After years of avoiding any direct “search engine optimization” as a service. It always seemed like a “snake oil” business – with unrealistic promises and expectations the norm.

However, I’ve recently started using some tools to “dig in” and get some valuable reporting and analysis of websites. This allows me to make recommendations and changes, while avoiding any guarantees about search results.

My main tool is SEOMoz. This program scans the client site (and competitor sites), and gives a lot of data from which I can offer suggestions to my clients. It also keeps historical data, so we can see any I’m still in the early stages of this service, but so far the feedback is good.

Another good tool is Google Webmaster Tools. This can give you some insight into how google sees your site, any errors or issues it encounters, etc. Checking this area once a month is a good way to keep your site humming along, and hopefully climbing the search ranks.