Written by:
2010/05/25 08:25 AM 

Does your SEO professional or website developer lie to you?

SEO, to many, is one of those mystical features of a website that not many know about. Because of that it is so easy for so called SEO professionals and web developers to take advantage of people.

This week I came across a site that claimed 99% of their clients websites were ranked number 1 on Google.

They listed a picture of the site with the type of site and the Google rank. As in:

Restaurant website Ranked #1 on Google.

Guest House website Ranked #1 on Google!

Test the credentials

Now did you know that anyone can get number one on Google. Just do a search for your domain name. Even do a search for some obscure keyword that no one else uses and you will get number 1 on Google.

The trick is to get number one for your chosen keywords. Now I know that both restaurant and Guest House are very competitive keywords.

I did a little test, using those keywords, and guess what. All the sites listed were nowhere to be found.

I do realise that there might be keywords that I am not aware of. But if you are going to make a bold statement like that, you’d better back it up with some hard evidence.

The other thing is, there are no links to the websites to check them out.

Shop around

Don’t be happy with one SEO company. Shop around. Get advice, seek out other SEO professionals and compare.

Here are some point that you need to consider when choosing an SEO company.

• Set realistic Goals
• Get advice from other SEO people you trust.
• Ask for a list of success stories.
• Get references and sites that you can actual test and check out.
• Get someone in the know to review the proposal.
• Get other quotes from different SEO companies and compare, not only price but services and deliverable.
• Do a background research on that SEO company
• Scrutinise their cost structure
• Scrutinise their SEO strategy
• Be comfortable with the given timeline to goal.
• Be careful of Back Hat SEO

Myths of SEO

Don’t believe everything you hear. There are a lot of SEO companies that will lie through their teeth just to rob you of your hard earned cash.

Here are some SEO myths for your awareness

• SEO is a sham
• The highest ranking SEO companies must be the best ones.
• SEO consulting is all you need to rank higher
• We guarantee # 1 on Google
• Adding a plugin will put your blog in SEO mode
• A higher Page Rank means better chances of ranking
• Submitting to search engines is the only way to get indexed.
• Dynamic URLs are bad for the site.
• Adding keywords to meta tags gives you a direct push on the SERPs.
• Nofollow incoming links from other sites are no good.
• SEO is a quick process
• The goal is to be number one or on page one.
• SEO is free
• Lots of money will guarantee good SEO

Conclusion

Be aware that there are liars out there People that will do anything to get you to part with your money. Do your research, learn about SEO. Understand the terms. Otherwise you only have yourself to blame.

Have you been caught out by unscrupulous SEO’s? Do you bother about SEO for your blog or site? If you have SEO’ed your site or blog, have you seen results?

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