Over recent months I have taken an interest in search engine optimization, or SEO for short.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, SEO is the technique of getting a website listed high in the search engines for keywords related to your business model.

Every site wants to be at the top of Google, as most surfers will not view past the first page for a particular search term, so to get visitors to your site you need to be on the first page.

There are hundreds if not thousands of people who claim to be SEO professionals, and for a fee they will get you website listed at the top of the search engines.

So how do you find a good SEO, and how do you know that they will do what they promise?

After speaking with Mike Carter who is a well respected SEO I have come to these conclusions.

Be very wary of any SEO that guarantees to get your site listed number one on Google for a particular search term related to your business. Number one rankings are achievable but they are not guaranteed, so anyone that does guarantee, is more than likely going to rip you off.

Also be wary of SEO's that say they cannot show proof of search engine rankings they have achieved for their clients because of client confidentiality. Client confidentiality is important but any SEO worth his salt would have no problem in speaking with a client to ask permission before showing you rankings achieved.

You should also be wary of SEO's that ask for payment in full up front. Any reputable SEO will give a free consultation and take payment on a pay by results basis. For example Mike and Rob charge an hourly rate for their services and do not expect payment until the work has been completed to the clients satisfaction.

When I interviewed Mike I asked him if he could demonstrate some of his skills by writing an article for me for my blog. I put him on the spot a little really, but he said no problem give me a couple of hours to put something together. I gave him access to my blog to write the article for me. Within 2 hours he was on the phone.

I thought ok whats the problem. He said no problem i'm just calling to let you know that your article is finished and is proudly sitting at number on spot on Google. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I searched for it on Google there is was sitting at number one within 2 hours. Had I just interviewed the best SEO in the world? (hence the title of this article) or were dark forces at work. I cheekily asked Mike what he had done to get the article to number one in such a short space of time, he did not tell me of course and I don't blame him, he is not going to share 8 years of hard work and experience with me. But he did assure me that nothing underhand or (black hat) as they call it, was done to get my article to number one.