You understand that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is vital for the success of your business and you've got the budget to get the support of an excellent SEO service. But with the number of SEO services around, it's difficult to know how to select a service that will really work for you and your website.

Here's what to look for when selecting an SEO service:

When you type in the term 'SEO Consultant' where do they come in the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Positions)? If they're not on the first or second page of Google, they're hardly practicing what they preach. Why would you sign up with any SEO service that didn't do for their own site what they say they can do for yours?

Who runs the SEO service? Is it one man and a dog in a shed in Droitwich, or a dedicated team of SEO professionals with years of experience, qualifications, accreditation and perhaps even reputable publications to their name? Look to an SEO service with a history of experience and expertise.

If the SEO service is proud of its achievements, it will give examples of what it can do through what it has already done. Case Studies provide you with a chance to look at companies in a similar situation to your own and what the SEO service did to help them. Case Studies demonstrate that the SEO service has a traceable history of achieving results.

Whether you place much faith in Testimonials or not, it's clear that if the company has lots of great testimonials from clients that can actually be contacted to back up the claim, then the service is clearly delivering results.

A quality SEO service won't have a problem speaking with you by telephone or even meeting with you face to face. They will want to build a personal working relationship with their client.

Here are some things to avoid when selecting an SEO service:

Only the Search Engine could provide promises and guarantees of the rankings that your site will attain. No SEO service can guarantee results. If people make outlandish claims, they're either full of it or they're planning to use unethical SEO techniques to get your results. If they do this, they may get you banned from the Search Engines. Equally, Money-Back Guarantees are a sign that you should avoid the SEO service. Avoid.

The SEO service plans to buy your links from link farms rather than create high quality links themselves. Avoid.

The SEO service suggests that they can use some special techniques to gain priority treatment from Google and the other search engines. They're talking about Black Hat techniques that offer quick results and get you banned. Avoid like the plague.

When a great SEO service speaks with you, they offer you plain English explanations of what they do and what you get for your money. When an unscrupulous service speaks with you, they use big words and fancy technical terms that mean nothing and are meant to bamboozle you into buying their services. Avoid.

If you have a feeling that something isn't quite right, go with your instinct and back out. Avoid.

Now you're armed with the information you need to select a quality SEO service and avoid the rip off merchants.