I've noticed that, just lately, in the websites I spend a lot of time on that there's been a lot of discussion about website optimising, search engine optimisation, link building and so on. Perhaps it's just me; I've been spending more time online just lately and, as it is my trade, maybe I've just spotted those posts more easily.

In any respect, I figured that there might be room for an article about how to go about choosing a Search Engine Marketing or Search Engine Optimisation company for your business website(s). For the sake of saving my fingers, I'm going to use the abbreviations SEO and SEM throughout the rest of this article when referring to Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing respectively.

Your No.1 goal when choosing an SEO expert is to test their knowledge and their ability to learn and to grow.

You also want to uncover their ability to, shall we say, offer creative "bull" too.

How do you do this? Easy. Give them a test project, one that should be completed in less than 30 minutes, to gauge their ability to analyse, to process and to recommend an SEM solution.

And, if they get upset and say that you're unreasonable, well, there's your answer…

Here are a good list of questions that you can ask whenever you're considering hiring an SEO or SEM expert. Asking these questions will give you a good understanding of how well the expert sat in front of you can communicate and write in plain English.

1. What SEO tools do you use on a regular basis?
You want to get an idea as to how clued up they are in the industry. The tools that an SEO'er uses speaks volumes about them. So check what they're doing. What browser are they using? If they're any good, it will be Firefox and they'll be using the SEO extensions available.

When it comes to keyword research, they should immediately give you an answer of WordTracker - or Google Keyword Tool - or Keyword Discovery. For more general uses, they might answer with OptiLink, SEO Elite or IBP. These are all OK, but they're not brilliant.

2. What strategies have you implemented to achieve a PR5 for a current client and what is the domain?
Don't just take them at their word. Run a check on the site they name. If you don't have the ability to do this, message me and I'll send you some links to software that you can download as a trial and use. At the very least, check the pagerank of the site - there are plenty of tools out there to do this like CheckPageRank. Does the site contain any dodgy links? Are the links paid for? Are they using link farms? If everything looks OK, as a final check, ask them to put your name in a tag (temporarily) somewhere in the source code of the home page just to verify that it is a site that they've worked on. If the answer comes back that they can't because the project is finished and they "don't have the FTP details any more", be careful and at least ask them to do the same for a current project they're working on.

3. What's the difference between PageRank and ToolBar PageRank?
If you get something like "Well, nothing really - they're basically the same thing", your SEO expert is an amateur. PageRank is calculated on a daily basis, but ToolBar PageRank is only updated for public viewing about once a quarter.

4. How do you know whether an SEO campaign that you're carrying out for a client is working or not?
The answer should be "by the conversions". If the answer given is "by the number of visitors" or "by the ranking that the website has", you're potentially looking at having an SEO campaign that can be likened to flushing your money down your toilet. Where SEO is concerned, the words "ranking" or "traffic" should never be in the same sentence as the words "working" or "profit". Make no mistake, if people visiting your website don't convert, i.e., do what you want them to do (buy something, make an enquiry, subscribe to your newsletter - whatever it is that YOU want), then any money you spend is a complete waste of time.

If you opened a retail store how would you feel if you ran a massive campaign in the local press, on local TV and in the local radio stations and saw massive crowds pour into the store that weekend, only to have absolutely nobody buy a single item? Devastated? Right, well, don't make the same mistake with your SEO. Traffic does not equal profit. Neither do rankings. And they are not a measure of success. Only conversions matter and any SEO expert that tells you different should be hit repeatedly over the head with a copy of 'SEO for Dummies'.

The job of a good SEM expert is to drive people to your site who will buy and to help you make sure that they do buy. Yes, they could argue, well, for that you need a usability expert. Fine, then hire a company that provides both sets of services.

5. Why does Google rank Wikipedia so highly for so many keyword phrases and topics?
The simple answer is because of Wikipedia's accepted authority. It's a great question and I've heard some really creative answers over the last couple of years that has led me to believe that some of the SEO "experts" I find myself talking to at networking events missed their vocations in life and should be on stage, screen or in politics.

6. Of all the worldwide SEO experts, who do you pay attention to? Who do you trust and admire?
Be careful of the answer of "No-one, SEO isn't that difficult and there are no industry leaders". Try telling that to Dan Thies or Brad Fallon, Howie Schwartz or Leslie Rohde. If they do give you some names and you can't find any information on that person, that means that the people they trust and admire don't know how to do SEO either. Am I being fair? Isn't it likely that only millionaire SEO experts could get their names to the top of Google? Those who are at the top of their craft?

Not necessarily. I'm good at what I do - I'm not the best in the world, not by a long stretch. I doubt I'm even the best in the UK, but I am thorough and I work hard, so put it to the test and go do a Google search on my name, Patrick Nelson.

If I can do it, so can any other half-decent SEO expert.

7. What industry sites, blogs and forums do you read?
If they can't give you at least half a dozen, there may be a problem. This industry moves so fast, you just have to be able to read like a demon to keep up or they better have a damn good researcher who does it for them and then gives them only the best bits to read while they're resting in their Jacuzzi on a Friday night. Incidentally, this is why I sometimes disappear offline for days at a time - I can't afford a researcher. Or a Jacuzzi, come to think of it.

8. What has been your biggest failure in an SEO project?
If they say they've never failed, they're lying. Either that, or you will be their first SEO client. Either way, don't hire them.

I fail. I failed last month. It happens - and not just in SEO, I'd guess. But, like everything else, you pick yourself up and you learn. If you want to be good at SEO, you learn pretty damn quick. When I started my business, I put myself on the line by guaranteeing my results - I literally have to pay people back if I don't succeed - and I do. I have clients who are still clients precisely because I paid them back. But it's very painful and I always try really hard not to fail. I don't want to fail ever again.

But guess what? I will. And so will every other SEO expert.

9. In what areas of SEO are you best?
Whatever they answer, test these areas heavily to make sure that they really are good in those areas. For example, I'm very good at link building but I'm not that good at Pay-Per-Click, but that's why I partner with other people to deliver those solutions.

So, test your SEO expert. Give them a small project at first in an area that they say they're strong at. See what results you get and see if they really are as good as they say.

10. In what areas of SEO are you not so good?
Similar to above, but, if they're going to be honest with you (and mature), you should get at least one answer - and it shouldn't be one of those answers that is a thinly veiled attempt to actually tell you about another strength they believe they have; "I'm too organised" or "I'm sometimes too thorough" or "Once I get my teeth into something, I can't let go" is about as much of a weakness as declaring "All my clients really love me and think I'm great. It's a real bummer".

Hopefully this will prove to be of some use. If it doesn't do you any good at all, look on the bright side. By the time this has been online for about a week, I'll probably have had a number of death threats from my fellow SEO'ers. Oh well, at least it's a few more contacts!

Happy SEOing - don't waste your money and remember, conversion is everything.