Wheel of Fortune is America's game - or at least it declares itself to be so despite the fact that the Before and After category is nonsensical - and it is predicated upon the fact that if you spin the wheel, you'll get a result that moves the game forward. Sometimes it's a good result, sometimes it's a bad result. But you'll always get a result.

By comparison, Business Technology BuzzWheel, which is a game where executives spend marketing dollars based on a spinning wheel of jargon, is far less satisfying. The premise is simple: A business service company explains its skill set by pulling from the wheel of buzz words and acronyms they think will make XYZ Inc. spend money. The wheel includes: ROI, share of voice, value proposition, exclusivity, etc. After several meetings like this, XYZ Inc. makes a decision to spend its marketing dollars and hopes for a result. Unfortunately, a lot of times there is no result – save for the depletion of marketing dollars.

Recently a new acronym has been added to the BuzzWheel: SEO. Search engine optimization – better rankings in search results – is hotter than Ke$ha at the moment, and everyone I talk with is being cold called by a company I like to call Slytherin and Co. SEO. What *Slytherin offers is the full SEO package, guaranteed to jump your website to No. 1 in every search you could ever dream up.

On the surface, of course, this is a great service. Your website shares with the world all of the great products/services you offer and anyone who sees it understands your competitive advantage (This is all true, right? Because I know you’re one of 10s of people who read my blog on what your site means to your brand).

But what I hear a lot from businesses that have used Slytherin and Co. is that they have been ripped off. They’ve spent thousands of dollars only to be dismissed by Google, Bing! and Yahoo.

The fact of the matter is, a lot of self-proclaimed SEO experts have become the 21st century auto mechanic. Sure, there are honest ones out there, and, sure, there are times when it does costs thousands of dollars to do the work. But does anyone really know when that's the case? Many executives end up feeling they’ve been charged for a replacement Johnson rod.

Part of this is a simple disconnect with the services purchased. Often companies don’t know the right questions to ask to separate a sharp SEO company from Slytherin and Co. To start a better dialogue on that front, I’ve created four basic questions to ask when talking with an SEO company.

• Can they explain what they’re doing in terms you understand?

We recently added the CEO of an SEO company to our stable of bloggers. His first two posts are about one goal: Education. Good SEO companies can talk to you in layman’s terms. The bad ones operate against a principle I like to call the Magic Johnson Principle. The MJP is simple: Magic Johnson was so good at what he did on the basketball court that he could share with anyone exactly how he did it because, quite simply, you couldn’t do it as well. Good web developers should be the same way. They should be able to explain to you exactly what they’re doing and why because they have a skill you don’t (This blog shows problems smart developers can detect that you’d never think of). If you can’t wrap your arms around what they’re doing, don’t make a purchase.

• What's the plan if you need to wean them from your money?

Most SEO companies out there predicate their services on consistent dollars because they do consistent work. That’s fine, but what’s the plan if you stop using them? The companies that are most often burned by bad SEO experiences are those that have cancelled their service and find they had only short-term results, and when the work stopped everything was lost. While you can expect a drop off when you cut ties with an SEO company, you shouldn’t expect that drop to be off a cliff. Ask about an exit strategy before you begin.

• What's their cost structure like?

SEO companies have a right to make money, and the good ones are worth it. But the second-most common complaint I get from companies is that they paid thousands of dollars and they aren’t sure where the money went. This is goes back to the first question. Make sure part of the education process includes costs. It’s very possible to spend good money on this service, but make sure you aren’t spending it because Slytherin and Co. has a 75 percent profit margin.

• What is the metric for success?

SEO is not a light switch. You can’t flip it on and expect to be No. 1 in Google. In fact, there are cases in which you can never get to the top. Your initial conversation with an SEO company should be about the opportunity that will best help your company. What are the keywords that others in your market aren’t using correctly? How long will it take to move up the ladder? Will the results only show up in Google, or will you see a bump in Bing! and Yahoo?

That’s all.

Next time: From Cleveland with love: Is geosocial networking here to stay?

Last time: Miles ahead: How little CAK is tweeting the pants off the big airports

*Nerd reference alert: Slytherin is the house in the Harry Potter books and movies that produces the bad witches and wizards.

Mike Cottrill is the digital operations manager at Smart Business. He blogs irregularly about the biggest factors preventing companies from succeeding in the digital age. If you would like to insult his blogs, shoot him a note on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn. Cottrill will be hosting a webinar on August 25 about why your social media strategies are failing. You're welcome to attend, but he understands if you don’t.