August 4, 2014 - New York, NY – “Hiring the right search engine optimization firm is a weighty decision for any business owner these days, because a company's SEO practices are a vital part of their marketing and one of the biggest factors when establishing a high-profile web presence,” says Peter Crisafi, President of dzine it, Inc. (www.dzineit.net), a leading website marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) firm based in New York, and offering Internet marketing services to clients worldwide. “If you’re not careful, you can end up with mediocre search engine optimization that will be an ineffective waste of money and could actually result in having your company’s website blacklisted by major search engines.”

According to Crisafi, most SEO firms may look good on paper and their so-called “online marketing professionals” may seem quite confident, even in person, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t engage in practices that might be detrimental to their clients. Thankfully, he says that there are three ways to ensure that an SEO firm is legitimate.

1. Insist on verified claims.

“There are many unscrupulous SEO firms out there that make outlandish claims about their past achievements,” says Crisafi. “This should be a red flag for anyone shopping around for an Internet marketing firm.”

Crisafi says that business website owners should insist that an SEO can back up its claims with solid results, through a portfolio of past SEO achievements. A good SEO firm will be able to note several successful SEO campaigns they have been involved in, including the strategy they used and the results they achieved.

2. Avoid anyone that uses black hat SEO techniques.

“Search engines index websites using sophisticated algorithms that provide information about that site and these algorithms are being constantly improved upon,” Crisafi explains. “If you suspect that the SEO firm uses black hat or illegal SEO techniques, avoid them at all costs.”

Crisafi says that such techniques put a company’s website at risk of being blacklisted or blocked by the major search engines. Black hat techniques include hiding keywords in text or meta tags, stuffing pages with keywords, fake “gateway” pages that are intended for search engines rather than the end user, and participation in link farms, which are lists of unrelated links that exist solely for SEO purposes.

3. Check their industry knowledge.

“A quality search engine optimization firm will be able to prove to you that they are up to speed on current developments in the SEO industry,” Crisafi says. “Search engines regularly update the ways in which they search and index pages, and how they handle bad SEO when they find it. Part of your SEO manager’s job is staying on top of those developments and knowing how best to handle them.”

To ascertain if the company you want to hire is up to date, ask them about a recent development or even an outdated one, and verify the accuracy of their response.

These are just a few of the ways, Crisafi says, that a company can ensure that they are hiring the right Internet marketing firm for their business.

Established in 2003, dzine it, inc. is a leader in custom web development, programming and design solutions for small and large business, agencies. The company offers a wide range of business-centered visual communication solutions, including web-based content management, web design, graphic design, custom web software applications, ethical white hat search engine optimization (organic SEO), video encoding, and print media solutions. For more information, call 212.989.0813 or visit www.dzineit.net.