"Search Engine Optimization" and "Search Engine Optimizer" both take the acronym SEO. You could say an SEO performs SEO on websites, and those in the know would realize you are not talking cyclically. The best time to hire an SEO is when you are planning the design or redesign of your website. When brought into the project in its early stages, the SEO can advise on the best ways to architect the site for search engines to find and categorize the content.

An SEO can be brought into the project after the website has been launched. Just know that there could be limitations to the optimization options and/or some or all of the pages will need to be modified to make them more consumable to the search engines.

Hiring an SEO will take some careful planning and research. You will need to find an SEO who has experience in your industry with ample clients for you to contact. Some interview questions to ask your SEO candidate include:

• Which guidelines do you follow for optimization?
• What are your most important SEO techniques?
• What services do you provide besides optimization?
• What is your experience in my industry?
• What is your experience in my city/country?
• Can you show me examples of your previous work?
• How soon would I see an increase in traffic to my website?
• How long have you been in business?
• What is the best method to communicate with you?

SEOs that have been blacklisted on search engines will tarnish the integrity of your website through association with them. Your rankings in those search engines will drop at best, or be blacklisted itself. To protect yourself from this misfortune, take the time to research your SEO candidates:

• Search for their website on search engines. If their website does not come up in the results, it is a good indication they have been banned.
• Search for their company on the Better Business Bureau.
• Search newsgroups, company review websites, and clients of the SEO.

Understand how search engines work. Google provides a page detailing how their search engine works, in easy-to-understand language. You can also read eHow's page on the general concepts that most search engines provide. You will notice on these pages that search engines do not use monetary contributions to improve site ranking in search results. Their revenue comes from advertising placed on the search page, but the search results themselves are zero cost.

The last point to remember is that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on any website.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click on "File a Complaint Online," call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:

Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
Washington, D.C. 20580

If your complaint is against a company in a country other than the United States, please file it at http://www.econsumer.gov/.