aideago"6 things to check when buying SEO services: Google's own warnings"
SEO is the work done so that your site is understood by search engines like Google and shows up for relevant searches. For a business owner the real question is not "what is SEO?" but "if I buy an SEO service, who do I ask, for what, and how?" The most neutral source for the answer is Google's own documentation.
1. Do you need to hire an SEO expert?
Google's document says: "sometimes hiring a professional can be helpful." So not every business needs one, but sometimes it helps. To decide, ask yourself: do I have the time and knowledge to measure and fix my site regularly myself? If not, the work will not get done.
2. Stay away from a company that guarantees first place
Google's sentence: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." The same document tells you to drop anyone who guarantees you the top spot and find someone else. The right promise is not a ranking but the work itself: what will be measured, what will be fixed, what will be reported.
3. Be careful of a company that writes to you out of the blue or does not explain what it does
Google gives two warnings here: be careful of SEO companies and consultants who contact you unprompted by email, and of a company that does not explain clearly what it will do and acts mysterious. A good company can say "this week I changed this page for this reason".
4. Give Search Console read-only access
Search Console is the free tool that shows how your site is doing on Google. Google's advice: at the start give the company read-only access, not write access. You can also check the report with your own eyes.
5. How long does SEO take?
There is no fixed time, and any time you are given is an estimate. Google's starter guide: any change takes time to show up on Google's side; some changes take effect in hours, others in months, and you need to wait a few weeks before judging the effect. Ask your company: "What kind of results do you expect, in what timeframe, and how will we measure it?" If the answer is not clear, do not trust it.
6. It is not only Google: AI answers matter too
People now put their questions to assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini as well. Google says that appearing in its AI features does not need a separate "special optimisation"; it is enough for the page to be indexed in Google Search and eligible to show. This means good SEO and AI visibility rest largely on the same foundation. For detail, see our article What are GEO, SEO and AEO?
What should you see in a good SEO service?
- Every month or week: measurements (impressions, clicks, speed), a list of the changes made, the next steps.
- Your site and accounts staying with you.
- An honest timeframe, not a ranking guarantee.
aideago's website and SEO service is built on exactly this: your agents measure and fix every week and send you a plain report; we do not guarantee results.