Should we prefer to work with certified SEO specialists?

Hi guys! I have very important question to you.

When business owner is looking for a SEO specialist or agency, what difference for him should make certified specialists/agencies comparing to uncertified?

The answer is important for me, because I need to make a decision soon and I want to clarify the importance of this factor.

Please share with me your opinions.

P.S. I wish I knew SEO enough to do everything on my own)

 

I have an experience of work with several SEO agencies that do outsourcing. Due to the presence of certain experiences I have something to compare with. I am pretty well in SEO, I have an experience of working on my own, and in collaboration with agencies I positioned myself like a Team Lead. So I can help you to identify the key qualities needed to look for really authoritative agency. And of course certification - is one of these qualities.

You can argue a lot about the fact that the certification may not be mandatory for quality work. But I believe that certification - is one of the reasons, which can make you trust the executor much more. Basically, I used to work even with freelance teams that were certified by Google, although I do not think that freelancing - is the best solution for SEO. I think that freelancers have too many temptations to choose the dark side of the force)

By the way, the last agency, I worked with, was Ukrainian agency Netpeak, which is recognized as the best digital agency in Ukraine. We have worked with them for quite a while and, because the previous team led to my site a couple of penalties and different problems, buying links and so on, the main criteria for me was a certificate of Google (as Google for our portal was a priority). Besides Netpeak team created the software that I still use in my work (Checker).

In that agency every SEO specialist has 2 certificates (Adwords and Analytics). I am pleased with the results much more than with the results of work with all previous teams. Just cases can't always demonstrate the professionalism of SEO. For example, in my experience of working with a team from India I can proove that. At the beginning of my collaboration with indians I was blinded by the previous cases and working results. The result was pretty bad, you know?=)

So I advise you to be careful with choosing the right team.
Good luck!

PS. You can check them on netpeak.us, if you want to find really quality service.

 

There is a long list of seo companies which run seo certification programs and there is no authorized institute or company for seo certification, therefore knowledge level of certified specialists is different. So in this scenario hire a well known, experienced seo expert would be right decision. There should not be matter of certification.

 

Personally I don't find it so relevant. Its like a high school/college diploma for me - alright, you have it for whatever reason and merit, but does that always reflects your skills - most certainly not. And especially when it comes to SEO you have to consider that many of the SEO people are self-taught and constantly evolving (or devolving) as there are new stuff coming quite often. That leads to employing new strategies, new methods etc. So, even with a certificate, one cannot be sure of how relevant that is to the current rules of SEO.

Sadly, there is always risk involved when working with "SEO experts" - you have to put some amount of trust in the person/company. Its best if you have previous feedback from someone you trust, or someone that can show you real, practical results. If not, it really comes down to communication. If you ask the right questions you would learn to separate the good from the bad. You would be surprised of how many "SEO experts" can offer you the Sun and the stars but cannot (or would not) explain on how they intend to achieve the promised results.

All in all I am not against certifications, not at all. I just don't think it should be a major deciding factor for you

 

The certificates are meaningless. Even if the certifying body is reputable (which is very unlikely), SEO changes so frequently that any training would be almost immediately out of date. Generally I would avoid anyone who says they will build link wheels, pyramids, web 2.0 profiles and all the other low quality and black hat crappy links. Also be careful with private blog networks. If they are hit by Google, your site will be penalised.

 

Certified by who? There is no such animal as certified SEO. Google AdWords and AdSense certificates simply doesn't have anything in common with pure SEO practice.

 

Certification itself was invented to ensure that the customer trust the artist. It's like ISO 9000 and 9001. These standards may not play any role in the actual processes in the company, but their absence makes the product uncompetitive. I just remembered about the CIS market - where standards have particularly no impact on competitiveness. The main criterion for the consumer in that market is still pricing. But if we are talking talking about SEO, my point of view about the fidelity of my assumptions, which I mentioned in my post, was confirmed. I found a certified team that makes the results. This may not be associated with SEO, but it is the basic principles of certification as a science. A level of performance can always be evaluated by their cases and reviews of reputable clients.

P.S. Incidentally there is a lot of interesting things you can read there. All the same, east SEO differs. But as an example of quality work - blog.netpeak.us.

 

Garry has a point. Certification is important and you know why ?! ...
Because this way SEO companies will be updated to date to all policies and Google TOS.

It is very important to be aware on some aspects when you land on a SEO company board,like:

1. Do you trust in the presented information that you find on the website?
2. Articles are written by experts?
3. Is there any truncate content on the website?
4. Do you fell safe by sending personal details like financial info to them?
5. Errors, spelling problems!?
6. All the content and info is original?
7. What is the level of quality?
8. Are you aware of both levels of quality and story described? Authenticity and quality.
9. Is there a brand authority who writes down the topic?
10. Is the content unique or outsourced?
11. How well is the article edited? Does it have many interruptions and nonsense sentences?
12. How much would you trust this site’s information?
13. Is the information comprehensive for you?
14. Are there many ads that make you distracted from the main content?
15. Is the content good enough to be printed in a magazine?
16. How long are the articles?
17. Is there enough information in each article? Does the writer pay enough attention to details?
18. What are the reviews about this website?

For someone who doesn't know pretty much on how to choose a SEO company, what is SEO and goes for the first result he finds about SEO Top Companies, above aspects needs to be respected. This way everybody will be on a safe road without crying that they invested over 6 months and nothing happened. Another way that could help small and medium businesses to get a safe SEO is simply to go for local companies which handles no more than 10-30 clients. Many top SEO companies have thousands of clients and pretend that they do the real work but at the end they just spin the work because the labor necessary to work for 15 000 clients is huge and than they outsource and than results start to crash!

So choose wise!

 

I think you should check their previous work history and feedbacks from customers. And checking for certificate as a SEO specialist is also good.

 

kalseo answered your question... there's no such thing as google certified SEO agency.