If you’ve hired a SEO provider to do your SEO chores, you’re spending a good amount of money to do so and expect some ROI of considerable notability. Sometimes the subject of SEO is so complicated that clients like yourself can get lost in the sauce of what is going on. There is hope, however, in determining if the SEO firm you’ve hired is worth the money or you need to cut bait with them.

First of all, all the talk in the world means nothing. Statistics are the primary proof you need to know if your SEO campaign efforts are paying off. Not necessarily indicated in sales and conversions, but in basic organic traffic and other valuable metrics that you can analyze and use to your advantage.

A SEO firm is going to educate you regarding the basics so that you’re not left in the dark along the way. They’ll make sure you understand the realistic goals regarding budget and time to see results. It’s not an overnight success thing, but a methodical process by which sound fundamental principles are adhered to so that guaranteed foundation building success can be established. Now and then in those rare cases a client’s products and services go viral thus producing a bonanza in traffic and revenue.

You need to have access and learn how to study your site’s statistics and go over them with your SEO firm. The minute you see something out of the ordinary you need to ask questions and get things straightened out. If your SEO firm gets shaky or standoffish for any reason, you need to cut bait.

Quality content from the marketing end of your SEO firm has to be mandatory. Quality content is just about everything. Search engines and the public know rotten content when they see it, and if your SEO firm is using hack writers, you’ll find out quick enough as you’ll end up being penalized by Google and then you’re in a whole new world of hurt. Graphics, cartoons, videos, are all the rage now as they’re constantly being shared on social media. Your SEO campaign has to have these items and well described, and tagged. Poor quality art won’t get listed well nor shared and reviews by surfers and customers will beat you down. Demand to know who and how your SEO firm creates the content. If they hesitate one iota, it’s better than even money they’re using some hacks from a dungeon in a foreign country who are being paid with bread and water.

One more thing to lookout for are bad inbound links. An old trick is to have links to your site from nothing more than linking mills. They’re useless sites whose sole purpose is to send useless traffic to your site to make the search engines think your site is of some importance. This old trick is dangerous. All it does is associates your site to these disreputable sites and opens the door to penalization from the search engines.

Overall, it’s up to you to police your SEO provider. You need to have a hands on approach and do the due diligence necessary to make sure they’re doing their job and you’re doing yours. If at anytime you feel something is amiss, cut bait, it will save you much time, money, and misery.