Be it a SEO guy or be it SEO firm, if it is problematic it will show the following signs:
1. They have nothing to show.
Your SEO agency should have something to show you. I am not talking about results or a rise in rankings. Instead, the agency should be able to show you the actual SEO practices they are doing. Two, three, or even four months into a contract might be too early for significant SEO results, so do not sweat it if you are not seeing the top results you were hoping for. However, your SEO agency should be doing something with the money that you give them. You have a right to ask for deliverables. Here are some of the things that an SEO agency might be able to provide in the first few weeks or months of a contract:
a) An SEO audit of your site
b) An analysis of your site’s link profile
c) Optimized content on your site
d) Articles with links to your site that are being or have been published on other sites
This is just a sampling. Whatever the case, you should make sure that they are doing something and have proof of it.
2. They do not ask you for anything.
An SEO agency that is doing good stuff is going to need your help. You are the site owner, so they might ask you for the following:
a) Editor or admin access to your CMS
b) View or admin access to Google Analytics
c) Access to Google Webmaster Tools
d) Access to social accounts
e) A list of target keywords
f) Past audits/penalties/work
If they do not ask for anything, it could be that they are merely adding linkbacks from their vast network of spammy sites. They do not need access, and there is a chance they are performing potentially harmful actions.
3. They have no suggestions for improvements.
If an SEO agency is not asking you or telling you to do certain things, it is a sign that they are up to something suspicious either that or doing nothing at all. Disreputable SEOs often just point a bunch of linkbacks to your site. They are hoping that their low efforts will yield high results. They are not interested in interfacing with you, their client. Instead, they just want to give you something that will make you think that you are getting a benefit.
4. They cannot share their techniques.
If you are curious as to what your SEO is doing, and you should be — ask them.
“So, what it is exactly that you guys are doing?”
Any of these responses are glaring scam signals:
a) “As an SEO firm, our efforts on your behalf must remain confidential.”
b) “Due to the nature of the industry, we’re not permitted to disclose our practices.”
c) “Well, we do a variety of things, but it involves basically optimizing your site for search engines.”
d) “Oh, tons of things. It would take me too long to explain.”
e) “I’m not sure exactly, but I’ll get back with you.”
If you get an answer like that, I recommend firing the agency as fast as you can. True SEO involves white hat practices that are accepted as legitimate and are proven to get results. If your agency is doing those things, they should be able to explain them.
5. You get a manual penalty.
A manual penalty is one of the worst things that can happen to your site. You will know if you receive a manual penalty if you get a GWT notification or an email message. If you receive a manual penalty one or two months after commencing work with an SEO agency, you have a right to be suspicious. Obviously, you do not want to fire them right away. Just because you got a manual penalty does not mean it is their fault. But it might be. You need to do some careful thinking and close questioning to find out exactly why your site was penalized and what to do about it.
6. Your rankings drop.
Rankings drop for a variety for a variety of reasons. I recommend that you keep an eye on your rankings (but not obsess over it). If you notice that your rankings are steadily declining, then your SEO might be performing actions that are getting your site algorithmically penalized. You need to find out what the agency is doing. If it sounds, looks, feels, or smells suspicious, get them get them to stop.
7. Your traffic drops.
A sudden traffic drop, like a rank loss, could be the sign of an algorithmic penalty. This is a bad thing. It may or may not be your SEO’s fault. The cautious response is to be suspicious and start asking questions. First, find out if there have been any algorithm changes which could have coincided with the traffic decline. Second, determine exactly what changes were made to your site in the days and weeks leading up to the decline. Finally, get an accurate picture of what offsite actions were taken by your SEO agency.
8. You start ranking for the wrong keywords.
You should already know what your target keywords are. In addition, you should have an idea based on Google Analytics, how your longtail keywords are driving traffic and/or ranking in the SERPs. To determine analytics on this, navigate to Acquisition → Keywords → Organic. If your organic keywords change significantly, beware. If you begin gaining traffic from the wrong keywords, it is happening for a reason. Or, if you stop ranking for previously high-ranking keywords, this is also problematic. Your goal in growing your traffic is to earn targeted traffic. If, for some reason, the traffic comes from arbitrary or suspicious queries, then it could a sign of indiscriminate and careless work by an SEO.
9. You see an uptick in suspicious linkbacks on your link profile.
One of the metrics that you need to watch is your link profile. Your link profile is like a sign that you wave to Google telling them, “Here’s how to rank me!” If your link profile gets messed up, your site is in trouble. How does a link profile get messed up? It gets messed up when your site receives too many questionable linkbacks from spammy or suspicious sites.
10. You see optimized anchor text from linkbacks.
“Optimized anchors” are a major no-no in SEO today. Google’s Penguin update way back in 2012 penalized 3.1% of all sites that showed signs of anchor optimization, and more recent updates have kept with the trend. Optimized anchors consist of an anchor text made up of your keywords. For example, let us say your site is “www.cheapelectricguitarsonline.com.” You are trying to rank for “cheap electric guitars online.” You gain a backlink, and the keyword is “cheap electric guitars online.” That is a textbook example of anchor optimization. If you find, based on research into your link profile, that you are gaining a substantial amount of such optimized links, then it could be the devious work of your duplicitous SEO.

But if you do find the following signs then your agency is surely helping you out:
1. They have deliverables.
A quality SEO firm is going to show you what they are doing. They may not be able to show you first-page results, but they do give you evidence of things that they have done.
For example, they may show you the following:
a) Actual sites that have real do follow backlinks to your site
b) An audit of your site, homepage, content, or link profile, that includes action points
c) New content for your pages, or changes to your existing content
d) A weekly or monthly report, displaying work they have done and how your site ranks
SEO agencies cannot wave the magic wand to improve rankings, but they can do things. If they show you exactly what they are doing, that is a good sign.
2. They have recommendations for improvement.
No SEO can help you unless you are helping them help you. If they recommend that you do certain things, this tells you that the agency wants to work with you in a partner relationship. If you comply with their requests, you will most likely see the kind of results that you are hoping for. Here are a few of the things that quality SEO agencies may recommend:
a) Start social channels — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.
b) Integrate social channels with home page
c) Launch a content marketing plan
d) Start a blog
e) Add content to your homepage
f) Integrate internal linking into your existing content
g) Optimize all site content
h) Add alt tags to images
i) Change your robots.txt to allow crawling on other portions of the site
j) Create a sitemap.xml
k) Improve site speed
l) Add WP plugins like Super Cache or Yoast to enhance SEO
m) Perform a link profile audit
n) Disavow spammy links
When the agency makes such recommendations, they are not necessarily trying to upsell you or scam you. Sure, the “extra services” audits, content, etc. might cost. But this is not throwaway money on your part. These SEO services are intended to help you.
3. Your ranking improves.
Everyone loves to talk about rank, and everyone loves to see rank improvements. If your SEO agency is giving you better rank, then you are probably in good hands.
Here are signs of legitimate and trustworthy rank improvement:
a) Your site is ranking for your target keywords
b) Your site is ranking on the first page of Google
c) Your site is ranking for a variety of longtail keywords
d) Your ranking stays consistent. Shifting a few positions up and down on a weekly basis is normal. Dropping several positions day after day for several days at a time is not good.
4. Your traffic goes down, but your revenue goes up.
In some cases, you may work with an SEO agency, and subsequently see your traffic drop. Is this cause for concern? Yes, but only if your revenue goes down. It is possible that your traffic drops, but your revenue increases. Understand this: Your goal is targeted traffic, not just lots of traffic. If you receive less traffic, but it is good traffic, then you will improve your revenue.
How so? “Good traffic” consists of traffic that comes from
1) the right longtail keywords,
2) the right audience.
This kind of traffic is more likely to convert on your site. The result? You get more conversions and revenue from fewer visitors.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath