In a previous blog post I have already explained why I personally believe that it is usually a bad idea to work with an “SEO company”.
It is perhaps a semantic question, or a question of definition. An SEO company for me is a factory where everyone is spamming like a chicken without a head, and mainly doing occupational therapy. In general, with an impersonal SEO company you are just a number. There is little personal attention and dedication to your website and marketing campaign. For these reasons, I would always recommend that instead of choosing an ‘SEO company’, you go for a partnership with an individual freelance SEO specialist. Before you notice, this message is very much We from WC-eend advise WC-eend, in general I am fully booked with assignments, so chances are good that I can not help you on short notice. However, I do have a list of peers that I have come across during my career as an SEO freelancer, and of whom I can confidently say, these are qualified professionals who can help your website get further in the organic search results of Google.
| Naam | Onderneming | Land | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| René Greve | René Greve | NL | Renegreve.nl |
| Hans Keeren | Qonvert | NL | Qonvert.com |
| Rutger Steenbergen | SEO Zwolle | NL | SEOZwolle.nl |
| Bert van der Meer | VDMmarketing | NL | Vdmmarketing.nl |
| Daniël Gruppen | Puurweb | NL | Puurweb.nl |
| Nathan Veenstra | Optimus Online | NL | Optimus Online |
| Kim Pittoors | Nethit | NL | Nethit.nl |
| Bart van der Meer | Klik Proces | NL | Klikproces.nl |
| Michiel Brand | Tekstmeester | NL | Tekstmeester.nl |
| James Groenemans | Online Marketing Monkey | BE | Online Marketing Monkey |
| Frederik Vermeire | WiSEO | BE | WiSEO.be |
| Jeroen Persyn | JeroenPersyn.be | BE | JeroenPersyn.be |
| Kevin Vertommen | Fuseo | BE | Fuseo.be |
| Pieter Verschueren | Torseo | BE | Torseo.be |
You may be thinking, why not just go with the first SEO company I come across in the search results? The proof is in the pudding right? A SEO company that is easily found in the search results probably knows what they are doing. To a certain extent that is true. You generally do not reach the top 3 of the search results for competitive search terms by ‘dumb luck’. However, as mentioned earlier, large online marketing companies have deep pockets and dozens of employees. Thus, it is somewhat easy to acquire high positions. SEO is not necessarily about money, but more manpower and budget does help tremendously. But this does not mean that these agencies will also work for you with all their heart and soul. Some parties are particularly good at SEO for themselves, but not so much for their clients.
Certification? Does that exist for the SEO industry? No, I can be absolutely clear on that. There are qualifications from Google itself for Google Analytics and Google Ads, but that is separate from SEO. Some SEO companies here in the Netherlands want to pretend that they have SEO privileges at Google because they are ‘Google Partner’, but that is absolutely not the case, that only covers advertising on Google, which is an area in itself.
Reviews and cases? Yes, you can look at them, I would recommend it. Do know that many companies cheat with reviews. And published cases are of course only those that paint a positive picture. An SEO company will not publish a case where the results are meagre or disappointing. So take both reviews and cases with a grain of salt and do not blindly trust them.