have no control over. The fact is that Google changes things every day. The job of an online marketing consultant such as myself is to make sure I understand how this impacts search engine optimization practices and adjust my practices to take this into account. What we learn very quickly from this is that each day is an education.

There are some things that will remain the same. Google likes to rate web pages through linking. Different links carry different values, and the job is to create high-value linking relationships and leverage them for ranking. And of course none of this means anything if you haven’t done the required keyword research to find the RIGHT keywords for which to rank.

The problem for business owners is that this takes TIME and CONSISTENCY. I have yet to meet a business owner with a physical business (not a virtual one) who has the time or patience to do everything it takes to make a search engine optimization program work. So it is worthwhile for an “SEO Expert” to take the time to explain what it is he is going to do and educate the client on the process. This includes explaining how long it can take for a web page to achieve ranking for a competitive keyword, or whether a long-tail keyword makes more sense from a standpoint of the client’s goals. There is no reason not to have an open relationship on the process.

So when you look to interview an online marketing services firm, simply ask them exactly WHAT they are going to do. If they can’t/won’t explain it, move on. Eventually the snake-oil salesmen will go away.