What’s an SEO? It’s an acronym for “search engine optimizer," a firm that helps you improve your Web site’s ranking in search engine results.

What’s the risk? Well, the biggest risk is that your SEO firm takes steps that get your site dropped altogether from search engine results. It happens more often than you think.

Google provides a great guide to working with SEO firms. Google also offers a lot of helpful information on improving your Web site.

Here’s a brief and incomplete summary of what Google has to say: consistently ranking high in search results requires building a frequently updated Web site that has a lot of relevant content and that's properly structured. There’s no magic bullet, and no cookie-cutter solution.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.