How to check a Long Island SEO company before you hire one

1. Ask for Search Console, not a screenshot

A traffic graph proves nothing. Traffic rises when a business runs an ad, gets written about, or has a busy season, and an agency can show you that graph without having caused any of it. The checkable version is Google Search Console, which belongs to the business and reports the searches people actually typed, how often that site appeared, and where it sat.

Ask to see a current client's Search Console, with the client's permission, showing the queries and the average position. An agency that works this way will have it open in a tab. One that cannot produce it for any client is telling you that nobody measured.

2. Check where the agency itself ranks

Search the thing they sell. If a company sells Long Island SEO, search for Long Island SEO and see whether they appear. It is not a perfect test, because competing for your own category is harder than competing for a plumber's, but it is a real one and it takes ten seconds.

Applying it to ourselves, since it would be dishonest not to. On the broad Long Island phrases, this site currently sits somewhere around position 44 to 60, which is page five. On single-town phrases it sits between 11 and 21. That is a young domain competing against agencies that have been here for twenty years, and we would rather say so than claim a number that anybody can check in ten seconds. If an agency claims page one on a broad regional phrase, check it yourself before you believe it.

3. Read the reviews for recency, not for the count

A row of five-star reviews tells you much less than when they were left and what they describe. Three things to look for.

Dates. Forty reviews that stop in 2022 describe a business that was good three years ago. Eleven spread across this year describe one that is working now.

Detail. Reviews that name a specific job, a specific person or a specific problem are hard to fake. Reviews that say "great service, highly recommend" in identical phrasing are not.

The replies. How a company answers a bad review tells you more than the good ones do. Look for a reply that takes responsibility rather than argues with the customer. If there are no bad reviews at all across years of work, that is worth a second look rather than a point in their favour.

4. Ask what they would do in the first week

This is the question that separates the two kinds of company, and you do not need to understand the answer to judge it.

If the first week is finishing the Google Business Profile, correcting the name, address and phone everywhere it is listed, and fixing whatever is technically broken on the site, that is somebody who knows where the returns are. Those jobs are cheap, they are unglamorous, and they move the map pack, which is where local buying searches land.

If the first week is a content calendar, a backlink package or a social media strategy, be careful. Those are not useless, but they are slow, expensive and they come after the free work, not instead of it.

5. Settle ownership before you sign

Three questions, and get the answers in writing.

Who holds the domain registration. Who holds the hosting account. Does the site and everything written for it come with you if the relationship ends.

If any of those sits with the agency, the monthly fee is rent rather than a service charge, and the cost of leaving is starting over. This is the most expensive thing on the page and it is invisible until the day you try to go.

What this page is

We build websites and do local SEO for Long Island businesses, so we are not a neutral party and it would be silly to pretend otherwise. What we can do is give you checks that work against us too. Run all five on us. If the answers are not good enough, run them on whoever is next, and you will still be further ahead than you were.

Questions people actually ask

How do I find the best SEO company on Long Island?

You cannot find it from the claims, because every agency makes the same ones. Check instead: ask to see a client Search Console rather than a traffic screenshot, search the phrase the agency itself sells and see where it ranks, read their reviews for dates and detail rather than count, ask what they would do in the first week, and settle who owns the domain and hosting before you sign.

Are Long Island SEO company reviews reliable?

Read them for recency and specificity. A review that names a job, a person or a problem is hard to fake; several that say great service in near identical wording are not. Check the dates, because a run of reviews that stops three years ago describes a business that was good three years ago. Read the replies to bad reviews, and treat a perfect record across years as a reason to look harder rather than a reassurance.

What should an SEO company do in the first week?

Finish the Google Business Profile, make the business name, address and phone match character for character across the site and every directory, and fix what is technically broken on the site. Those jobs are cheap and they move the map pack. A first week that starts with a content calendar or a backlink package is doing the slow expensive part before the free one.

Should I pay monthly for SEO?

Monthly can be fair, but ask what it covers in month twelve rather than month one, because most of the work is front-loaded. The question that matters more is ownership. If the agency holds your domain or hosting, a monthly fee is rent, and you find that out only when you try to leave.

Why would an SEO company tell me how to check them?

Because the checks are public anyway and take about twenty minutes. Anyone claiming page one for a broad Long Island phrase can be verified or disproved by typing it into Google. Writing the checks down is cheaper than being caught out by them.