The Truth About SEO
Search Engines have evolved to the point where they can now determine whether or not the information on the website is sound. Many SEO companies are still operating by rules and tricks used in the past, so I have constructed this 2009 guide to help you better understand search engines.
1. “Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings”
That quote is straight from Google’s support site. This is by far the most used and misleading promise of all. Without lifting a finger, they have already given you front page placements!
If they never promised what keywords will bring you this placement (which they never will), this is most likely a scam. Lets pretend we have the company Fred’s Advanced Plumbing and Heating in Grand Rapids, MI for the following example. Ideally, you would want the following search phrase “plumbing in grand rapids” to pull up your company first. However, the SEO company could complete their contract by saying that the search phrase “fred’s advanced plumbing and heating in grand rapids mi” is giving your site a front page placement!
It is also important to be aware of the websites currently above you in your rankings. Ask yourself the questions:
- “Do I have the resources to get above theirs?”
- “Is their website larger than mine and most likely getting more hits? If not, why is their content considered better?”
2. “We will submit your site to Google and other search engines!”
Again, another scam. There was once a need for this, but not anymore. Your site is automatically indexed in all search engines, and will continue to be scanned for changes. While the process is never instantaneous, after a week or two of a new site launch, search engines like Google will begin to index the site and place it into search results.
3. “META keywords will greatly improve your sites ranking” is no longer true
Keywords do not effect search engine rankings, and will soon become obsolete.
Part of the evolution of search engines is to ignore keywords. These are far to easy to fake, and can have nothing to do with the rest of the site. For this reason, keywords are no longer used to rank search results (Yahoo still reads them, but it provides very little help in increasing rankings). Instead, search engines now pull “key words” out of paragraphs of text to rank your site.
4. There are better ways than stuffing your pages with more text to get higher rankings
This is the double-edged sword of increasing your search engine rankings. It is true that in some cases adding more text will give search engines more to index (and more “key words”), but what about your customers? You do not send out flyers, brochures, or purchase advertisements that are long winded and boring. It’s important to keep your website concise and never lose its main purpose as a selling tool. If you absolutely need to throw a lot of information at your customers, consider breaking it into several different pages.
In the end its important to always be skeptical of any sales pitch. Take in the facts and remember to do research to determine whether or not a SEO company has any merit to their claims. Element Design can determine if your website is standards compliant, and if it meets search engine guidelines. For further reading, please visit any of the following articles:
[...] briefly discussed keywords and how they do not effect rankings in my previous post, “The Truth about SEO”. Google has recently verified this in their blog, and has brought up some good points to [...]