Recently, Google updated a portion of the Webmaster Guidelines to include helpful information on SEO firms, how to choose one and some common signs of illegitimate vendors.

For us, this is a great revelation because SEO has something of a poor perception. There are a lot of scams out there involving SEO, and anyone with a bad experience is likely to feel that SEO is itself useless. Now, we can just say "look, even Google thinks hiring a legitimate SEO is a good idea." But how do we know the good ones from the bad?

Because SEO services can be so important to any business, and because more and more people are becoming aware of the need to promote their websites online, more and more rip-off companies are pushing themselves on small business owners.

We compiled a list of signs that your current or potential SEO vendor is selling you nothing more than snake oil.