Hey Jeff,I know you... we were no hat seo interns together right?

These SEO companies who promise greatness can not gurantee results...

This let’s me know my line of thinking is on par, as this is the overall plan.

I Consistently do google adwords, facebook ads and seo.

At the end of the day there are people in the bay or anywhere else with SEO, some with direct mail, some with FB marketing, some with cold callers and text blasting, some with other things like TV and radio ads.

How do I differentiate the good SEO companies from the not so good SEO companies?

Marketing has become a finely tuned career path its own metrics and standards, and it's a broad and ever developing field that requires familiarity with SEO, coding, and various platforms, each with their own learning curve.  

If you do, your listing may become a guest favorite, which will increase it's SEO.

Some methods (amongst many)Well functioning websites with SEO optimization, TV ads, mailers (yellow letters, bandit signs, bird dogs, driving for dollars, networking, foreclosures, estate & divorce attorneys.

It's kind of the inverse of finance folks who don't feel any qualms defrauding people of a lowere socioeconomic class.Finally, contractors are largely booked through good SEO or online review systems which are gameable.Generally, I have gotten better results by paying a little more and only hiring large, well known companies.