SEO (Search Engine Optimization) not to be confused with SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is much more complicated today than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. A huge source of ranking has been shifted to social networking and sites alike to determine the particular value of a website.

Personally, I began doing website design in 1996 and back then Google wasn’t even a registered domain. Choosing some good meta tags, page titles, and heading was about all there was to it. That being said, I’ll give you the lowdown on companies that charge money for SEO work. Some of them are legit companies who can produce results. Others are not.

The truth is SEO requires A LOT of leg work. It is expensive, and should be if you really expect results. Most SEO experts will tell you it is no secret, but what they do requires a large amount of time and experience. I have compiled a list of the bread and butter for SEO:

• A good domain name
• Links from social networks (Facebook, Digg, forums, etc)
• Links from other sites (other professional sites)
• A blog
• Content, Content, Content

A good domain name might be something like orlandonetworkcompany.com. If you are trying to provide computer network services in Orlando, that would be a pretty good domain to get.

Links from social networks are important. They are easy and you can get them quickly from friends and co-workers. At a minimum, make sure you have a Facebook page for your company. Your friends can become fans of it very quickly and Google will notice.

Links from other sites are important. Google will look at how many sites link to yours. Google will not only see sites linked to each other, but also how they are linked. For example, notice the difference between orlandonetworkcompany.com and A Company Providing Computer Network Services in Orlando. Google will see the title of that link and apply it to the overall value of the site. It is important to get more than just address links to your site.

Blogs are important because they are easy ways to bring people to your site. Something you write about will become indexed into Google somehow and will ultimately drive more traffic to your site. This is also a great way to promote bookmarks and linkbacks to your site. Try to blog at least 3 times a week. Some SEO experts suggest blogging everyday. Google will see that your site is updated frequently, and crawl in more often.

Cash is King! Well, so is content. Think of this as a numbers game. The more content you have, the better chance you have of getting noticed by search engines. You would be surprised if you look at the Google searches, how many keywords lead to your content.

SEO Companies

There are TONS and I mean TONS of companies doing this. Everyone these days thinks they are an SEO expert. There is an easy way to tell. Check out their site. A company that has a poor websites shouldn’t make your list of companies to hire for SEO. See if you can find them in Google and ask for examples of sites they have worked with in the past. They should have some. Legit companies will charge anywhere from $500-$5000 per month for their services. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see results right away. Most of the time it will take 6 months or more to see results. So make sure you can afford the investment if you want to see results.