Thanks to everyone who has helped so far... so I contacted the "company" in question and the response was:

"I already told you that relevancy of backlinks does not matter. Still if you want I can replace backlinks with relevant web epigraphs but they will be lesser in number. One web epigraph is equal to 10 backlinks.  I will also remove all the already generated backlinks."

Any opinions on this response?

Hi Mark,

I tried to look into these issues you have stated above but they are all areas I thought I had fixed a couple of weeks ago. Could it be just a delay with getting updated:?

Astrid

So for example, ask them to delete any backlinks that aren't related to the type of business I do?

Thanks for your compliment re my site...

So another question... as I paid for 3 months service in advance, with about another 6 weeks to go, would it be better to terminate right now or see the end of the term out?

Ouch - but the pain I needed to move on. Thank you.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your prompt response and to be honest I am not that surprised to hear your answer. Can you please give me advise as to what to look for with a SEO company so I don't make this kind of costly response again?

I get so many companies contact me but so nervous as to who is reputable.

Astrid

Hello,

I am rather new to online marketing and because of this employ an SEO company to help with improving my ranking. They have now been working with me for around 6 months and I have not seen an increase in the traffic to my site - in fact it is at it all time low. Yesterday I only had 4 visitors for example.

They keep ensuring me it will take time, and show me reports on how my keywords are ranking, and some appear to be doing okay, but I would have thought traffic would have improved by now.

Why I am a little suspicious of this company is they only seem to be doing back linking. They have done very little, if anything, with on-page optimisation, so much so that I tried to do this all myself following Moz guidelines etc. But even this has seen very little improvement.

I would have thought that as a paid SEO company, they may see that something is clearly not working. Perhaps the wrong keywords? Suggest a different tactic?

I write blogs posts, am social media active but feeling very discourage with it all as seeing very little results.

I continuously hear about scams and get new emails every day saying "we have analysed your site and all these things are wrong... pay us $XXX and we will get you traffic" but who can you trust and how can you find an affordable way to gain traffic as a very small business.

Would be great to get feedback from anyone who may know what is going on.

Thanks

Astrid

So for example, ask them to delete any backlinks that aren't related to the type of business I do?

Thanks for your compliment re my site...

So another question... as I paid for 3 months service in advance, with about another 6 weeks to go, would it be better to terminate right now or see the end of the term out?