Do You Need an SEO? A Summary of Official Guidelines
By Arthur on October 9, 2025
Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision. Official search engine guidelines explain the benefits of a good SEO and the serious risks of a bad one. We’ve summarized the key points to help you decide if you need professional help and how to choose the right partner.
To see how we apply these ethical SEO principles to get results, view our case study.
On This Page:
- What a Good SEO Does
- Getting Started: DIY SEO Resources
- How to Choose an SEO: Interview Questions
- Precautions & Common Scams
- Red Flags: When to Walk Away
1. What a Good SEO Does
A responsible SEO can improve your site and save you time. Their services often include:
- Auditing: Reviewing your site's content and structure.
- Technical SEO: Advising on hosting, redirects, error pages, and JavaScript.
- Content: Helping with content development and keyword research.
- Strategy: Managing online business development campaigns.
- Training: Providing SEO training for your team.
- Expertise: Offering knowledge of specific markets and geographies.
Search engines are clear: Advertising with them has no effect on your organic search ranking. No one can pay to be included or ranked higher in organic results.
2. Getting Started: DIY SEO Resources
If you run a small local business, you can likely do much of the initial work yourself.
- Key Guides: Start with official Search Essentials and the SEO Starter Guide.
- Be Patient: Remember that it takes time to see results from SEO changes, typically four months to a year.
3. How to Choose an SEO: Interview Questions
If you decide you need professional help, it's best to hire early—ideally before a site launch or redesign.
Be prepared to commit: You must be willing to implement the SEO's recommended changes, as this takes time and effort.
Key questions to ask a potential SEO:
- Can you show me examples of your previous work and share success stories?
- Do you follow search engine webmaster guidelines?
- How do you measure your success, and what results do you expect in what timeframe?
- What is your experience in my industry, country, and/or city?
- What are your most important SEO techniques?
- How will you communicate? Will you share all changes and the reasoning behind them?
A good SEO should also be interested in your business and ask questions like:
- What makes your business unique and valuable?
- Who are your customers?
- How does your business make money, and how can search help?
- Who are your competitors?
4. Precautions & Common Scams
While many SEOs are valuable, some unethical ones use aggressive tactics that violate spam policies. This can lead to a ranking penalty or even removal of your site from the index.
- You are responsible for the actions of any company you hire.
- "Shadow" Domains: A scam where an SEO creates domains they own, funnels users to your site, and then if the relationship sours, points those domains to a competitor.
- "Doorway" Pages: These are fake pages stuffed with keywords that often contain hidden links to the SEO's other clients, draining your site's link popularity.
- Link Schemes: Avoid any SEO involved in buying links to increase your ranking. This is a violation and can result in a manual action (penalty).
5. Red Flags: When to Walk Away
Trust your instincts. If something feels off, walk away.
- "Guaranteed #1 Ranking": No one can guarantee a #1 ranking. This is a major red flag.
- "Special Relationship with a Search Engine": No one has a "priority submit" or special relationship with Google, Bing, etc.
- Secrecy: Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.
- Unsolicited Emails: Be wary of agencies that email you out of the blue.
- Requiring Links: You should never have to link to your SEO.
- Confusing Ads vs. Organic: They don't distinguish between actual search results and paid ads.
- Multiple Aliases: They operate with multiple aliases or falsified "WHOIS" info.
- Owning Shadow Domains: A clear sign of a scam.
Read the Full Sources
This post is a summary of official guidance. To see how a transparent, ethical SEO strategy works in practice, read our case study.