SEO guarantees?

As a web design agency we get plenty of emails from SEO companies promising us that No.1 spot on Google. Having performed SEO on a number of sites we are fully aware that there are NO guarantees when it comes to SEO.

Many of these companies use techniques that are frowned upon by the major players in Search Engines but lets look at what a guarantee actually is:

Guarantee: a promise or assurance, esp. one in writing, that something is of specified quality, content, benefit, etc., or that it will perform satisfactorily for a given length of time.

Excellent - just what we wanted to hear. How can an SEO company make a guarantee for something that they don't have control over? OK, based on current SEO practices they can probably "guarantee" to get some of your search keywords into the top positions of a major search engine, but is that good enough for what they are charging?

Take electrical goods for example. A T.V. might come with a manufacturers 12 month guarantee - but that doesn't mean that it won't go faulty within 12 months. However, the manufacturer does have full control over fixing your unit or providing you with a replacement.

Any guaranteed positioning should be taken with a pinch of salt. The search engines control the algorithms and no one else. In fact, Googles algorithms are one of the best kept secrets on the planet! An SEO guarantee should be an measurable, achievable goal that will contribute towards helping the ranking of your website.

A good SEO company should offer complete transparency and help you learn along the way. SEO should not be treated as top secret.