SEO Company that bills on results?

[IanTheScot]

After having bad experiences with a few seo and ppc companies, I would like to find a company that operates on the premise that they should get paid for producing results instead just for signing a contract.

I'm not thinking that any payment is contingent results but that a large portion of the billing is. I also know that it can take several months to get to an seo goal so I'm not taking a "you have one month to fix our site or we don't pay" approach.

Is there a company out there that has enough confidence in their white-hat processes that they actually back their services with some sort of guarantee?

[irvingw]

I would especially avoid SEO companies that guarantee placement. No one can guarantee that and no reuputable SEO company will. Google's algorithm is always changing. If they do guarantee first page placement they are most likely talking about PPC or lying to you.

[EGOL]

Asking an SEO company to accept  "payment for results" is asking them to accept your business risk.

In most good money niches your competitors are not sitting on their ass.   That makes SEO a "battle of resources".   Your competitor throws more money at it and you must throw more money at it and the battle escalates just like Crocodile Dundee and the knife.

Lots of webmasters go into a fight without the proper knife because they limited their SEOs budget.   He applies pressure, competitors respond and defeat is assured.

So, if you want the rankings be prepared to pay for the attack and then be willing to pay for an escalation... and then there is the most dangerous competitor of all - the one who has yet to arrive.

I think that most good SEOs have gotten their ass kicked at least one time and they know not to accept pay for results contracts.

[Charlessipe]

Any marketing program is an investment with inherent risk. By requesting pay for performance, you are basically shifting the risk from the business owner to the service provider but not providing a strong enough return for that risk. If you are looking for a way to reduce your risk, you could ask friends and colleagues for a referral to a provider that has done great work in the past. I don't think any quality SEO companies would take the unnecessary risk because they will have more business then they can handle due to referrals from happy clients.

[TheeDigital]

All of the responses here are good, but we also want to throw out the fact that as a company, do you know if your brand is a successful brand.  We can all come up with ideas for companies but are they really money making worthy.

We have people who have worked on both sides of the coin, agency and in-house and I can say as an agency person, I see a lot of people who are afraid of really doing what they need to be doing to win the online battle.  How are you marketing to your clients currently? Are you knocking on doors?  Is your business even really marketing online?

[EGOL]

what they need to be doing to win the online battle.

This is really true and I have been very guilty.

Some of the biggest mistakes that I have made are.....   Not betting on myself.

[Gordon_Hall]

You will find that those companies that "produce results" will provide some form of shady metrics or guarantees. Let's be honest - choose any set of long tail words - the more obscure the better, and anyone on this forum can get you to no1 on Google. It's not difficult, but equally, it's not ethical or useful.

As has been recommended, either go for a company that is highly recommend or be prepared to offer a budget that will make the difference.

[IanTheScot]

Thank you all for your assistance on this. I was never looking for a guarantee of placement, more for a guarantee of a growth in organic traffic that could be traced to something they did.

I realize that placement these days varies by user so a promise of #1 ranking really is suspicious.