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First off, I hope this post fits here, as I’m trying to get a few questions answered before I know what kind of service I need and what the best price for it should be. I’m asking because my skepticism about certain types of SEO isn’t unwarranted. For example, “Black Hat SEO” is still somehow a thing – tactics like keyword stuffing and invisible text or good-old spamming. On the other hand, plenty of overpriced companies charge a lot (mostly in “extra” services) for close to no return. It’s not even about short-term gains, long-term losses – it’s just burning money.
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So, without turning this into a rant – what specific type of SEO work is worth it today? Which kinds are best avoided? I’m asking for a mid-sized website selling car parts if that’s relevant!
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The one that I’ve already done is technical SEO, which makes your website as functional and clean as possible, but that’s only an issue for older websites. As long as you pay a good web designer, you won’t have any issues to fix later. What I’m more interested in is stuff like content creation and link-building stuff. Are these big services as talented as they claim when they talk about sharing “engaging” content to boost your Google ratings? Is there a reason someone couldn’t build links by themselves at home instead of paying thousands?
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There are free online courses, webinars, and forums for anything these days. If you ask an SEO expert what they will do for you, how do you make them cut the buzzwords and explain what they’ll actually do? The only page I’ve come across where it looks like a real person wrote it, and not a bot or an entire marketing department, is this one: [https://www.frequencyseo.com/](https://www.frequencyseo.com/), where the SEO person actually explains what it is they do. Not sure if he’s more effective, but at least it’s a more honest way of selling your services, which isn’t true for most of them.
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In any case, I know how successful good SEO techniques can actually be for a website and for a business. My main question is – how exactly do I know what will work and what is just a waste of time? Many companies overcharge for services that are essentially simple tricks, so I’d love for some of the experts on this sub to help me out!