The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding no. With the rise in people seeking SEO has come a rise in the companies offering it. In itself this is a good development, more competition fosters stronger players. The current situation is alas not so rosy.
 

The rise in demand for SEO has attracted the get rich quick brigade, the snakeoil salesmen and the illusionists. Like moths to a candle you may say, you’d be wrong, remember the moths are the ones who get burnt. The snakeoil salesmen may well sell wares with no value, but never forget that they do make sales. Lots of sales.

Genuine

When they fail to deliver, they damage all of us who work to provide genuine results through genuine effort based on genuine experience.
 

There is a genuine need to protect ourselves and our clients, present and future, from these charlatans. Clients who have experienced them are lucky if they have “only” lost time, resources and money. It is in our collective best interests to stem the tide.
 

Sorting The Wheat From The Chaff

I don’t think that naming and shaming is the answer. There will always be more than it is possible to keep an eye on. No, the answer lies in informing our clients present and future.
 

Quite apart from the task being an impossible undertaking it would very possibly get lost amongst bickering and in-fighting, which unfortunately is rife in SEO.
 

Alarm Bells Shoud Ring If

You get a cold call promising you a number one ranking. Everyone gets these calls even SEO companies, believe it or not, are not immune.
 

You’re told about a “special offer” with Google for getting your site to the front page I have actually been offered this for a page that already was on the front page.
 

Your SEO company will not reveal what they’re doing and why they’re doing it Would you want a mechanic fiddling with your car and not telling you what they’ve done and why? Probably not, eh?
 

You’re given no improvement suggestions for your site. If your site needs no onsite work, in all likelihood you already have a good SEO company, keep them.
 

Any talk of keyword density, whatsoever. Keyword inclusion or keyword placement are both important of course, without them how should the search engines (or your visitors) know what the page is about? But the “density” of them is utter nonsense.