SEO Services

Both pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of search engine results as possible. Marketing and SEO are different, yet very, very similar. SEO are considered as the main factors in enhancing the traffic of one's website. The concepts of good SEO are hardly a secret. The people who least understands issues with URL structure and SEO are the very people who create them: web developers, programmers, and software developers.

Many long-time SEO's are now looking at the big picture and working with usability analysts. Some SEO are scam artists. I find it interesting that so many newcomers are given the wrong impression that there is one almighty answer to doing well in search engines. SEO are specialized techniques used to optimize your web site, to be Search engine friendly and increase your chances of placing well in searches. But SEO can also be the most profitable methods of driving leads because any leads you receive from SEO are free leads.

There are a large number of companies that adopt a fast and unethical approach to SEO known as Black Hat SEO. They employ unethical techniques that are against search engine policies. The best results from SEO are rarely achieved overnight. Black hat SEO are the techniques used to fool the search engines in order to bring in more traffic to websites. Website owners who unknowingly utilize black hat techniques of SEO are more vulnerable to changes in search engine algorithms and faced being banned.

Most hardcover books on the subject of SEO are best viewed as a vehicle to help the beginner understand the process of search engine optimization. This is because the principles behind SEO are not easy. They are very informative and most webmasters are involved in SEO and using it. White hat and black hat SEO are two opposing views of how to do search engine optimization. In a nutshell, SEO are methods that aim to improve the position or rank of a website in the listings produced by search engines. The benefits of SEO are almost unlimited.

Watch out for SEO Tools and software that is outdated and totally useless. Always research before you buy any SEO software because the search engine Algorithms are constantly changing thereby improving their search technologies to provide the most relevant results for their users. SEO tools for Google, MSN and Yahoo are numerous. SEO tools for press release optimization were also launched by PRWeb at the end of June called SEO Wizard. Search engine optimization is not easy, but with the right SEO tools, your website promotion task just got a lot easier. Blogs are one of the best SEO tools around and some like WordPress are free. Google Sitemaps' are a powerful SEO tools which you can get free by visiting my website.

MSN has launched a suite of SEO tools to go with their Pay Per Click product Adcenter. There are many SEO tools available on the internet, some are better then others, and some are not. Header tags, proper Keyword density, proper text formatting fonts, start text key-phrase as whole phrases, alt image tag text, links pointing to your site and each page and your domain name itself are some things to pay attention too. Many specialized SEO tools can help you determine the popularity and the competitiveness of your possible keywords and can help improve your search engine ranking particularly in Google.

Writing fresh content for SEO plays a large role in keeping visitors on a web site. Let's talk unique web page content and SEO content strategy. Finding a good SEO content writer is easier than you think. Just run a Google search or checkout elance.com. What is good SEO Content? It is unique, quality information that your visitors can use and is helpful to them. RSS feeds are an invaluable tool in the SEO content toolbox. If you scrape SEO content and end up scraping a couple spam pages, you may get noticed even more because someone is investigating the other spam pages.

The primary factor that will determine whether your SEO content is "good enough" is the content provided by competing websites. You need unique content that nobody has in order for it to pass duplicate content filters. That's why it is important to get your content articles indexed before you submit them to the search engines. I think nowadays though search engine algorithms can trace back the content and see who published it first, so at least make sure you publish it to your website or blog before submitting it to article directories.

To strengthen the theme of your web site, you need keyword rich SEO content. SEO content writing tips content writer's main aim is to create a new written piece which is original, simple, informative and also to the point. Write specific targeted SEO content for the independent pages. Unique SEO content remains king. Showing your visitors you can really write unique, compelling content, your traffic will grow very fast. Earlier it was just content writing but now it is widely known as SEO content writing. However there are some strict rules enforced on SEO content. Once you have visitors, your SEO content should be converting them into customers. With effective SEO content on your website, half of your search engine rank optimization work is done.

Ethical search engine optimization is a must or you will get banned. It's not if, it's when. Search engine optimization was and still is fascinating to me. Search Engine Optimization is a crucial part in a websites success. The objective of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to achieve high natural search engine placement for relevant keywords or keyword phrases. Hiring an ethical search engine optimization company to rank well in the natural results is essential to long term success.

Your white hat Search engine optimization (SEO) campaign will provide you with a long term increase in targeted traffic and qualified visitors to your Web Site. Visit my site often and add it to your favorites as I update you with the latest news and rumors in the search engine optimization industry everyday. The effects of bad search engine optimization are devastating and very depressing. Each website is unique in its own way and hence your (SEO) plans differ from website to website.

My site has some tips on how to perform search engine optimization (also know as SEO) on your website. I have a free, comprehensive guide to the practice of search engine optimization for those unfamiliar with the subject if you send me an email. There's a lot of hype out there about search engine optimization (SEO) services. Some are good and some are bad. Read through Google's terms of service as they have some information on their site about it.

Too often, visual design and SEO are perceived as a mutual sacrifice. Pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of search engine results as possible. Pay-per-click cost money, but the clicks from SEO cost you nothing. SEO are considered as the main factors in enhancing the traffic of one's website. Both, PPC and SEO are important. The truth is, the most rewarding part of SEO are often the slowest to reward. PR and SEO are based mostly on editorial credibility and relevance, not a direct payment for exposure.

SEO are specialized techniques used to optimize your web site, to be Search engine friendly and increase your chances of placing well in searches. There are a large number of companies that adopt a fast and unethical approach to SEO known as Black Hat SEO. The main components of on-page SEO are optimization of the title tag, the headline tag, the body text and the Meta tags. Companies interested in SEO are occasionally not very happy with how their website looks. Programmers with an understanding of SEO are in high demand. As a matter of fact, sites with excellent Search Engine Optimization are making giant leaps in rankings and getting a major boost in free traffic with Google's new update.

Great web usability and SEO are wasted if folks who visit your web can't tell that you are worthy of their trust. Those who specialize in SEO are in the unique position of understanding the web in a way that no traditional marketing agency can hope to. White hat and black hat SEO are two opposing views of how to do search engine optimization so if you use one, choose with great care. The second most important aspect for high SEO is the headers. Use H1, H2, H3, H4 headers.

Many of the techniques that can be used for SEO are banned by the various search engines. The benefits of SEO are almost unlimited. Bad techniques of SEO are a strict 'NO' - Like same color text as the background and Doorway pages can get your website banned. The five forces of SEO are relevant Keywords, unique Content, clean Code, relevant Links and proper use of Technology. Designing for users and designing for SEO are not mutually exclusive goals. There will be compromise. White hat SEO are techniques that follow precisely the rules and guidelines provided by search engines stand a better chance of receiving traffic and higher rankings than black hat techniques.

For this reason it is important to try to stay updated as far as new SEO are concerned. The off-page elements of website promotion and SEO are just as important. The majority of issues with SEO is very basic and just takes time to be picked up on search engines. Web design and SEO are two very different disciplines, but a certain degree of collaboration is required. It's easy to see why effective SEO are now very much in demand. Black hat SEO is techniques used to trick or manipulate search engines for higher rankings.

If done properly, the results of your SEO efforts are very impressive. Those who practice what some refer to as "ethical" and "correct" SEO are called White Hat SEO's. The most important for SEO is to follow the rules and you won't have anything to worry about.

SEO software does what exactly?

SEO software frequently starts from the following assumption:

- look at the page that ranks number 1 in Google,

- do exactly the same + a bit better,

- and you will be number 1

SEO software will then examine "all" the SEO parameters that it finds out about the number 1 site in Google. Then this SE software will automate the process in mimicking this for your site.

SEO is more than a software-approach!

SEO is the art of ranking number 1 in any search engine for any keyword.

Spiders rank a web site number one because spiders "think" that this site deserves to be number one. Of course the spider cannot think: there needs to be a programmer who programs the spider to find out which site is best.

Now if you are smart enough to feed the spider exactly what the programmer thinks is important, you will have the knowledge to rank number 1.

This is exactly what SEO software does: it claims to know and tackle "all" the parameters that make a web site ranking number 1.

Pitfalls of a software-approach to SEO

Suppose you find all the parameters needed to rank a web site number 1. You manage to get all this parameters onto your site and you even manage to be rank number 1.

Now if your site is really deserving to be ranked number 1, all is fine. But if surfers start complaining that you are not, the search engine will be blamed!

It won't take long until Google finds out that "somebody broke the code" of the spiders. The spiders will be updated to give quality results to the visitors!

This means you need to get an upgrade of your SEO software approach... : you are running after the facts in stead of above the facts.

How to be ranked number 1?

You rank number 1 because you deserve it.

In spider logic this still means:

- your page talks about the keyword you are optimizing for

- you page has lots of incoming links about the keyword you are optimizing for.

This is what ranking number 1 should be about.

But my SEO software is really up to date, or is it not?

Your software can only be up to date AFTER the spiders' software is updated. Unless you write the spiders yourself, you will always be a bit later.

You cannot know all the parameters the spider takes into account, unless again you are writing the spider software yourself.

Some of the parameters you cannot influence: age of the web site is one of them. Suppose the spider needs to choose between 2 websites: the oldest one and the SEO mimic: which one to choose? The oldest one would be the easiest bet, and you cannot change the age of your web site can you?

A close look at SEO software

SEO software advertisements could say that you can get a top 5 Google Ranking in under 30 Days... If that is true, then check out to see:

- is the web site of this SEO software ranking number 1 in Google for SEO or SEO software?

- are the example web sites the SEO software mentions to be ranked number 1, really number 1: number 1 in Google that is?

It's very easy to type in the keyword phrase of the SEO software example web site and see if they are number 1 or not.

And don't be fooled by SEO software that gives numerous examples of number 1 rankings in MSN or Yahoo: if you want to have a long lasting number 1 ranking in any of the search engines, you better start having a number 1 ranking in Google.

I didn't say that it is a guarantee to rank number 1 in Yahoo and MSN once you rank number 1 in Google, but you will surely be high up there as well. On the other hand, a number 1 ranking in MSN can mean that you are no where to be found in Yahoo nor Google.

So you say: well, then I just try to rank number 1 in MSN since it seems to be easier. Well, it is easier, but then it is easier for your competition as well, so it won't take then too much effort to out-play you again. Therefor do the job good once and for all: thrive to be number 1 in Google and then fine-tune if needed for MSN or Yahoo.

Why do you do SEO in the first place?

SEO is 1 of the ways to get more traffic to your web site. But there is more in getting a lot of traffic to your site, than "blindly ranking 1 in Google":

--- Always make sure you rank number 1 for a word a lot of people are looking for! ---

If you buy any SEO software or out-source your SEO to the SEO specialists: always check their SEO examples:

- are they ranking number 1

- are the keywords they rank for popular search keywords (bigger than 10.000 searches a month in the Keyword Selector Tool from Yahoo's search-marketing is considered not too low)

- how long did it take them to be number 1

- how big is the competition for the keyword-phrase (smaller or bigger than 5 million? As a general rule : above 5 million keyword-phrase results in Google, things become though)

- how big is the competition for the quoted "keyword-phrase" (smaller or bigger than 33.000? As a general rule : above 33.000 quoted "keyword-phrase" results in Google, things become though)

If for all these items the SEO software or SEO specialist can answer YES, then you can start taking them very seriously!

Try it out for each example web site any SEO software claims to have ranked number 1 for a certain keyword-phrase. And of course, always start with checking if they are ranking number 1 in the first place! If they are not, then you are going to buy SEO software that doesn't do the job! Ranking number 2 is ALMOST number 1, and even worse, ranking number 9 is nowhere near to ranking number 1.

SEO software web sites

Whenever you are interested in something to buy on the Internet, check out the overall web site of the product you want to buy!

Some SEO software web sites are 1 page web sites: just 1 page with the product, no links, no extra pages...

Again back to basics. What was the first idea to set up the Internet? To give people information, lots of information.

And we are talking about a "NET" in Inter"NET": "net" means links here, links there, links everywhere... (that's why links are so important in SEO)

If you don't see lots of links nor lots of content on a web site about SEO, then the SEO web site is not serious about its own subject: SEO!

Back to Basics: web-traffic

Your purpose is getting as much people to your site as possible, isn't it?

SEO software has the purpose of ranking 1 in Google.

Now it is very easy to rank 1 in Google for the keyword-phrase "jhdkghgkbdcds",

but who is looking for "jhdkghgkbdcds"??? Nobody!

So if nobody looks for "jhdkghgkbdcds", then why bother to rank number 1 with it?

What is a nice number when it comes to "popular keyword searches"? If you use the Overture Keyword tool, anything above 10.000 searches a month means quite popular, but: also know that above 10.000 "the big boys' are competing

with you, below 1.000 you have the field for yourself. So a good SEO advice is work yourself from the bottom up: start with keywords that are not so popular, and once you are ranked high for those, then tackle the next more popular keyword on the list.

SEO software Conclusion

SEO is the art to feed the spiders what they like.

SEO software is running after the spiders trying to catch their attention.

Always check the numbers and the facts about any SEO software and (this) SEO article!

Then make a decision yourself. If you see that the SEO software

- is ranking well for it's own product

- is ranking web sites for popular keyword well,

only then you can consider buying it.

Making money on the Internet is something that has always intrigued Stef Glassee, a Sun Certified Java Developer. Being into programming and software development he has a first eyes view how software can help people, but it cannot yet replace people. Same goes for SEO software.

...It's quick and easy to throw an apple pit in the soil. But be prepared: it takes a long time before the apple pit becomes a tree loaded with apples!...

　

　

When a company undertakes a search engine optimization program, whether it is performed in-house or outsourced to an SEO service, most of the attention (and rightly so) is focused on the company website. This is the one aspect where there is a feeling of control--once a website is released into the wild, the company will have to see how its site fares against all the other websites out there, whether the other sites are using ethical SEO tactics or not.

Apart from changes made to the company website, the assumption is often that the company and, if it is using one, its SEO service, has zero control over what appears in search engine results. However, this is not usually the case. Often, you or your SEO service can have a direct effect on search engine results by monitoring your competitors and reporting them to the major search engines when the SEO techniques used on their site fall outside what is popularly referred to as ethical SEO. (Please note that while I believe that the word "ethical" is tossed around too often, "ethical SEO" has become the standard phrase to describe white hat techniques, and so it is the phrase I use throughout the article.)

Primary Competitors

To start with, let's define competitors. Almost every company has at least a handful of other companies that it considers to be primary competitors--the ones that sell the same products and services, that are of similar size, and so on. It is important that the SEO efforts (or lack thereof) of these competitors, whether they are using ethical SEO techniques or not, be monitored on a routine basis. If they have not hired an SEO service of their own, or if they have not started doing SEO in-house at all, you will have peace of mind knowing that the use of this channel, for the moment, is yours. If your competitors begin an SEO campaign, with or without an outside SEO service, you can learn much about their sales and marketing tactics by evaluating the keyphrases that they target. And you can also investigate whether they are using ethical SEO practices in their campaign.

Your Online Competitors

It's important to keep in mind that it is unlikely that searchers are going to decide only between you and the primary competitors you have listed. They are going to consider any company that matches their particular needs and that shows up for their search term. This is why your criteria for a competitor online should broaden to encompass any company that offers products or services like yours that outranks you for any of your targeted keyphrases. If your in-house staff or your SEO service not only continually monitors your search engine positions but also analyzes the companies that appear above you in search results, you can often identify forward-looking competitors of which you were previously unaware--your primary competitors of tomorrow.

Violations

This brings us to the key issue of ethical SEO. Search engine optimization is still a very new concept to most companies. Even the most respected companies can make mistakes in this arena, either by choosing the wrong SEO service, or by trying to avoid hiring an SEO service altogether by bringing it in house with well-intentioned but unqualified people. For example, BMW's German site was recently removed temporarily from the Google index for using doorway pages--something that is not considered an ethical SEO practice. It stands to reason that your competitors are also not immune to violations.

Bad Firms

There are very notable examples of otherwise smart and established companies hiring an SEO service that put them in a worse situation than before they pursued SEO--by getting their site removed from major search engines for violating the engine's terms of service, for example. Not long ago, there was a well-publicized example where most of the clients of a Las Vegas SEO service were penalized. Almost all of the clients claimed that they were not informed that the firm was not practicing ethical SEO and that they were therefore at risk.

SEO firms are generally divided into two camps--those called "White Hats" (those that use ethical SEO practices and will never knowingly violate a search engine's terms of service) and those called "Black Hats" (those that do not use ethical SEO practices and that will attempt to unravel the latest algorithms and exploit any loopholes to achieve rankings at any cost). Neither approach is invalid--it is not against the law to violate the terms of service of a search engine. Moreover, black hat techniques can be quite effective. However, the tactics are risky, and anyone hiring an SEO service that wears a black hat and does not use ethical SEO practices should definitely be apprised of this risk up front.

Internal Resources

Firms are often tempted to avoid hiring an SEO service by performing SEO in-house, and the project almost always falls onto an already overburdened IT department. The problem with approaching SEO from a strictly technical mindset is that the strategies employed, such as the keyphrases targeted, will not necessarily be in line with the goals of the marketing and sales departments. In addition, an IT resource will usually approach SEO from a purely technical standpoint, without being aware of ethical SEO practices, and this can lead to trouble. Penalization is a very real possibility, and it is hard to get back onto an index once your site has been removed.

Monitoring

A thorough SEO service will monitor not only the handful of competitors that you deem crucial but also the sites that appear higher than you for any of your chosen search phrases. This may be somewhat controversial, especially to any SEO service or webmaster that uses tactics forbidden by the search engines' terms of service. However, many white hat SEO service firms consider it an obligation to their clients to routinely monitor the sites of any competitor found on the engines to be sure it is using ethical SEO techniques.

There is a reason that every major search engine has a form to report sites who do not use ethical SEO tactics and who violate the terms of service so that these sites can be subsequently penalized or removed. Spam filters cannot catch all violations without also removing a large number of good sites. Search engines rely on their users to help them to keep their indexes clean and free of sites not using ethical SEO tactics. There are many techniques to spam an engine--far too many to list. However, a good SEO service not only knows what all of these techniques are but knows how to identify them when it sees them so they can be reported to the engine accurately.

The End Result

Business is business, and your interests often run directly counter to that of your competitors. When you report a website that is not using ethical SEO, it is very likely that it will be removed. This means there is one less company that you need to worry about in the online arena, at least for the time being. If the site in question outranked yours, you also get the added benefit of seeing your rankings improve as the violating pages are removed--provided, of course, that you are using ethical SEO techniques and steering clear of violations yourself, or you may be reported by a competitor of yours or its SEO service!

The engine also benefits from users reporting violations. Engines do not like people trying to trick their indexes, since there might then be pages showing up for particular search terms that are not actually relevant to those terms. Clearly, search engines understand this benefit--if the engines thought they could weed out all the spam themselves, they would not provide a reporting system. Supporting such a system, after all, is not free. Real people employed by the engine have to visit the offending pages to confirm that they are not using ethical SEO tactics.

In the notable example cited earlier of the firm that got most of its clients penalized, the owner of the SEO service in question was quoted as saying, "Google can kiss my ass. This is the Wild Wild West." He may be right--maybe it is the Wild Wild West. But there are a whole bunch of new sheriffs in town--and they are wearing white hats.

　

　

When researching SEO companies, it is tempting to choose any company willing to offer guaranteed SEO services. It is human nature - people love a guarantee. This holds especially true for purchases where the buyer is purchasing something outside of his or her area of comfort. When companies first consider pursuing search engine optimization (SEO) as a potential marketing channel, particularly when there is an ongoing cost involved, they get a sense of comfort from purchasing "guaranteed SEO." Unfortunately, with many SEO companies, this confidence in the guarantee is ill-placed.

A lot of questionable SEO companies offer what I like to refer to as a "leprechaun repellent" guarantee. In other words, it's a guarantee that is easily attainable - if you purchase such services and are not subsequently harassed by a pesky leprechaun, the guarantee has been met. How can you complain?

The truth is that SEO companies do not control the major search engines, and any firm that claims to have a "special relationship" that gives it sway over the natural search engine results is simply counting on your ignorance. Fortunately, this does not mean that guaranteed SEO is impossible, especially when the guarantee has to do with aggregate results and the methods used to achieve them.

What follows is a partial list of some of the more popular types of guaranteed SEO out there - some of them roughly as useful as leprechaun repellent, and some of them actually meaningful.

Questionable Guarantees

The "Leprechaun Repellent" Keyphrases Guarantee

Many SEO companies boast that they will achieve a certain number of top rankings in the organic results of major search engines. This type of guaranteed SEO can be tempting, especially to those who are investigating SEO companies for the first time. After all, high rankings are what it's all about, right? Isn't that the goal?

The answer is an emphatic "No." Quality SEO companies will point out that the real goal is to bring high quality traffic to your site. It's quite simple to guarantee top positions if you choose non-competitive or obscure phrases - for example, "leprechaun repellent." Want proof? Enter "leprechaun repellent into your favorite search engine. You will almost certainly find this article dominating the results (caveat - if you are reading this article immediately after its release, the search engines may not have indexed it yet. Wait a week and try again.).

It is extremely easy for SEO companies to achieve high search engine positions for phrases that nobody uses. Such rankings might impress your friends and neighbors, but they won't send you quality traffic. They likely won't send you any traffic at all. It's important to note that the phrase "leprechaun repellent" is used only for demonstrative purposes. Many unpopular phrases may not sound absurd. There are surely countless phrases out there that sound extremely relevant to your business that are never typed into search engines. Good SEO companies will avoid such phrases. "Leprechaun repellent" practitioners will embrace them - it allows them to attain their worthless guarantees.

There is also another aspect of this type of guaranteed SEO in which SEO companies will guarantee you first place positions on unspecified search engines for more competitive phrases. Unfortunately, this type of guaranteed SEO often involves obscure engines that have very little market share and are not sophisticated enough to quickly eliminate web pages that use spam tactics. In a few documented cases, the guarantees involved search engines that the SEO companies actually owned and operated!

There are really only three major search engines at present - Google, Yahoo, and MSN. There are a handful of minor engines that are also worth mentioning, including Ask Jeeves and AOL Search. Any guaranteed SEO should involve prominent engines, not obscure ones.

The "Company Name" Guarantee

There is also a common guarantee that shady SEO companies will use that guarantees that a company will show up for a search on its company name. This, much like the "leprechaun repellent" flavor of guaranteed SEO, offers no real value. Sure, if your company name is "Acme," it may actually be competitive - but chances are that if your website does not already show up near the top of the search engine results for a search on your company name, there is an easily fixed technical glitch that will resolve the issue. Quality SEO companies will address this area immediately. Moreover, ranking highly for your company name, while obviously desirable, provides only a tiny fraction of the potential value of search engine marketing. The real benefit for most companies is that search engine marketing attracts potential buyers who are not already familiar with the company name. Unless your company is a household name, it is unlikely that having your company name figure prominently in the results is going to have a huge impact on your business.

The Pay-Per-Click Guarantee

Some SEO companies will offer guaranteed SEO services that promise top positions for certain keyphrases on popular engines, but they are counting on dealing with prospects who do not understand the difference between natural search engine results and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. With PPC, it is very easy to guarantee a number one result, but this result will appear in the "paid" or "sponsored" results of the engine. Say, for example, that your company installs custom swimming pools. While a competitive phrase like "custom pools" might be difficult to achieve in organic results, the SEO company is not concerned with organic results. All it has to do is outbid the current highest bidder (using your money, of course), and your site will show up as number one in the "sponsored" results. Studies have indicated that sponsored results are held in a lower regard than natural results by savvy web searchers who recognize them as advertising. Also, as soon as you stop paying, your ranking disappears.

The "Submit Your Site to 50,000 Search Engines" Guarantee

There are many variations on this offer, primarily involving the number of engines promised. Regardless of the number, this is probably the most pervasive and persistent type of "guaranteed SEO," and it is basically a scam that preys on ignorance.

Companies that believe that they have high quality websites are predisposed to believe that the only thing holding them back from search engine success is that the search engines do not yet know that their sites exist. However, search engines measure quality in a much different way than a website owner does. A properly optimized site does not need to be submitted to search engines at all (I refer to actual "spider-based" search engines such as Yahoo, Google, and MSN, not human-edited directories such as Business.com, the Yahoo Directory, and the Open Directory Project). Engines prefer to find sites on their own.

This "solution" offers no real value, except of course to the SEO companies offering the service. Also, as previously mentioned, there are not 50,000 search engines - or at least 50,000 search engines worth worrying about. Do SEO companies that offer this service meet this guarantee? Certainly - they use automated programs to do the submissions. Is this type of guaranteed SEO worthwhile? Not for search engine positions, but it may keep leprechauns at bay.

Meaningful Guarantees

Given the preponderance of "guaranteed SEO" that is meaningless, the seemingly Wild West nature of the industry, and the reality that SEO companies do not control the results of any major engine, it may seem that guaranteed SEO can never be a worthwhile endeavor. However, this is not the case. If you note the examples above, they are primarily involved in specifics - top positions, a certain number of submissions, a certain number of engines. However, good SEO companies, understanding that they have no control over individual results, should be confident enough in the results of their work in aggregate and in the safety of the methodologies that they use to offer guaranteed SEO that lives up to its promise.

The Custom Guarantee

In very rare cases, certain skilled, experienced SEO companies will be able to develop for you a custom guarantee derived from the analysis of your current traffic data, the competitiveness of your industry, and the status of your site. You will ideally be offered this type of specialized guarantee from the beginning of your dealings with an SEO firm because it ensures that you will be achieving targeted, meaningful results based on your specific situation, rather than on generalities that could apply to any business in any industry. Some SEO companies may tell you that a custom guarantee is not possible because they have no direct control over search engine results. However, SEO companies who have been in business for a while know how to weather the algorithm shifts and understand that there is more than one popular search engine. Such a firm will be confident enough to create and back a custom guarantee for you.

The Targeted Traffic Guarantee

SEO companies dedicated to showing value to their clients will take a baseline reading of current search engine traffic at the outset of a campaign. While, as previously mentioned, SEO companies do not hold sway over search engine results, they should at least be confident enough in their overall skills to promise that their clients will see an increase in targeted search engine traffic based on popular phrases relevant to the business. If the firm offering this type of guaranteed SEO charges on a monthly basis, any month of the engagement where traffic for targeted phrases does not, at a minimum, exceed the baseline should not be charged. After all, you are paying on a monthly basis to protect and improve your positions. While major algorithm shifts that make results on individual results unstable can and do happen, they rarely happen on all engines at once. You should feel confident that the firm you are paying has a very vested interest in making sure it adapts to the changing nature of search engine algorithms, and few things inspire such confidence as knowing that it will not get paid otherwise. If your prospective firm is unwilling to at least guarantee that it will send increased traffic to your website from targeted phrases, every month, it may be time to look elsewhere.

The "White Hat" Guarantee

SEO companies are commonly broken up into two camps - "white hats" (practitioners who remain solidly within the search engine's stated terms of service) and "black hats" (practitioners who work to unravel the latest search engine algorithms and base their optimization techniques largely on technology, regardless of the engine's terms of service). Both approaches are legitimate - after all, there is nothing illegal about exploiting a technical loophole for results. However, black hat SEO companies put their clients at risk of penalization or even outright banishment from the major engines. Getting back in can be a long process, and sometimes it is not possible at all. If you are concerned about potential penalization, get a guarantee from your firm that they adhere to the stated terms of service of all major search engines. If you can (and this is rare), get a guarantee that your site will not be penalized through any action of the SEO firm. This is harder for a company to offer, since the major engines frequently update their terms of service, and techniques that are acceptable today can be deemed unacceptable tomorrow. However, a confident firm that always errs on the side of caution when optimizing client websites will offer this type of guaranteed SEO services, since it will not use techniques that have a potential for penalization in the future.

　

　

The question comes up often. Many people have been burned by SEO Services, but many have also been rewarded by SEO Services. Like any business transaction or purchase you should only spend your money when you feel comfortable. Your comfort zone should pull from various dependencies, such as how well do you know this business, how long have you been doing business with this person or entity, what is your first impression, how do you personally feel about this person or entity ability to provide this service, and how well have you done your homework.

The truth about SEO services is that it is normally not hard work, but that doesn't mean its easy. It still takes time, dedication, effort, strategy, technique, method, skill, and experience to perform quality SEO services. Anyone can use SEO services because it is within your reach to learn, but not everyone can apply sensible strategy to make SEO work. That is why SEO engineers are needed to accomplish the almost impossible, but the question is how do you know you are making the right choice and not overpaying for SEO services?

I can honestly say for the most part SEO service providers are on the up and up who want nothing more than to do professional business and provide quality SEO services. Identifying every shady SEO service may not be possible, but I have some recommended advice which should help anyone get a fair and quality rate for SEO services.

- Set yourself a "realistic" marketing budget and goal

- Shop around

- Don't buy until you feel comfortable

- Remember "cheap does not always mean better"

- Ask for references / referrals / portfolio

- Verify references / referrals / portfolio

- Ask for statistical growth and progress reports

Set Yourself a Realistic Marketing Budget and Goal

This simply mean do not kid yourself and think you can pay $200 and overnight you will make thousands. Instead, create a budget depending on your marketing needs, competitive industry, projected outcome, and length of time. If you are looking for your website to rank in the Top 10 search engine result page for a particular keyword or keywords then expect to pay in the thousands, often times tens of thousands, for quality, professional, and reliable SEO services, almost always depending on the competitiveness of the keyword. If you want to rank in the top 10 for the keyword "Google", this in most cases impossible, but I am sure there are some SEO companies who will accept the challenge, but will charge in the thousands if not millions to attempt this insane marketing goal.

Shop Around

Find the most appealing SEO services and compare those to other competitive SEO services. Don't settle for "cheap" or "inexpensive", but settle for "effective" and "strategy". Anyone can do SEO work, but not everyone can improve results using SEO services. This is because, SEO is about technique and strategy. It's not about just throwing thousands a links around the web and sitting back waiting for the explosion. Its actually a lot more complicated than that, as it is about having strategy, technique, and competitive edge. You must find SEO services which live by this principle and can offer you the strategic road map you need for success.

Don't Buy Until You Feel Comfortable

You should always feel comfortable with entrusting your money into an SEO service provider paws. If you have special needs such as you want to sign a contract, you want a specific pay schedule, or you have any questions, make sure you get answers and are comfortable with the projected outcome then move forward. I personally suggest getting a contract which outlines the projected outcome and any other bullet points, then also exploring the consequences or possibilities if the projected outcome is not met.

Remember "Cheap Does Not Always Mean Better"

This is a buyer beware notice. When someone offers $20 SEO services or even $200 SEO services, I would say "buyer beware". There may be a handful of highly skilled SEO providers who can offer you SEO services at a discount or for extremely low rates, but most of the time these providers either do not know their service worth or know exactly what they are doing, but may have had a lucky streak. You will have to pay top dollar or aggressively, yet still affordable for quality, strategic, and experienced SEO services. SEO engineers is what I like to call them. These are SEO's who understand the SEO concept, who pioneer SEO methods, and who don't always follow the trend, but know the trends.

Most of the SEO engineers are not going to be cheap, but well worth every dollar spent. If you take into consideration other marketing and advertising platforms, such as television broadcast advertising, print advertising, large tradeshow/fair booth advertising, etc. internet marketing and search engine optimization cost peanuts compared to these other advertising methods and have a farther audience reach. SEO services can easily cost between $5,000-$25,000, it can even be much more than this, depending on your needs, but this is far more inexpensive and cheaper than other advertising platforms. So, next time you think that SEO service cost too much, think about the other methods of advertising and their rates, along with return on investment (ROI). SEO services come out on top every time when compared against these other advertising platforms.

Ask for References / Referrals / Portfolio

Any SEO service provider should be able to point you to their qualifying work. SEO service providers should be able to present you with affectionate websites which they have performed SEO work on. This can even be the SEO service provider personal website, they should be able to point you to their rankings in the search engine as well as some result driven SEO work within the site or across the web.

Verify References / Referrals / Portfolio

Verifying information is not always easy or accomplishable. You should attempt to reach out and verify what you can. If a shady SEO business was going to scam, then I am sure this is where they would start, with testimonials. I suggest verifying what you can, but don't get overwhelmed with referrals because it may be the shady SEO business giving self praise. I actually have some good verification tips, but that's another article all within itself.

Ask for Statistical Growth & Progress Reports

The SEO service campaign should include periodic progress/performance reports so you can track your website progress. Tracking your website progress is important in many ways. First, it tells if the SEO engineer is doing their job. Second, it tells you if the SEO methods, strategy, and technique is working or not. Third, it tells you how well the search engines are reciprocating your SEO efforts. And lastly, it tells you how much progress is being made and at what rate. All of this advanced reporting information and trend tracking can give you an overview of your website potential while giving you the opportunity to design or redesign your landing pages to increase your return on investment (ROI).

Okay, to wrap it up, just be sure you stay out of shabby internet neighborhoods and when making any online transaction, do your homework first. Also, remember "cheap does not equal better". Think about it, would you rather pay in the thousands to one SEO company for quality SEO work, which will produce results and increase your website overall performance or would you rather pay cheap $200 to many different SEO's who don't ever really give you the results you deserve. If an SEO engineer can increase your website sales and exposure by 80% without your site ever reaching the top 10 search results then you still got a good deal. This is the effect of skilled and experienced SEO services. The only difference between your website and the websites in the top 10, is those websites have SEO engineers working for them who understand SEO.

　

　

I frequent many SEO and Web Marketing forums on a daily basis and every so often there is a debate about the SEO industry and ethics. After being involved in a number of these debates, it has become really obvious that the main problems are the facts that no two SEO companies are alike and there is no unified methodology. It's very hard to make statements about the industry as a whole because it's debatable what exactly 'SEO' is. Mix in the fact that most SEO companies keep their methodology and campaign strategies secret and we have a situation where every company is totally different with very different results.

Fact 1 : There is no unified SEO methodology. SEO is actually defined by wikipedia as a process of improving traffic from SERPs to a site. Of course, HOW they do that is the real question and causes the debates.

Fact 2 : The effectiveness of an SEO campaign depends on the site structure, site content, keywords, methodology used, and how popular the site is. A site cannot just rank for any random keyword. SEO is also not voodoo. It is logic, problem solving, and Web marketing mixed together. If your site provides no value to users, it probably won't rank.

Fact 3 : Some 'SEOs' do search engine optimization and some do search engine manipulation. Of course, it is all marketed as SEO. Unethical optimization provides results at any cost and is always short term (usually ends in a banned domain name). Ethical optimization opens up the site to the search engines and provides long term benefits.

Fact 4 : Most SEO companies get paid whether or not your site gets any rankings. Unfortunately, this is the case with the industry. Most SEO companies implement A, B, and C and move on to the next client. Hopefully, the site ranks. If it doesn't, they always have more clients.

Fact 5 : Most SEO companies use both ethical and unethical inbound linking strategies.To maximize profits, it is very common for SEO companies to buy bulk links from India, links on spam/scraper web sites, or sell large directory submission packages. It is also common for SEO companies to place huge amounts of the contract into inbound linking to make up for the poor quality of the site optimization.

I don't think it is fair to characterize the industry as a whole without figuring out what is wrong with it and how SEO companies can overcome it. So how exactly do we determine what is good and bad about the industry? I have now been involved with the Web for over 10 years and, specifically, with the SEO industry for almost 4 years and I've seen the inner workings of major SEO companies and worked with clients who had been burned by their previous SEO campaigns. Combined with numerous Web postings and forum debates talking about the same basic problems, I've compiled a list of the most common issues.

Problem 1: Responsibility for Results

It's no secret that the vast majority of SEO companies take no responsibility for results. It is a fact that no SEO company can guarantee results (and if they do, they are lying to you). It is also a fact that the client is taking a risk by spending money with an SEO company that basically says 'We'll do what we can'. SEO companies simply guarantee they'll do the work to 'optimize' the site, but without full disclosure of their methodology, what exactly is the client paying for? No other industry sells a product with no guarantees and no specific list of work that will be completed. Of course, SEO work is basically the sales of information and keeping the specifics of a methodology is important, but the combination of secrecy and no responsibility for results really makes SEO campaigns risky. So, how can an SEO company reduce the risk for the client and provide the best grade of service?

Answer 1: Incentive Based Pricing

The only real way to reduce the financial risk of the client is to share the risk. Through incentive-based pricing, the SEO company can charge a certain percentage of the total contract (say 70%) to cover their intellectual property and time while placing the rest of the contract price (remaining 30%) in incentives for success. Of course, incentives and their percentage of the contract would be totally relative depending on the campaign. This first step into sharing in the risk provides both reassurance to the client that the company believes in its methodology and places some of the financial burden of the campaign on the SEO company. At the moment, however, very few SEO companies are willing to share in the risk and charge the same price whether the client gets top rankings or no rankings at all (or possibly even lower rankings).

Problem 2: Unethical Optimization

Unfortunately, unethical (or blackhat) optimization is still very prominent on the Web. It's also unfortunate that 'SEO' has been mistakenly confused with 'Blackhat SEO'. This is still the biggest problem for SEO companies. Saying that all SEO companies deal in blackhat optimization is like saying everyone who emails is a spammer. Blackhat optimization is not optimization at all...it is search engine manipulation. Because there is so much money tied to top rankings, there will always be a market for unethical SEO and search engine spam. Until companies realize what is ethical and unethical and stop supporting those blackhat SEO companies, they will continue to thrive. This makes the industry as a whole look bad and does not reflect the ethics of good SEO companies. Blackhat provides fast, short term results, but is never a good option in the long run.

Answer 2: Ethical Optimization

There is no quick and easy solution to blackhat optimization's stain on the SEO industry. I would suggest that all marketing departments research optimization techniques and educate themselves on what techniques are unethical. No SEO company is going to say they do unethical optimization. It's also not a good idea to immediately trust a company or product based simply on their rankings. Unethical optimization DOES provide rankings...just not for the long run.

It would also be helpful if the major search engines would be more open and accessible to SEO companies. Currently, the major search engines and SEO companies do not deal with each other and have formed a sort of love-hate relationship. Because of this, many ethical SEOs have slowly moved into dark territory. Ethical optimization seeks to make sites more easily accessible to the engines and help to improve the engine's search results. The problem is that the search engines mainly clump all SEO companies together the same way as uninformed users do: search engine manipulation. This is just not the case. Search engines do not want to reveal what they consider unethical because it would basically be providing a list of holes in their algorithms that blackhat SEOs would be able to manipulate further, but a defined list of 'what not to do' would provide a definitive list for businesses looking for an SEO company.

Basic Rules of Ethical Optimization

Any campaign that does not abide by the following rules is dealing in unethical optimization techniques and should be avoided.

1.) What the user sees and what the search engine sees should be exactly the same. Do not hide anything.

2.) Your keywords (and the resulting optimization) should exactly reflect the content of the page.Keywords should always reflect what your site is about.

3.) Do not build out pages exclusively for search engines. The site should always cater to both audiences (users and search engines). Catering to only users is why optimization is necessary. Catering only to search engines is optimization gone too far into blackhat.

4.) Do not participate in manipulative inbound linking schemes like link farms, bulk links, triangle linking, or any other unethical manipulation of your Google PageRank or link authority. Inbound links should be relevant to the content of your site and you should always know who is linking to you and where your links come from.

Problem 3: Assembly Line / Software SEO

With the growth of the SEO industry has also come the automation of SEO. The absolute first thing any prospective SEO client should know is that all effective SEO campaigns are custom. There is no checklist of items that will work exactly the same on every site. If the SEO company claims there is, then they are not doing full optimization and the campaign is minimal. A good optimization campaign optimizes the site architecture, text content, and code of the site. Assembly line SEO does not take into consideration the unique needs/design of the site and may even deal in blackhat optimization. SEO software especially should be looked at closely. There are really only two things SEO software could do that would work for any site: doorway pages (showing engines one thing and users a different thing; which is unethical) or a system of pages build exclusively for search engines (often called info or information pages and linked in an out of the way part of the page). Doorway pages are 100% unethical and info pages are deep in the gray area. Neither of those two methods address the architecture of the site, proper keyword analysis, or effective text content. The following links are examples of automated SEO software freely available on the Web. All links contain 'nofollow' to prevent the sites from getting inbound link credit from our site. These sites are NOT recommended by TreeHouse SEM.

　

　

'SEO Software' may be cheap and affordable, but you get what you pay for. Any campaign that is going to slap on additional pages are simply sell you links is NOT an effective SEO campaign. Any SEO effort that simply has you add a few 'optimized' pages to your site is not going to be optimal. If you wanted to convert a street car into a race car, you don't simply add racing strips to it. Don't think that dumping a few pages on your site targeted to some random keywords is the same as a real SEO campaign.

If your SEO company will not sit down and talk about the layout, architecture, and aim of your site, then it is not providing a top-end service. Remember that the vast majority of 'SEO software' either is for building doorway/landing pages or simply providing you with data about your site (data that is already free to everyone on the Web). Good SEO campaigns take into account both the user and the search engines...not one or the other. An SEO company should have a commanding understanding of user experience and search engine optimization and use these in combination to create a campaign that will provide the best ROI. The end goal should always be leads/sales. Bringing in piles of non-targeted traffic often leads to extremely high turn over rates and very low lead conversion.

Conclusion

Do your research. Find out what you want from an optimization campaign and then ask the right questions. Make sure that the sales representative you talk to knows what they are selling. If they do not, they are definitely not the person to get information from. A lot of SEO companies use hard sale tactics and the reps are less than knowledgeable about what they are selling. Ask the following questions and see what they have to say.

1.) How do you assess keywords? If an SEO company simply optimizes for whatever keywords are sent to them by the client, the SEO campaign starts off on very shaky ground. Keyword analysis should be performed that takes into account the number of searches in all the major search engines and the relative competition for those terms. The site should also be compared to the keywords to see if they support each other.

2.) Do you plan on building out pages specifically to house keywords? Landing pages and doorway pages are not effective long term SEO options. SEO companies like them because they do not have to touch the rest of the site and it's very easy to simply add band aids instead of performing surgery.

3.) Will my SEO campaign also help improve the user experience of the site? Proper architecture and usability goes hand in hand with SEO and helps increase ROI. You should want to bring in new traffic and convert it.

4.) Does my revenue model affect my keyword selection and the optimization as a whole? Any SEO company that does not optimize based on the target audience is NOT providing the most effective campaign. An ecommerce site marketing to comparative shoppers will want to optimize heavily for product names and model numbers. An online magazine wanting to bring in recurring traffic will want to optimize for article topics and specific themes. Local companies will want to optimize for geo-targeted keywords.

5.) I want to optimize my site, but do not want to change any of the existing content or layout...how would you go about this? Any SEO company that says they will simply add on landing pages or hide text is selling blackhat. This goes back to the earlier analogy. You are really saying that you have a car that you want to modify to be very fast, but do not want to modify the engine and the mechanic simply adds racking stripes and charges you full price.

Thank you for reading TreeHouse SEM articles. If you would like to know more about any of these topics, feel free to contact us.

About the Author: Steve comes from a rich Web background where he has worked on the design, development, and marketing aspects of hundreds of Web sites. Formerly from Mississippi where he attended Ole Miss, Steve moved to San Diego to pursue further challenges in the Web marketing arena.

To compete in the rapidly growing marketplace of SEM, Treehouse immediately set itself apart by placing Chief Technology Officer DeVries at the helm, who is one of the most coveted experts in the industry today. DeVries was previously a lead technical consultant at a competing local firm, achieving top rankings for major clients such as Entrepreneur, Vegas.com, Viacom, Workopolis, and Ziff Davis Media. DeVries' experience has brought him much industry attention and placed him in high demand as a speaker at industry events by those looking to pick his brain

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization, which is also known as SEO, is the process of increasing the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via organic or search results. The higher your company's website ranks on Search Engine Result Page (SERP), the more searchers will visit your site.

As a marketing strategy for increasing site's relevance, SEO consultants consider how search algorithms work and what people search for. A SEO process may involve a site's coding and structure, content and copywriting, site presentation, as well as fixing other problems that will prevent search engines from indexing your company website. If your company's website is not indexed by search engines, there will be no chance at all for your site to get high visibility rankings on search engines. Therefore, it is extremely important for businesses to take note of SEO and make sure that their websites are properly indexed by search engines.

The term "SEO" can also refer to "Search Engine Optimizer". This is an industry term that refers to agencies and consultants that carry out search engine optimization process on behalf of their clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Every agency and consultant has their own SEO methodology; therefore they may use different methods to achieve high organic rankings for websites. In most cases, in order to have effective SEO, it may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics will be incorporated into website development and design. That is why almost all credible SEO agencies and consultants will first look at the design and back-end architecture of a website before starting any SEO process. This will ensure that SEO is carried out effectively.

Search Engine Optimization as a Marketing Strategy for Businesses

So how should businesses use SEO as a marketing strategy? The primary objective of implementing SEO to a company's website is to drive targeted traffic to it. Eye tracking studies have shown that searchers scan a search result from top to bottom and left to right, looking for relevant results. Therefore, if your site is near the top of organic listings rankings (organic listings refer to the web results that are listed on the left hand side of the SERP), it will most likely increases the number of searchers who will visit your site.

A successful online marketing campaign may usually involve SEO, but it also consists of the use of paid advertising on search engines, building high quality websites to engage and persuade site visitors take action either through enquiries or online sales, setting up analytic programs to allow site owners to measure their successes and improving a site's conversion rate.

Benefits of SEO for Businesses

Businesses can benefit from SEO in a lot of ways, be it to increase brand awareness, get sales leads or increase sales revenue. The following is a list of benefits that businesses can get from SEO:

o Get more targeted traffic. SEO can increase the number of visitors to your site who are actively searching for your product or service.

o Increase brand awareness. SEO can give your brand a high international profile. You can also use SEO to create brand awareness for any new service or product by optimizing related product/service key phrases to rank higher on search engines.

o Marketing your brand 24/7. With SEO, your website will get exposure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - without stopping.

o Higher sales. As SEO brings you targeted traffic, it can mean increased sales of your product or service.

o Long term positioning. Once a properly optimized & designed site is in place, rankings on organic listings should be consistent whereas the cost for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising is ongoing.

o More value for dollars. Once your company's website has achieved high organic rankings for various key phrases, you will not have to pay for each visit. Whereas for PPC Advertising, to enjoy high ranking visibility on search engines, you need to pay for each click or visit to your site.

However, to make sure that you have a successful SEO implementation, you need to make sure that your dedicated SEO agency abides to the guidelines of search engine when optimizing your site...

White Hat SEO VS Black Hat SEO

When it comes to SEO, there are 2 schools of thoughts - White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO. White hat SEO is techniques that search engines recommend as good practice and black hat SEO is those techniques that search engines do not approve of. For SEO consultants who practise white hat SEO, they tend to produce results that last a long time. Black hat SEO techniques may get a website to rank well initially, but the site will eventually be banned either temporary or permanently once search engines discover what they are doing.

So it is very important for you to know the best practices in the SEO industry and make sure that the SEO agency that is handling your account uses techniques that conform to the search engines' guidelines and involves no deception.

White hat technique is generally summed up as creating content for users, not the search engines. The content that is created should be easily accessible to search engine spiders, rather than intending to trick the algorithms from its intended purpose. So, the general rule of thumb is to stay on the safe side by creating content that is relevant to your target audience. Search engines value relevancy - they will definitely want to rank a site higher their organic listings if the content on the site is what searchers are looking for.

Black hat technique usually involves techniques that attempt to improve rankings that are disapproved by search engines, or involve deception. One common black hat technique is to use hidden text, either as text coloured similar to the background of the website, or positioned off-screen. Another common technique known as cloaking is to load a different page depending on whether the page is accessed by a human or a search engine spider.

Search engines will penalize sites which use black hat techniques, either by reducing their organic rankings or even eliminating them from their database completely. This is a very costly mistake on the business point of view as you will lose out a lot of grounds as your competitors are enjoying free organic traffic from search engines due to their high rankings for major key phrases. One infamous example was in February 2006, whereby Google removed BMW Germany from its database for use of black hat methods. However, the company has quickly apologised and cleaned up the offending pages and were eventually restored to Google's database.

Therefore, it is very important to make sure that your SEO agency is moving away from black hat methods. You will not want to be blacklisted by search engines which will translate into loss in sales and profits.

Keyword Research - The Key Factor to Successful SEO Implementation

Major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN Live and AOL get a lot of searches every day. Before you implement SEO to your website, you must know what key phrases or keywords your target audience is using to search for the product or service that you offer.

Whether you like it or not, there is a good chance that many people have never heard of your company. These people might be your customers, if only they can find you on search engines and buying from you. It is well accepted that building awareness is the first step to land a new customer. For example, when someone sees a TV advertisement about that new car, you hope that he or she is in the market for a car at the moment. However, relatively few people are in that situation at any one time. Majority of people who saw the TV advertisement have no interest in buying a car at the moment. But someday they will. So advertisers know that the messages - the model of the car and company name in their commercials will stick in viewers' minds, who might remember the message later when they are ready to buy a car. It is the same for SEO.

Searchers might not know that your company offers a particular product or service unless they see your site listed on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Unless they see your listings, they will not think of you. Most of the time, searchers looking for a product or service for the first time might not be aware of any specific company or brand name as they are just gathering information. However, according to a research done by search marketing consultancy iProspect, more than 55 percent of searchers expect to see big brands listed at the top of search results. The same study also shows that over 66 percent of searchers believe that sites that are listed at the top of search results are the top companies in their field. So can you imagine how this affects your company's brand awareness? If your company's website is not listed at the top of search results, they will not see your company as a "big brand" in their mind. Therefore, it is extremely important for you to optimize keywords or key phrases that your target prospects will use to find the product or service that you are offering.

So what types of keywords or key phrases should you choose? Businesses should target keywords that are relevant to the content of their websites. Basically, keywords can be categorized into 3 types, which are: "Too Hot Keywords", "Just Right Keywords", and "Too Cold Keywords". Too Hot keywords are single word search terms like "Aircon" and "Translation" which do not seem to be targeted enough to get conversions. These keywords usually bring in high search volume (which is naturally tempting to optimize) but the conversion may not be as ideal as targeting keywords which falls into the "Just Right" category. (For examples: Aircon Servicing, Translation Agency Singapore") By optimizing those "Just Right" keywords, businesses can get more targeted traffic to their websites and increase the chance of conversions.

Choosing the right keywords is the real beginning of any SEO effort. After you have determined the right set of keywords to target, you can start the work of search engine optimization.

Why do you need to outsource SEO?

SEO is a very time-consuming process as continual fine-tuning and monitoring need to be done. Therefore, it is advisable for you to hire a search engine optimization agency to plan out the optimization plan for your company.

A professional SEO agency will look at your site and make recommendations to increase your search engine ranking and website traffic. Once they start to optimize your website, they will provide recommendations and monitoring reports for you to know the progress of it.

Last but not least, in order to achieve successful optimization results, it is very important for your SEO agency to work closely with your website designer if you have your own IT department. This is because your company website needs to be both visually appealing and search engine friendly in order to achieve high organic rankings, as well as conversions.

　

　

SEO PowerSuite is a package which can help you with each factor of SEO to enable you to improve the search results overall performance of one's web site. This particular SEO PowerSuite review provides you with an in depth information with the benefits and features provided by SEO PowerSuite.

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About SEO

Search engine optimisation is the scientific disciplines and art a part of ensuring that your site charges highly inside search engine results pages (Search engines) for that given question. It is absolutely vital, which is a brand new well-known fact that your clientele who transform greatest are the ones which come across your site on a normal internet search engine issue. This can be called "organic visitors.Inch In spite of your purpose inside wanting a great deal of website visitors for your site and even blog, you need to you should remember the best viewers tend to be organic search motor website visitors. The beauty of SEO is the fact once your site and even blog benefits ground, the benefit the idea purchased from the search engine optimisation surgery is pretty much long term. Employing advertising, you need to preserve paying for your website website visitors; with search engine marketing, you get more and more targeted traffic plus it gets increasingly less expensive because website's standing increases.

This is where SEO PowerSuite also comes in: SEO PowerSuite will offer a huge improve to get a search engine optimization functions.

SEO PowerSuite Features

SEO PowerSuite adopts any four-pronged technique of SEO and consequently consists of four unique programs: Rank Tracker, Website Auditor, SEO Spyglass and Link Assistant. They have got chose to make this bundle to pay almost all expert SEO requirements however they furthermore market the particular every software application independently.

-------Website Auditor

Website Auditor will be the 2nd system involving SEO PowerSuite. That works a detailed study of your respective website's information to find out how search-engine-friendly it can be. Amongst other things, Website Auditor will explain regarding key phrase occurrence as well as other SEO-related info that will assist you along with on-page optimisation.

In addition, Website Auditor will certainly conduct exactly the same evaluation to your top ten rivals, to enable you to deliver your current site's content material up to date together with your rivals regarding SEO. One of many strategies of SEO is to assess precisely why and how your rivals are performing properly after which accomplish exactly the same issue however better. SEO PowerSuite is an very helpful tool through this kind of SEO strategy.

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---------SEO Spyglass

The 3rd Factor towards the SEO PowerSuite

Another portion of SEO PowerSuite is actually SEO Spyglass. This particular computer software may perform potent evaluation associated with just how the competition are executing so effectively inside search engines. SEO Spyglass will quickly realize out how many back-links every single competitor gives, that websites web address to the present competitor in addition to, most importantly, exactly what anchor-text these back links employ. The actual anchor-text from the hyperlink is only the words and phrases that make up the link. Anchortext is vital exploring serp optimization, because Google and other search engines use anchor text to decide precisely what the target page is just about. This is why links her or his anchor text is "click here" won't be as helpful due to the fact those that have directly suitable anchor text. SEO Spyglass will give you all of this information about your competitors and more. In this way you'll comprehend specifically what to do to connect and also outrank your current web opponents.

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-----------Rank System

Performance involving Rank Tracker...

Rank Tracker features a detailed investigation related to how your site is executing in the search engines much like yahoo. It works a totally automated evaluation that can save you a whole lot regarding moment. If you have ever accomplished your own personal search engine optimization, you should understand that the essential job should be to perform worries looking engines on the key phrases and see exactly how nicely your posts as well as other web pages do. When your website is just not undertaking too within the engines like google, this exercises are shateringly tedious, once you should find your site listed far from best, and manually researching all those position seeking results pages is to be sincere a waste of time when you're able to avoid it. SEO PowerSuite's Rank Tracker might all of this for you. In this way you know how you are doing and likewise, more importantly, once SEO PowerSuite really starts to produce that it is SEO most recent results for your web site, Rank Tracker will reveal precisely how your search serp standing is actually bettering.

The opposite valuable function involving Rank Tracker is always that it is going to warn anyone associated with any worthwhile keyword phrases that you may have have missed. In this way you can develop search-engine-optimized information specifically for these key terms and then employ SEO PowerSuite's functions to ensure that those same pages achieve the search engines.

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--------Link Assistant

The past Element in the actual SEO Pack

The fourth application inside of SEO PowerSuite is Link Assistant. Link Assistant will assist one to along with your link-building campaign. SEO Spyglass will certainly advise you what you should do regarding link-building; Link Assistant help you you to carry out that will tactic. A major portion of making reciprocal back links has a stylish website link service on your own site. That's where you can place back links that you should websites which will web address back to you. Certainly these kind of pages should appear popular with the possible spouse, or else they shall be not wanting to trade back-links with you. Link Assistant may wonderfully integrate the appearance and also feel of their back-links page with your web site so that it looks custom-made.

Far more generally, Link Assistant will help you as well as keeping track of all the internet owners you e-mailed, and in addition will keep close a record of your hyperlink pets to make sure that they're not playing unethical conduct as an illustration sneaking the "rel=nofollow" draw on their own backlinks internet, which usually in essence explains to find applications not to help make backlinks seriously. Venture effectively in the search engines like yahoo will take many back links, along with Link Assistant will help you Initial acquire and then keep close track of individuals back links.

Get yourself a building links campaigns in focus on and check out this specific Link Assistant Review for more information.

SEO PowerSuite Review: Conclusion

SEO PowerSuite has a variety of programs that may drastically boost your SEO attempts: Rank Tracker, Website Auditor, SEO Spyglass along with Link Assistant. These a number of purposes form a very total and incredibly effective combination that can help you want, create and apply a whole new devastatingly efficient SEO strategy to enable you to compensate for and hereafter outshine the competitors inside the engines like Google. The manufacturers involving SEO PowerSuite are usually totally self-assured of their item: in just 30 days of getting SEO PowerSuite, if you're dissatisfied using its potential to improve your current SEO method, you will be granted the full repayment without any hassle.

Ideally a person found this unique SEO PowerSuite review beneficial. If you are an SEO PowerSuite customer, make sure you consider submitting your individual review in the Guestbook down the page. Many thanks so much, and have fun with your on the web undertakings!

　

　

Internet Marketing is growing by the day. In such a situation, it is not enough for a business to have just a website. It is important for this website to be visible to the users and appear in search results when users search for related keywords. With so many companies and websites selling the same products or services as your business, how do you make sure that you get noticed and get more business?

This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into picture. Many companies are incorporating SEO into their marketing strategies. This raises one more question. Is In-House SEO better or should you Outsource the SEO of your website to an agency? What are the pros and cons of getting the SEO of your website done In-House as compared to outsourcing your SEO needs? Both In-House SEO and Outsourcing SEO have its pros and cons. Each company needs to look into both these models and then decide based on their needs.

Pros of In-House SEO

1. An In-House SEO expert will know your business well and hence will understand the nuances of company and its challenges as well.

2. Doing your SEO In-House gives you complete control over the strategies and their execution. The SEO expert can be contacted immediately for any changes since he sits in the same office as the other members of the company.

3. The In-House SEO expert works only on your website and not on any other websites. This means that the expert can give full attention to your site and can work on improving the rankings of your website.

4. Sometimes In-House SEO is lesser expensive that Outsourced SEO agencies.

In-House SEO Cons

1. SEO is a rapidly changing field. The algorithms of search engines keep changing. One needs to always be updated with the changes. The skills in SEO also keep changing. If you decide to do the SEO of your site In-House, then you need to spend time and sometimes money to learn the new aspects of SEO and keep yourself updated with the changes.

2. It may be time consuming if you have to keep up to the trends of the business. And it is important to keep with the trends of the business if you choose to do your SEO In-House. You will also have to pay attention to the overall marketing of your website and may not find the time to update yourself with the latest in SEO. This can result in outdated SEO practices which can further affect your sites ranking.

3. SEO requires a number of tools. If you choose to do your SEO In-House, then you need to buy these tools. This can be very expensive. Just having these tools is not enough. You also need to learn how to use them which can further take up a lot of your time.

Outsourced SEO Pros

1. The biggest advantage of outsourcing your SEO needs to an agency is that you get the expertise of an entire team of SEO experts who will work on your website. Since, it is a team that only works on SEO projects, they will be up to date with the latest trends in business and hence you do not have to spend time or money in getting yourself familiar with these trends. The team will create SEO strategies for your business keeping these trends in mind.

2. SEO agencies work with a large number of clients. The advantage of this is that they have the experience of working on different kinds of businesses and understand their needs better. This wide perspective can be a big advantage in getting visibility on the web.

3. If you outsource SEO to an agency, you don't have to spend time, effort and money on hiring an In-House SEO team, training and tools.

4. The outsourced SEO agency will not be affected by the pressures of other aspects of marketing your business and can concentrate only on the SEO of your website.

5. Outsourcing SEO means faster execution of tasks since you get a team of people working on your website as opposed to one or two in-house experts.

Outsourced SEO Cons

1. Outsourcing SEO may require you to sometimes invest a little more money than you would if you were to do the SEO of your website in-house by yourself.

2. If you outsource the SEO of your website to an agency, then they would need sometime to get to know your business and the way you work. This would take up sometime till the agency gets used to working with your company.

3. Since the agency will be handling more than just your website, you cannot be sure of the time and focus that the agency will be giving your website. You may have to constantly keep checking on the work done and on the progress of your site.

4. Some of the SEO agencies may use cheap tool based SEO or black hat SEO techniques to get the results that they promise their clients. You may have to be involved with the agency's work to make sure such techniques are not being used for your website.

　

　

Professional SEO services can lift your site above your competitors. According to SEO experts, they help business owners deliver their sites to top rank search engines. They ensure that the site has a unique setting that attracts Internet users. Search engine optimization experts apply the newest analytics service, which has a positive impact on a website. SEO companies are facing great competition in the SEO field. However, they introduce guaranteed SEO services to cope with the competition.

However, guaranteed SEO services include the 100% money refund because the website may not be ranked with top search engines like Google and Yahoo, and they refund the money. Therefore, the SEO companies ensure the clients that the money refund will be done, since the search engine optimization experts are not sure whether the site will be ranked with the top search engines.

These SEO companies have a strategy requiring clients to pay the major search engines (including Google and Yahoo) for monthly website maintenance. However, the company has guaranteed SEO services, where clients do not pay maintenance for that month.

Google has remained top, since they have accurate methods and algorithms that deliver credible results to the searchers. However, Google has made it difficult for web developers to use optimization tricks in manipulating search engines. This is why SEO companies have the guaranteed SEO money refund.

SEO companies ensure that guaranteed SEO services include the Google's webmaster guidelines. Webmaster guidelines boost website rank and search activity. The services clients get from SEO experts are like marathons. However, clients should be aware that SEO tricks can have a great impact on a website and damage it-which is why they have to use the legitimate SEO strategies in order to receive impressive results.

Although one may read a lot about the search engine ranking, no search engine optimization company can ensure that his or her site will get the first page in Google or Yahoo search engine results. Despite this, SEO companies have guaranteed SEO services and it is great when one signs with Google. The fact remains that SEO services assure clients that even if the site will not rank among the top search engines, the money will not be a waste because of the refund.

Many webmasters are confused when hiring a search engine optimization SEO expert. Although SEO experts are believed to save time and improve webmaster sites through SEO strategies, they can also frustrate webmasters. Thus, webmasters must investigate the pros and cons of SEO services. The major tasks of the SEO experts are:

- Ensure that the site is well reviewed in the content or structure

- Provide Search engine optimization SEO advice on website development like use of JavaScript and web hosting

- Develop website content using SEO services

- Provide online business improvement campaigns

- Target keyword research

- Offer SEO training

However, the webmasters can grasp search engine optimization SEO through websites. They will understand the benefits of hiring an SEO expert and what to expect from one.

It is clear that when webmasters hire a Search engine optimization SEO expert, they stand a better chance of maximizing their SEO services. When they want to start a new site it is good to look for web developers who have web design talent. The web developer will ensure that a webmaster's site reaches the top search engine ranking like Google or Yahoo. The web developer also assists in improving an existing site.

However, webmasters have to ask several questions about search engine optimization SEO including:

1. Do they have previous examples and testimonies from past clients?

2. Do they follow the guidelines from the Google webmaster?

3. Do they implement the SEO Internet marketing services to improve online business?

4. Do they have experience in the webmaster's industry?

5. Do they have knowledge of the webmaster's country/city?

6. Do they have experience in developing sites for international companies?

7. What are the best SEO techniques to implement on the webmaster's site?

8. How long has the SEO expert been in web design?

9. Does the SEO expert have good communication skills when making changes on the client's site?

Although the SEO experts provide great SEO services to their clients, there are a few who ruin the web design industry through their greed in marketing efforts and manipulate search engine rank. If search engine optimization SEO does not involve ethical practices, the site may have low visibility on Google or even be removed from the Google index.

SEO and social media marketing ensure that one's site has the best SEO Internet marketing, which means that their company can remain competitive in the online market. All the individual has to do is transition in their online business.

SEO Internet marketing has major components, which develop the website traffic, and top search engine rankings. However, webmasters should be aware that these components are not easy to get. They must apply formulas and SEO strategies to produce effective results. There are many websites providing pertinent information about SEO and online marketing, and you can learn from them.

If one's business does not have SEO Internet marketing strategies, he or she will need help from SEO experts. They will have to find SEO expert websites, who will help the business owner's site have many customers in online marketing. The obligation of SEO experts is to create exposure to businesses. They focus on SEO Internet marketing goals and provide top search engine rank like Google and Yahoo. However, to accomplish all this, web developers use SEO custom services, which have long-lasting SEO Google rank.

SEO companies ensure that your site has all the SEO Internet marketing such as business improvement, localized product sales, high quality online generation and the rest. Webmasters are guaranteed to remain competitive in the online business if they stick with SEO experts. They will have all they need to ensure business success.

Business owners who do have a business website lose massive amounts of money from online marketing. They should know that SEO Internet marketing mandates a business website, since it is a necessary online marketing tool. A website or blog is same as news ads, letterheads, or the yellow pages. However, the website must be user-friendly and just as advertisement is important, the SEO website is the same.

It is true that 44% of small businesses do not have a website or blog. They are unable to reach 73% of Internet users each day. If your company has a website, customers can research the latest products the business owner's company offers. SEO Internet marketing can help any company through their site to sell products. All businesses should have their own website, including companies using websites provided by insurance.

　

　

If your business has any online components (such as a website), then SEO is crucial to the ongoing success of your business. You may have the most expensive website in your industry, but without web traffic (visitors) to that website, it is essentially useless. It is not just traffic that you need, but targeted traffic. A good quality SEO service can provide relevant, consistent web traffic to your website(s). This guide will allow you, as a non-expert, to distinguish between good and bad SEO providers. There are many of both kinds, this guide should help you to find the good ones.

SEO needs to be implemented in a way that is effective in achieving your SEO goals and providing that all important meaningful presence on the World Wide Web.

Quality SEO is a crucial investment when it comes to developing successful expansion and growth strategies.

Ineffective SEO implementation, renders your SEO efforts wholly ineffective and a waste of your money.

6 things you need to know and understand before hiring an SEO provider:

1) Hiring an SEO provider should be seen as an investment in your business. You should not view it as a business expense, but rather a business strategy and an effective way of enhancing your business presence within your business sector. Try not to begin your search with the intention of "buying some SEO". Hiring an SEO provider should be viewed rather as hiring an employee that understands and cares about your business and its online objectives.

2) The first page of Google (or any search engine) is everything. Few people ever go to the second page of the search results anymore. Google is so good at being a search engine that people blindly trust Google's ability to deliver the most relevant results on the first page. Think about how often you click through to the second page. This means that if your business is not on the first page, it's almost as good as nowhere. The top positions on page one get the most clicks, which decrease as you progress downwards on the page.

3) The 'big' keywords are not everything. It is better to be on the first page for a few smaller keywords, than try to rank for bigger keywords and not be on the first page at all. For example, an accountancy business in Preston may not rank for the highly competitive keyword 'accountant' (unless they have a lot of SEO budget and time to wait for rankings); but the same business could conceivably rank highly for the keyword 'chartered accountant Preston'. A good SEO provider should research the keywords that your business could realistically rank on page one for and also keywords that have enough search volume to be worthwhile for your business to try ranking for.

4) SEO is all about beating your competition. There is no guarantee from the search engines to say you will be on the first page of Google if you do certain things. Put simply, SEO works like this:

The search engines have their conventions; websites that conform by giving the search engines what they want, will find themselves achieving better search engine rankings. The only thing standing between you and the top spots in the search rankings is your competition. Not your actual business competitors, but your online competitors. The websites that currently have the top spots in the search engines for your desired keywords are your online competition, and you need to beat them out of those top spots. Some keywords will be easy to rank for, others will be more difficult. It is only your online competition that dictates which will be the case for each individual keyword. A good SEO provider will research the competition for each of your keywords. Then, after the most effective keywords for your business sector have been identified they should be implemented in accordance with point number three above.

5) On-page and Off-page SEO.

Search engine optimisation is a complex and ever-evolving science, but in order to intelligently interview a prospective SEO provider you need to understand that there are two main types of SEO.

On-page SEO relates to the factors on your website that affect your SEO (keywords, usability, page headings, outbound links, internal links, etc.).

Off-page SEO are the factors that relate directly to matters outside of your website that affect the SEO of the website, such as back links, citations, social sharing, etc.

SEO providers can work on your off-page SEO fairly easily, but if you are not willing to change on-page SEO, according to their recommendations, you cannot blame them for lack of results. A good SEO provider will review your website and report back about your on-page SEO, and how it can be improved. You should have your web designer make the adjustments.(Remember he is the expert in this field)

6) An increase in search engine ranking is not necessarily an increase in leads and sales. All your SEO provider can do is get your website, videos, Google Places, articles, blog posts, etc. further up the search engine results. They cannot guarantee an increase in sales or leads, because that factor is determined by your own sales funnel. It is not the SEO provider's job to make sure that the extra web traffic you receive will convert to more leads or sales. Your website needs to convert those visitors with good marketing, which is an issue for your marketing consultant to deal with.

The key differences between 'good' and 'bad' SEO providers:

Good SEO Providers

Good SEO providers know and understand the points mentioned above. You can judge this by their answers to the questions provided later in my next article.

Good SEO providers want to build a solid foundation and a proper SEO plan for your business, with extensive initial keyword and market (competitor) research. They will often insist upon it, even if the prospective client does not see the need. Sometimes a good SEO provider will refuse to work with a client that does not want the important groundwork to be done, because they know that without it they will not be likely to provide the client with the results that they want. A good SEO provider will want to provide their client with results as their first priority. Often a client will say "but I've already done the keyword research myself". Many potential clients sit down for 5 or 10 minutes to write out all the keywords that they think are relevant to their business, and then think that they have now done all the keyword research that is needed. Real keyword research is a lengthy, investigative process.

Good SEO providers use responsible SEO methods, such as paying more attention to on-page SEO, securing quality back links, improving citations, aiding social sharing, ensuring a good user experience, etc.

Bad SEO Providers

Bad SEO providers will want to take their clients' money as their first priority. They will not conduct proper keyword and market research, but will say, for example, "what are your three keywords and your URL that you want to rank for". If this happens (as it often does) you can be sure they are simply plugging your website into software to get irrelevant back links all over the internet, using spam blog comments, link farms and other means. In many cases this approach is ineffective because the URL, or domain, may not match the client's desired keywords. This can also damage the reputation and, ironically, the long-term SEO and credibility of the website.

Bad SEO providers use bad quality SEO methods (Sometimes referred to as Black-hat methods), Utilising these methods can have an extremely detrimental effect on how your website is perceived by search engines. This in turn may result in your website being (Sand boxed). Needless to say this is extremely undesirable, as damage such as this is extremely difficult to reverse.

Ensure you get the specialist SEO who knows how best to highlight the attributes of your company and can draw attention to your products and your services in a way that really makes your business stand-out on the worldwide web.

SEO and webdesign It is extremely important to have a website that reflects your company ethics and personifies the company ethos as closely as possible, after all; this is about you, your company and the products and services that you wish to put on display. Good quality SEO ensuring a good user experience.

　

　

What Is SEO?

This is a common question that most people especially those who are either new or not familiar with online marketing might be asking. SEO stands for search engine optimization. In layman's language, it the process of capturing traffic from the search engines such as Google listings. Through this read, I am going to give you facts about the SEO business, current market status of SEO as well as the future projections in this field.

The Major SEO Players

Like any other industry in the world, the online SEO business has its players. This includes SEO local tools providers such as small digital agencies, SEO free lancers and web-designers among others.

Returns for SEO Players

The major reason as to why people get into business is to profit and expand their economic status. In the field of SEO business, the rates of returns are promising. This is because a recent research on SEO returns for a period of 12 months shows that at least all the players had something to take home. However, the returns are varying depending on a players' hardwork and skills in the field. For example, according to this research, 34% of the interviewed SEOs said they received an amount less than $ 30,000 while another group of respondents, 17% said they received returns that were above $ 500,000.

From the above statistics, it is evident that the size of an organization played a role in the determination of the amount of returns received. It beats logic for one to expect a large organization to receive low amounts of returns and vice versa. In addition, the presence of part time SEOs as well as the entry of newbies into the market could have let to the low rates of turnover due to low operation capacity. However, it is hard to predict the course the SEO market is likely to take due to lack of clear shift in SEO earnings since the year 2011. However, the demand for local SEO services seems to be growing day in day out and this is attracting more players thereby tightening the competition among SEO service providers.

The Emerging Issues with the Current SEO Returns

With the above distribution of returns, several questions emerge. This includes the following:

• From the statistics, a large percentage of SEOs receive a low income something that suggests low pricing of SEO services.

• It is also possible that small and medium businesses do not understand the value of SEO services provided to them.

• The low SEO income earners, those who received less than $ 30,000 annual returns are also being doubted if they can provide quality services while earning that low.

• It is also unknown if most SEOs will still be in operation if their income remains static.

The Current SEOs Income Per Customer

Just like the annual SEO returns, SEO income per customer also varies. This is because there are those clients who would pay less than $100 a month while others will pay more than $5000 a month. This variation in income per client can be attributed to the type of services provided as well as the depth of services. The size of business a client is seeking SEO services for also play a role in determining the amount to be charged. For example, small businesses are charged less simply because their requirements are much smaller as compared to large multi-location franchise businesses.

Research also shows that some SEO service providers operate on high volume basis. Such SEOs provide simple SEO services at very low monthly rates. As a result, such SEO service providers end up having a high customer churn with a large dedicated network of sales team.

Similarly, some SEO service providers provide services that are more comprehensive in a much more professional manner customized according to the client thereby leading to a low number of clients.

Due to the above statistics, it therefore becomes essential for any SEO service provider in the current market to operate in a manner that matches his/her setup.

Handling Capacity of the Modern SEOs

Currently, SEOs are handling more clients as compared to the previous years. Statistics show that about 40% of the SEOs in the market handle at least 11 clients while 23% SEOs handle at least 21 clients. Such large numbers of clients to handle lead to more audits to be done, lots of tasks, research, reports and even more calls from the clients to be attended to. The high numbers of clients also demand a high level of efficiency so that the clients can be assured of quality services.

Market Structure for Most SEOs

SEOs have been using several marketing techniques to promote their businesses. Offline marketing channels such as word of mouth has been cited by most SEOs as the most effective marketing technique. This can be attributed to the trust level, business reputation as well as relationships build during the offline campaigns.

Alongside offline marketing, SEOs also practice online marketing such as the use of LinkedIn and social media. However, most SEOs have cited LinkedIn as the best option as compared to the social networks because it is better placed for lead generation and networking.

Services Offered by SEOs

Majority of the SEO players offer onsite optimization with 91% of the SEOs practicing this. Google+ optimization has also a good number of SEOs practicing it as 86% claimed to be offering this service to their clients. For affiliate marketing, only a small percentage (11%) of SEOs are offering this service to their clients.

Other services offered by SEOs:

• Content creation/optimization

• Link building

• Citation building

• Social media marketing

• Website development

• PPC

• Mobile site development

• Video marketing and mobile marketing.

The most demanded service by SEO clients is onsite marketing, while the least demanded service is affiliate marketing. The other services are somehow averagely demanded. However, most small and medium businesses do not understand the opportunities that video and mobile marketing can unlock to them and therefore tend not to use these services. SEOs therefore need to educate their clients on these marketing channels so that they can go for them.

When asked about the online SEO services SEOs feel are effective, 82% of them said that the General search is the most effective for generating leads. Local search appears to be the second best after 62% of the respondents in an SEO survey voted in its favor. PPC is the 3rd with 53% while social media is the 4th with 26%. Daily deals appear to be an appealing to most SEOs because only 1% voted in favor of it.

Tedious SEO Tasks

55% of the current SEOs in the market find link building to be the most tedious and time-consuming work. Others, though 15% only believe that content writing is the most tedious and time consuming task among all the tasks they do. It therefore emerges that to the 55% who find link building tedious, this task is also boring to them.

Future Projections

This is an outline of what we expect in the near future as far as SEO business is of concern.

Expansion of SEO Businesses

Compared to the previous years, SEO businesses has been growing and expanding steadily. Most SEOs (about 93%) are not only optimistic about expanding their businesses, but are also expecting to grow their business. In what seems to be a determined move to grow their businesses, most SEOs (82%) are willing to recruit more staff members so as to realize their desired levels of growth.

The social media is also expected to grow and be more effective even than the local directories. This is because most SEOs believe that social media can perform better because of recommendations from friends. Mobile usage is also expected to grow further and become relevant for local businesses.

Upsurge of Confidence in SEO Business

Unlike other businesses, the SEO business is showing a positive growth of confidence among the players. Despite this being a dynamic and innovative industry, most SEOs are still willing to recruit more staff to help drive their businesses ahead. 84% of the sampled SEOs in the SEO research are also optimistic that the SEO business is going to be more profitable starting this year 2013.

Confidence is also running high that if the SEO players increase the understanding of SEO/social among the business owners they serve in future, they will not only increase the business owners' rate of investment, but also make them transfer their marketing budgets from other channels to the digital channels.

　

　

We are often asked if professional SEO (search engine optimization) can be done effectively utilizing in-house talent. Despite our obvious self-interests on the subject, our answer is always a qualified "yes"- you can achieve professional SEO results using existing talent. However, for every company we have known that has met with great in-house SEO success, we know of many more that have seen their in-house efforts fail. We have also discovered the companies that have succeeded share some common traits.

If your company is considering doing SEO in-house, there are some critical questions that you should address before you proceed.

Do I have the proper resources at my disposal to achieve professional SEO results? Search engine optimization takes time, and your internal SEO expert will need to have a great deal of it at his or her disposal - especially at the project's outset when target audiences, keyphrases, and optimization schemes are first being established. Even after the initial optimization effort, the nature of SEO will require this person to spend ample time keeping up with industry trends, monitoring campaign progress, performing A/B testing, and expanding the campaign as new product and service areas are added. Perhaps even more important than time, achieving professional SEO results requires a unique set of aptitudes. The person responsible for your internal SEO initiative must possess the ability to learn quickly and to look at your website from a macro-perspective, marrying together the needs of sales, marketing, and IT. He or she can not be an aggressive risk taker, as this is often a surefire way to get your website penalized and potentially removed from the major search engines. These gifted people exist in many companies, but given the unique attributes that these individuals possess, their time is often already spent in other crucial areas of the business. Without enough time to invest in the project or the right type of person to execute it, an internal SEO initiative is likely doomed to fail.

Do I know which departments of my company should be involved, and will they work with an insider? As mentioned above, professional SEO, by necessity, involves marketing, sales, and IT. The SEO expert must work with marketing to find out what types of offers and initiatives are working offline to help translate them effectively online. He or she must work with sales to identify the types of leads that are most valuable so that you can target the right people in the keyphrase selection process. And, finally, your SEO expert will need to work with IT to determine any technical limitations to the SEO recommendations, learn of any past initiatives based on a technical approach, and get the final optimization schemes implemented on the website. Sadly, in many businesses, these departments have a somewhat adversarial relationship. However, it is the duty of the SEO expert to act as a project manager and coordinate the efforts of all three departments if you are going to get the most out of your campaign. No professional SEO project can be completed in a vacuum. For whatever reason, it is often easier for an outsider to get adversarial departments on the same page, in the same way that a marriage counselor might convince a woman of her undying love for her husband while the husband is still grimacing from a well-placed knee in the parking lot.

Will someone be held accountable for the results? This may seem like a small consideration, but it can have a tremendous impact on the success of the campaign. If you have added this responsibility to some poor soul's job description with the direction that he or she should "do the best you can," you'll be lucky to make any headway at all (especially if the person is not enthusiastic about SEO). Whether SEO is done in-house or outsourced, someone will have to take responsibility for showing progress, explaining setbacks, and continually improving results. Without this accountability, it is very common to see an initiative fade as the buck is passed.

Can I afford delayed results based on a learning curve? It's a reality - professional SEO expertise has a steep learning curve. While the information on how to perform the basics of optimization are freely available on the web, much of the information out there is also contradictory, and some of it is actually dangerous. It takes time for someone unfamiliar with the discipline to sort the SEO wheat from the SEO chaff (on a side note, a "quoted" search of Google reveals that this may actually mark the first occasion in human history that the phrase "SEO chaff" has been used - we're betting it's also the last). Simply put, if the person you are putting on the job has no experience, it will take longer to get results. This may not be a consideration if you aren't counting on new business from SEO any time soon. However, if you are losing business to your competition due to their professional SEO initiatives, time might be a larger factor.

Will it cost me less to do it in house than it would to choose a professional SEO firm? Often, companies will attempt this specialized discipline in-house in order to save money, and sometimes this works out as intended. However, accurate calculations of the cost of in-house labor that would be involved versus the price of the firm you would otherwise hire should be performed to make an accurate comparison. When making this calculation, also factor in the opportunity cost of the resource - the tasks that your in-house people are not able to perform because they are involved in SEO. In addition, if worse comes to worst and your in-house SEO expert is led astray by some of the more dangerous "how-to" guides available, it can cost even more to repair the damage than it would have to hire a professional SEO firm to perform the optimization from the outset. And an internal SEO campaign gone wrong can cost even more than the stated fee - websites that violate the terms of service of the major search engines (whether intentional or not) can be severely penalized or even removed, costing you a lot of lost revenue when potential customers can not find your website for a period of time.

Do I believe that the end result I'll get in-house will be equal to or greater than the results I would have gotten from a professional SEO firm? Search engine optimization can create huge sales opportunities, and slight increases in overall exposure can have not-so-slight increases in your bottom-line revenue. If you believe that your talented in-house resource will, given enough time, achieve results equal to or greater than those that could have been achieved by the professional SEO firm you might have chosen, it may make sense to do it internally. However, in addition to a better knowledge of industry trends, one clear advantage that search engine optimization firms have is the benefit of the experience and macro-perspective that comes from managing many different websites over time. Professional SEO firms can watch a wide range of sites on a continual basis to see what trends are working, what trends aren't, and what formerly recommended tactics are now actually hurting results. This macro-perspective allows professional SEO firms to test new tactics as they appear on a case-by-case basis and apply those results across a wide range of clients to determine what the benefit is. It is harder for an individual with access to only one site to perform enough testing and research to achieve optimum results all the time, something that should also factor into the equation.

Do I have at least a slight tolerance for risk? Neophytes to SEO can make mistakes that can lead to search engine penalization or removal. This happens most commonly when they have an IT background and treat SEO as a strictly technical exercise. We are often called in to assist companies who have had an internal initiative backfire, leaving them in a worse position than the one they were in before they started. The simple truth is that you cannot perform effective SEO without marrying your efforts to the visitor experience, but this is not something that is intuitively understood when people approach SEO for the first time. However, professional SEO firms are not perfect either. Some firms use those same optimization methods that violate the search engines' terms of service and can get your site penalized. So, if you do decide to outsource, educate yourself on SEO and do some research on the firm. Know the basics of the business, find out who the firm's clients are and how long they've been in business, and ask for professional references - just like you would do with any major business purchase.

If you have considered all of the above questions, and your answers to all seven are "yes," your company may be uniquely equipped to achieve professional SEO results in-house. If you answered "no" to any of the first three questions but "yes" to the rest, it does not necessarily mean that you can't perform SEO in-house - just that you may not be in a position to do so at this time. Taking the actions required to get you in the right position to answer in the affirmative might be worth your while. However, if you answered "no" to any of the last four questions, you may want to consider outsourcing the project to a professional SEO firm.

A professional SEO firm has the resources, the time, the expertise, and, most importantly, the experience, to launch an SEO initiative for your website that will have a positive effect on your bottom line. Whichever option you choose, it is important that you fully embrace the channel. A half-hearted initiative, whether done internally or outsourced, can be as ineffective as taking no action at all.

　

　

As their name suggests, website inspectors examine flaws in websites in order for clients to obtain higher search engine rankings. Website inspectors carry out full SEO (search engine optimization) evaluation of websites and report suggested changes that should be made in order to make a website more search engine friendly.

Website inspectors perform in-depth SEO website analysis of website HTML code, including META tags and Alt image tags, along with SEO analysis of website design, keyword text weight, download time and other SEO features. Website inspectors then produce a detailed SEO report consisting of manually generated META tags, alt tags and suggest other website alterations.

There are a number of differences between website inspectors and other SEO companies. Most SEO companies only evaluate and report on general website HTML code and limited website design features. By contrast, website inspectors will offer detailed evaluations and SEO reports of HTML code, and all aspects of website design from textual relevance to aesthetic design. Website inspectors will offer a comprehensive SEO report consisting of workable alterations that should be made to a website in order to significantly improve search engine rankings for the long-term. General SEO companies, by contrast, will only focus on what is wrong with a website without offering many good suggestions to improve search engine rankings.

Most general SEO companies will provide customers with "cookie cutter" style SEO reports. This is to say that the vast number of SEO companies will evaluate a website using automated, report generating software and send their client a print out of a generic SEO report. Such SEO reports will provide irrelevant information to the client's website and will not provide any solid suggestions as to alterations that should be made in order to improve search engine rankings. By contrast, a website inspectors company will treat each website as a unique piece of material. A good website inspectors SEO company will refrain from using any automated software to analyse a website or to generate an SEO report.

Promoting user-friendly SEO reports and ethical, 'white hat' SEO practices is key to the ethos of website inspectors SEO companies. All good website inspectors SEO companies will refrain from using the out-dated practice of automated website submissions. Most generic SEO companies continue to use automated submission software although they know by now that such software submits websites to unorthodox, unethical sources such as FFA pages and link farms. Top search engines regard submissions to such sources as 'spamming' and will ultimately result in websites being placed in the Google Sandbox for extensive periods of time, if not banned from search engine rankings entirely. Website inspectors SEO companies will only promote the ethical use of manual website submissions to discriminative sources.

Another consideration is that website inspectors SEO companies will alter their services to suit their client's needs. Good website inspectors SEO companies now offer on-site or on-page SEO website designs and SEO implementations in order to save clients a lot of time and hassle. Website inspectors offering on-site SEO website design will ask clients for access to website files in order to improve website features directly, so as to improve search engine rankings. Onsite SEO web design is a firm favourite of website inspectors clients who have limited website design and SEO implementation knowledge in order to promote their website in search engine rankings. Website inspectors SEO companies are seeing a great rise in clients opting for onsite SEO web design as they know that all onsite SEO web design implementations are performed by professionals who are well aware of effective and ethical SEO practices.

With all of these factors in mind, it is strongly recommended that clients seeking good SEO in order to improve website rankings look for website inspectors SEO companies if they wish to see long-term, positive search engine rankings. With comprehensive SEO reports and the option of onsite SEO web design at hand by SEO professionals, website inspectors are the way to go for anyone looking for strong and successful search engine rankings.

　

　

Search engine optimization is one of the most discussed and controversial topics on the internet today. Also, it is one of the most misunderstood topics.

In its basic form, search engine optimization (SEO) is act of altering a web site so that it does well in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines.

Now even this quick to the point definition of search engine optimization (SEO) can lead to spirited debates about the meaning and purpose of SEO.

So the question maybe asked, why is SEO such a popular and controversial topic that causes so much debate within the SEO community and the general internet population particularly website owners? In my humble opinion there are 6 reasons why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has the popularity that it currently enjoys.

1. Targeted Website Traffic - If you ask the vast majority of website owners and people within the SEO industry what is the most important factor to a successful website business and/or operation. A large percentage of the people will say website traffic and even more specifically targeted website traffic.

Currently on the internet, the largest resource for targeted website traffic on a continuous bases are search engines. On a yearly bases stats show that around 75% - 80% of all purchases made by individuals on the internet originally started as a result of a search at a search engine and the vast majority of people who visit websites usually come via way of a search engine. Numbers so dominate cannot be ignored even by the biggest opponents of search engine optimization. Moreover, because SEO is focused on optimizing websites for ranking success related to search engines, it is only natural that people would be interested in the field and practice of search engine optimization (SEO).

2. SEO Controversy - Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most controversial topics concerning internet website operations. The proponents of SEO can say that it provides a viable method for websites to be seen in search engines which is important for any website desiring traffic on the internet today.

However, opponents disgusted with SEO can also say that many websites achieve high search engine visibility without the use of SEO work and that SEO professionals only provide guess work high cost services that provide no assurances for search engine ranking success.

This situation, which has some merit concerning the arguments on both sides, generates heated debates between proponents of SEO and SEO opponents on a continuous bases which is fought out on a daily bases on forums, blogs, websites and newsletters across the internet along with exposure in magazines and on TV.

Simply put controversy produces attention and whether you like it or hate it, SEO really does provide a great deal of controversy. Moreover, as long as search engines play a dominant role in generating targeted website traffic, SEO will continue to be a popular topic.

3. Money - Search engine optimization is a multi million-dollar business. Search engines generate billions of dollars each year through advertising. Websites earn billions of dollars for their owners each year via using search engines either through paid advertisements or organic (free) listings in search results.

It is no wonder with billions of dollars on the table on a yearly bases that anything that can provide an individual or company a competitive edge in the ultra high pace internet world will be a hot topic for discussion and debate.

Moreover, through a combination of perception and reality that highlights search engine optimization as a key to increasing internet sales, search engine optimization is a very popular topic for decision makers within many companies which provides additional attention to SEO in the business world and beyond.

4. No Standard SEO Rules or Regulations - Search engine optimization (SEO) can be described as a modern version of the wild wild west. Basically almost anything can be said or done because there are no formal set standards for the industry as a whole.

Therefore, in a true sense, no one is really right or wrong concerning any thoughts, comments or decisions concerning SEO techniques and/or methods. Right or wrong is replaced by what is considered ethical by individuals and everyone has a unique set of ethics. What one person might consider unethical someone else might consider completely honest, well intended assistance. This is why you have labels such as white hat and black hat SEO within the SEO industry.

5. Search Engines - Search engine optimization was created as a by-product resulting from the development, utilization and popularity of search engines. Without search engines, there is no SEO industry in its current form and format.

As statistics on a yearly bases confirm, the majority of the targeted website traffic on the internet is generated directly or indirectly via search engines and a very high percentage of internet sales are directly linked to visitors coming from search engines looking for products and/or services.

With the dominant role that search engines play on the internet and the fact that the success of search engines depend on the ability to provide accurate and reliable search results to its visitors, successful search engines tend to develop an informal relationship with the SEO industry.

Whereby a certain amount of SEO work on websites tends to help search engines provide what its visitors are looking for which is top-notch search results.

For this reason, sometimes search engines will provide SEO information and SEO recommendations to its visitors directly on the search engines. This helps the SEO industry tremendously by placing the industry in the forefront of the main people that are interested in organic (free) search results which are the search engine users looking for something specific and the website owners who want to be found in the search engine results.

6. SEO Mystery - Almost no SEO professionals will explain what they do regarding SEO work in detail. Some will provide a little SEO information, which is mainly done as marketing efforts for the SEO professionals in forums, blogs and newsletters. Even the e-books and books that are sold only explain SEO in a general nature. Search engine optimization (SEO) is truly a mystery to the average website owner and/or people interested in organic search engine rankings.

This mystery produces a high level of interest regarding the SEO industry and helps feed the popularity of search engine optimization (SEO).

　

　

When you type the words "seo copywriting" into Google, thousands of articles and provider websites come up. But how many of them are truly useful? Is seo-friendly copywriting the standard ? Are all copywriters now seo-savvy? In truth, if you are looking for a professional seo copywriter, you're going to need to shop around.

There are thousands of seo optimization firms that masquerade as copywriters - which can put them in the lead as far as search engine saturation and rankings. SEO optimization indisputably brings in the traffic to your website. Without it, you'd be lost in the never ending ocean of websites. It's tempting to hire an seo firm to simply set up your keyworded content, submit your website, and let it go. This is a sad mistake for online businesses to make - once the traffic is delivered, they lose sales. A healthy dose of marketing awareness is the true goldmine when it comes to seo-savvy copywriting services.

Look at the work of some of the top seo optimization firms. Do it now. Google 'seo optimization'.

SEO firms tend to be rather wordy - they're pressing the limits of search engine ratios. They know that as an seo firm, their goal is to get a website into the top of the search engine results. Once they've done that, they've completed their job. They aren't there to write sales copy or think of a catchy, brand-building slogan. They are there to help you feed machines - not brains. Unfortunately, an seo firm just doesn't have the marketing savvy to create website content that draws in the essential components of marketing: emotional draw, a compelling message, and an irresistible offer.

Would you ask an seo optimization firm to write your print brochure? Help you plan a script for your tv commercial? Would you ask them to compile a media kit for potential investors? Of course not - that's not what they specialize in. SEO optimization companies specialize in communicating with search engines - not people.

If you are looking for the "sell factor" - that's where good copywriting comes in. A techie that knows how to blanket a website in keywords doesn't specialize in creativity and ingenuity. That's bad for you because those are the things that make your products stand out, increase your response rate, and drive sales. SEO optimization firms rely on keyword saturation - an often complicated algorithm that checks to see how many of your keywords are being read by Google. Keyword saturation is a great tool to tinker with search engine results - but it's not necessarily the tool you want to exploit when you're trying to persuade consumers to truly connect with what you're offering. (And connect with them in such a way that they come back for more.)

So, what do true seo copywriting services do for my website?SEO copywriters focus first on the message, then the translation to Google. They are expert translators that make a smooth transition from search engine language to customer-centric language. They write your copy with seo keywords in mind (a 2-7% keyword ratio, which is the standard) but they still add style and voice to what you're selling.

A good seo copywriter steers clear of cookie-cutter product descriptions but still manages to slip your keywords in there for Google and Yahoo to read. They know how to build your brand and your company image using professionally written, believable copy. They are the essential component of a true search engine marketing campaign - they give your company a voice that stands a cut above the rest.

Your website has a voice, and seo copywriting services should build a clear message

The voice of your company is the language on your website - all of the words, product descriptions, link hover text, and meta data that the search engines pick up and deliver - and humans end up reading. A seo copywriter will strike a balance between using keywords and promotional words effectively. They don't sacrifice quality for the sake of a higher saturation rate. They want copy that is exciting to read - and pulls sales. They want to keywords to simply be integrated into high-pulling content.

A good seo copywriter will know that headings and titles are just as important to the search engines as the people that visit. They know the importance of bold and bullets to make reading easier on the eyes for your computer-weary customers. They also know that Google finds it easier to read as well.

An seo copywriter is a hybrid of both creative ingenuity and tech-savvy - satisfying both search engines and the curiosity of your prospects. They want results that convert into high search engine results, as well as higher sales volume.

Evaluating seo copywriting services - is your copywriter an seo firm in disguise?

So, how do you know if you are truly working with an seo-savvy copywriting service? The easiest way to find out is to read their website. Many seo firms rely heavily on search engine statistics - even in their website copy - but don't let this alone scare you off. Statistics are how many seo firms see their end of the bargain - the results. Look at their portfolio. (If they don't have a portfolio or links to online work, run!) Read their website text to see if sounds like a person took time writing it - is there promotional language? A call to action? A clear list of benefits? Is the content persuasive? Are their articles useful and worth reading - or do they seem to grind out information in monotone?

What to look for when choosing a professional seo copywriter:Here are a few things to look for when you choose an seo writer, and why.

Does your seo copywriter have a portfolio or links to keyworded articles? Does it contain more than just seo-related work? (Most seo copywriters either started off in print media, or dabble with it from time to time. Experience in other advertising mediums shows that they understand how to market to people, not just machines. )

Are their articles unique and compelling? Read a few of their seo-keyworded articles by printing them out on paper - does the copy flow smoothly? Is it exciting or informative? Do you notice the repetition of keywords enough that it kills the word flow? Oh, and while you're at it, Google their articles and see how they rank in the search engines, as well.

Does your seo copywriter have a name? That's right - a name. (Will Smith. Cathy Bates. Melissa Brewer.) A lot of seo copywriting service providers farm out their work to India and other tech-saturated countries. This is great for pricing - but the quality can vary and is dependent on the English skills of each individual writer. The articles on their website should have a byline and information about their authors - experience, a portfolio, an "About Us" section - everything your own customers would want to know about you.

Does your seo copywriter care about your marketing plan as a whole? Do they offer complementary services - both print and web, to allow your marketing collateral to intersect with your search engine efforts? Do they make referrals to trusted providers in the marketing industry?

A truly competent, creative seo copywriter is a diamond in the rough. When you find a person with a hybrid of marketing and tech skills, you have found a true partner in your online marketing efforts. Don't sacrifice your business website to search engine feeders. A good seo writer can help your website - and your brand - rise to the top of the search engines as well as the forefront of your customer's thoughts when they are in a shopping mood. SEO copywriters can also help you create online newsletters, e-books, articles, blogs, and any other copy where words are being used to sell products or services. The right combination of keywords and online promotion will increase sales, attract customers and grow your business exponentially - both on and offline.

So, you want to be in the Google Top Ten? Then this Seo Elite Review on the Top Ten things to avoid when designing and optimizing your website will ensure your website gets maximum exposure without incurring penalties. Seo Elite Experts Worldwide have graciously contributed to this Google top ten article and at this time agree that the following list of optimization no-no's are valid at the time of writing.

Seo Elite Review To Title Tag Stuffing

Stuffing the title tag within your website code is possibly one of the quickest way to drop out of the Google top ten. Titles such as "Keyword Stuffing, Stuffing Keywords, keyword stuffings, keyword stuff" is simply not going to cut it in the eyes of Google, and with so many word repetitions is almost a guarantee of getting a Google demotion. This tends to happen when Google's 'secret police' suddenly throw up a red flag against your website's structure and demote or in the worst case scenarios, totally ban your website for such practices. Our Seo Elite reviewers continually find this type of practice being utilized to try and influence the search engine algorithms. Seo Elite Advice - Title tag stuffing is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review of Image Alt Tags

There seems to be a prevalence these days to using the alt (alternative text) tag on images. Repeat a keyword phrase more than once within this alternative text and on more than three to four images in total for a page, and it is in our view a sure fire way to drop out of the Google top ten search results. For maximum benefits using the alt tag, the seo elite reviewers agreed to choose the initial four images within a page and add not only targeted keyword phrases but to take into account the new LSI algorithms. Seo Elite Advice - Image Alt Tag Stuffing is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Keyword Stuffing Within Website Content

Attempting to raise keyword density percentages by continually repeating keyword phrases within the content of your website will have a two fold effect. Firstly it will affect the flow of words to be read on the page by your visitors, and more times than not will just be a visual turn off. secondly it will drop your website like a stone from the Google top ten, even possibly sending your site back to the Google black hole. I personally find that a keyword density of between 1.5 and 2 percent is sufficient to beat your competitors in keyword density. Seo Elite Advice - Too High a Keyword Density is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Comment Tag Stuffing

Comment Tags are used to include design notes in the background source code when creating a website page. Comment tags are supposed to be used only for adding instructions or reminders to your html code; previously, these tags were used to artificially increase the keyword phrase count / proximity for targeted keyword phrases.

There was some time ago arguments that this comment tag stuffing technique worked, but it has always been a "Black Hat" SEO technique which could result in a drop out of the Google top ten. These days this type of seo technique will not help your website, if anything it will either be ignored completely by Google or produce a negative search engine placement result. Seo Elite Advice - Comment tag stuffing is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Hidden Text

Text that is hidden from the view of website visitors by blending in the same colour text as the background colour was once, a very long time ago, a viable asset to building your website, these days it is generally regarded as the quickest way to see your website plummet out of the Google top ten and into oblivion. Seo Elite Advice - Hidden text is a resounding No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Reciprocal Linking

Linking to other websites has long been an effective way of gaining links back into your website. Reciprocal linking is where you have to give a link back in return for the privilege of linking to other websites. This in itself is a valid seo strategy, however, we have found that using this method exclusively to return links to your website can and does have a negative effect on being in the Google top ten search results. It is far better and more productive to use this strategy leniently, mixing in other methods of gaining one way back links into your website. Such strategies as article submission, directory submission and good old fashioned begging and pleading for a back link is more advantageous. Seo Elite Advice - Reciprocal linking on it's own is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review To IP Addresses

Interlinking various website addresses (url's) together that reside on one server (IP address) has long been a strategy used by webmasters to either attempt to get their websites indexed earlier or as a cheap way of getting back links into a site. Money of course plays a part as many people cannot afford the expense of more than one hosting account, especially when first starting out on their internet adventure. We have found that this type of strategy is totally worthless and will in no way help your website gain anything other than a swift exit from the Google top ten. Seo Elite Advice - Using one IP address for several websites and then interlinking them is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Buying Site Wide Links

Buying Links from websites is a quick way of getting your website noticed on the world wide web, however, buying site wide links such as footer or sidebar links across a website with over 100 pages has been found to be another way of dropping out of the Google top ten. Currently it is unclear as to how the Google algorithms work out such a strategy and our Seo Elite Advice - Buying site wide links is a No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Link Relevance

Relevancy seems to be the 'buzz' word abounding the internet at this time, especially within the seo community. Gaining links back to your website solely from irrelevant web pages will not assist you in either getting your website to the Google top ten or even keeping it within the holy grail of search positions.

An example would be similar to this ... Mr. Jones has a website relevant to 'bread making', Mr. Jones in his wisdom sets about gaining links back to his site from all and sundry. he finds that his back link count is increasing exponentially, however, all of these links are from off topic sites such a car mechanics, hairdressers, dog kennels etc. This scenario is one that will definitely in the long term not assist with his Google ranking. if anything Mr. Jones now finds himself in the depths of page 40 on Google with little or no prospect of ever gaining those Google top ten positions. Seo Elite Advice - Getting all your links from irrelevant websites is a definite No-No !

Seo Elite Review To Link Anchor Text

Anchor text is widely used by webmasters to add relevancy to their link text on websites. This can and does increase the keyword relevancy of any website wishing to rank well for a chosen keyword phrase. The major drawback to this type of strategy comes when the same link anchor text is used repeatedly across a large number of websites. We would suggest that you mix and match different keyword phrases into your anchor text links. This is again where the word relevancy comes into play and is far more advantageous to getting those Google top ten positions. Seo Elite Advice - using the same keyword phrase repeatedly in your anchor text is a No-No !

This article is by no means the final installment on ranking your website in the Google top ten, since search engine algorithms and resources are continuously evolving and refining. However, it is our intention to keep you informed of the most relevant information, we hope you have enjoyed our seo elite review of Google top ten no-no's and that the information contained within assists you in gaining those top positions within the Google search results.

 

Search Engine Optimizers (SEO) can wear many different "hats". The color of the single hat is determined by the SEO philosophy and the methods, that is used to optimize websites. We usually speak of:

Black Hat SEO

White Hat SEO

Gray Hat SEO

As an affiliate it is important to understand the difference and the risks between the single SEO Hats.

Black Hat SEO

Black Hat SEO is also known as SEO spamming, and is when someone creates websites that have little or no value, that are intended to trick the search engines into offering irrelevant or low-quality search results.

Black Hat SEO will heavily leverage technology and automation in order to create tons of poor quality sites, and gain inbound links from other websites (link spam). Once the visitor has arrived to the website, the owner of the website will often use some kind of cloaking or redirect to show the visitor a sales page of the products, that is the really goal of the Black Hat SEO technique.

Black Hat SEO are all about getting fast results. The method they use to optimize their websites will often get the website to the top of the search engines very rapidly, but when the search engines catch-on, the website will very often crash or get banned.

I do not condone Black Hat SEO for affiliates, because it is very risky SEO business, and it can especially damaging, when it is used on a website, that you have invested heavily resources in.

White Hat SEO

White Hat SEO focus on building quality content first and SEO second. White Hat SEO may use technology and automation to build their websites too, but they use it to accomplish different goals. They write content for people, not search engines. White Hat SEO tend to rely more on their content and marketing skills to achieve a top ranking, rather than automated programs.

White Hat SEO understand that good search engine rankings takes time and don't try to rush results. White Hat SEO are able to get more inbound links from other websites, because their content is considered valuable. They go by the philosophy CONTENT IS KING.

When you use White Hat SEO tactics you run absolutely no risk of being banned by the search engines and visitors who come to your website will also be more likely to convert.

Gray Hat SEO

A lot of SEO fall into the Gray Hat category, and there are many shades of gray. Some Gray Hat SEO tend to use more questionable tactics and take greater risks. Gray Hat SEO is all about risk versus reward. Some Gray Hat techniques may be frowned by the search engines, but are not necessarily against their rules, while other techniques may be more risky and should be used only after careful consideration.

What SEO hat should you wear ?

The hat that you decide to wear should be determined by your goals and objectives. I would never recommend anybody to use any black hat SEO strategies, because these strategies are short-lived and will almost always get you banned in the search engines.

Everybody should strive to be a white hat SEO and focus on writing quality content. However it may make sense for you in some instances to use Gray Hat SEO tactics to gain a competitive advantage. But when using Gray Hat SEO tactics it is very important, that you measure the risk and reward of each strategy, and determine for yourself, if some of these Gray Hat SEO strategies makes sense for your websites.

But it is important that you never take too big a risk with your most valuable websites, and here it is much more valuable, that you make a more safe and long term SEO strategy for these websites.

　

　

There's been a story brewing for quite some time about the attempt by Jason Gambert to trademark the term "SEO".

Gambert claims that the words "search engine optimization" have no real linguistic English value beyond being a process;. So, he's trying to trademark "SEO" as a service, basically claiming that "SEO" itself is Net lingo and has no "Official English linguistic value."

In his blog, Gambert claims that "I am helping the search engine marketing community establish an approved SEO process, which can be sold as an 'SEO service.'" He goes on to explain that other industries have standards and guidelines and, as these industries are recognised as services, it means that there is a way for consumers to identify practitioners with credible offerings.

Now, although we can jump on the "fry Gambert" bandwagon and I think that his idea is nothing more than a revenue/copyright ploy, I'm going to leave that to the rest of cyberspace. Instead, Gambert's comments do raise an age old question that I would like to discuss: Do we need SEO standards?

It's true that other areas of web development have standards: HTML has validation; w3c produces reams of standards on CSS and XHTML; there are standards for ECMAScript (most commonly JavaScript); but do these really create security amongst web designers and developers?

The SEO industry really does have its share of cheats and con artists. We've all heard stories of small business owners getting hoodwinked by SEO scams. Shouldn't we, as responsible professionals, do something to remove the black-hatters from our field?

Perhaps we should, but is a body of standards the best way to go about it? I'm not convinced that standards will separate the expert from the swindler. Indeed, SEO was effectively started by scam artists - how else would you describe someone distributing spam to a forum in order to increase their own SERP?

Whom would the community trust as members of a body that certifies a person or company is following SEO standards? Never mind that, who would we trust to create those standards in the first place?

Yes, there are respected SEO professionals, but as a whole the industry is young enough to still be a little rough around the edges. Some might argue that this is exactly why we need standards - but consider what would happen if someone tried to create them and enforce them. You'd more than likely get a mess that's even worse than what Gambert is trying to pull.

Would a body of standards prevent people who don't do due diligence from getting scammed? No. Will it prevent those who carry the SEO trademark from scamming others? No. Gambert's trademark claim should be invalidated as the cheap swindle it is and the industry should promote the ideals of SEO experts and educate consumers on what to look for in them; something that I will cover now.

What to Look for in an SEO Expert

Here's the paradox: Bad SEO works, and works quickly, but will ultimately get you banned from the search engines. So, from a consumer's point of view, poor (or black hat) SEO appears to give them results that they need. They pay. Then the expert is gone, just in time for the customer's rankings to start falling like a blind roofer.

Like all things in life, nothing worth having ever comes easy; and quality SEO is no different. When looking for an SEO expert, this is rule number one:

Always ensure that the expert is prepared to offer a medium-to-long term relationship.

SEO is not a one-stop shop. It is not an overnight fix. It requires time to follow your keywords; to establish links and drive traffic from forums, blogs and article sites; to manage on-the-page metatags, titles and internal links; and manage off-the-page anchor text optimisation.

All of this requires the expert to be on hand to compete and monitor the optimisation process. If they are unwilling to offer this, they may be a fly-by-night "expert".

Does the expert know what they are doing?

This may seem like a very vague and expansive question, especially as consumers may not know what they are expecting of their expert. However, it is a pertinent question nonetheless. You and your SEO expert should look for three things before even attempting to optimise your site:

Are your customers searching for your products and/or services online?

This should be very easy for your expert to determine by putting the appropriate keywords in Wordtracker. It's not just about whether people are searching for your kind of offerings online, though; it's also about how many people are searching. If too few people are looking for you online, SEO on this area would be a waste of money - and your expert should advise you of this.

Are your competitors showing up for the terms that you want to target?

This could indicate that your competitors have found it worth their while to spend money on SEO. That doesn't automatically mean that you will as well, however. Your expert should be able to advise you of the benefits that his/her services will offer.

What effect would an increase in targeted traffic to your web site have on my business?

This is really the most important question. If your web site effectively converts traffic into sales already, then you can expect SEO that increases your traffic to also increase your sales. If it doesn't, more traffic is not going to translate into more sales.

If, between you and your expert, you can answer these questions positively, then it should be worth continuing with SEO.

What kind of SEO services do you want?

Do you want someone who specialises in on-the-page? Who specialises in content writing? Article submission? Do you want someone that knows all areas of SEO, or maybe someone who's new to the field (and therefore cheaper)? Do you want to spend money on an AdWords or a PayPerClick campaign?

Fleshing out your requirements and their potential return on investment is the next step with your expert. There's no hard and fast list of questions that you need to ask next, but there are a few that you should always check with your new hire, to paraphrase Jon Rognerud, writing for Entrepreneur.com:

What ranking guarantees do you provide? No honest, reputable SEO will make any kind of ranking guarantee. If you see anything like "#1 position for your keywords in six weeks!" run the other way.

Are you going to change my web site? The answer to this had better be "yes;" SEO is based on site content and structure.

How do you handle linking? Honest SEOs will explain their approach in great detail and let you see what they do. If they get evasive or claim that they use proprietary software or techniques, they might be engaging in black hat and/or spammy practices.

What are your other services and what is your pricing model? This should be clearly explained, not "sold." Sure, SEO may be the company's main service, but it may also do web analytics, pay-per-click, e-mail marketing, social media optimization, and more.

Who are some of your competitors? An honest firm will tell you who their competitors are and provide details.

What are your qualifications? Though no certifications are required for SEO, some things can help, like the Google Advertising Professional program. You may also want to consider time in business, though that's no guarantee of expertise. Does the firm specialize in certain market segments? This would also be a good time to ask for customer references, just as you would for any contractor.

What kind of traffic results can I expect to see, how soon, and how much will they cost? Don't judge them on price alone. Some scammy SEO companies will set up a pay-per-click campaign without their clients' knowledge; the client pays fees every month, and the minute they stop paying, their traffic disappears.

Ideally, you and your SEO form a partnership. They should keep you apprised of what they're doing and the effects, with weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports. With patience, planning, cooperation, and a lot of research, getting an SEO for your site could be an excellent decision. Good luck!

　

　

Introduction - If you are still learning about search engine optimization (SEO), you are probably a bit confused about the difference between on-site and off-site SEO strategies. On-site tactics are more straight-forward for the beginner and are probably written about the most. I thought I would write an article and cover what I've learned. This pool of SEO knowledge comes from working with about 10 clients and another 10 personal web sites over an 18 month period.

To anyone with an SEO background, there are certain basic on-site SEO tasks that any web master, business owner, or Internet Marketer needs to be aware of. These include the following major components:

1) Title Tags - The title tag in your HTML meta code is the tag that tell the browser what to display in the title of the window at the very top of the screen. Because this text is so visible to the user, Google likes to rely heavily on this text as a clue as to what your page is about. As a result, it is a really important SEO strategy that your title tag be filled with keywords that are appropriate to the content of the web page. Furthermore, you really don't want the same title tag on every page. This is not good for SEO. Instead, you want to have different keyword phrases in your title tags that properly identify the theme of that particular page. Remember, you are trying to help the search engines easily digest your content. That's basically what SEO is. You want to aid them in their understanding of what this page is really about.

2) The first H1 tag - Similar to the title tag, Google will look at the first H1 text to appear on your page as a strong signal as to what the page is about. Use it wisely. Again, you want to place keyword phrases here that are thematically related to what the information on the page is conveying to the end-user.

　

　

3) The name of the page itself - As you name your pages in your web site, use plain English as much as possible for SEO. You will notice that WordPress uses this extensively in their blog software. This is no accident and WordPress is considered the best blog for SEO.

Why? Because there is descriptive text in the longer version of the page name that helps the search engine know what the page is about. Many people have written about issues around "dirty links" and SEO (links including system variable data such as AID=22 in the example above). I think it is better if you can design your system without any variable data at all. It just takes this SEO issue away. And it's just easier for the search engines. It's also easier for the end-user. However, there is no problem promoting pages via SEO with variable data in the links. I've been able to make both fly using the same SEO tactics with no problems. The search engines are smart enough by now to manage through that variable data. Just make sure your plain English is in there.

4) Keyword meta tag - This tag used to get a ton of play for SEO, but is now largely ignored by the search engines. I believe it fell out of favor due to manipulation and misuse. It is a tag that is not seen by the end-user, so unscrupulous web masters abused it and it became less-and-less important for SEO. Real SEO tactics don't abuse or deceive. I still populate my keyword tags because I believe they are still looked at, but I don't believe they are very critical. If nothing else, it's another instance of your keywords. They all help SEO.

5) Description meta tag - This tag is still useful, but probably more for Yahoo and MSN. Since you will be in this part of your web site anyway to get the Title right, you might as well make this variable-driven as well and make the description appropriate to the page. Again, it can't hurt SEO.

6) Keyword Density - This is very important for SEO. Keep in mind that the search engines are just large computer programs digesting your site and trying to figure out what it is about. One of the simplest things they do is to count up all the words and look for repeats. They then calculate percentages, or densities, of specific 1-word, 2-word and 3-word phrases that are found in your text. By looking at the most popular keyword phrases, their programs understand the important themes of your page. If you observe your own writing on a specific subject, you will see the patterns as well. I don't recommend that you write solely with keyword density in mind as it will result in lower quality content. However, I also don't recommend that you completely ignore keyword density in your content creation. My preferred approach is to write content straight-up for the first draft. Then, as you edit for grammar, consistency, and clarity, also edit for density. Run your content through a density checker and see what phrases are used the most. Make adjustments accordingly so that your top themes / keyword phrases are showing up between 2-4% of the time. But don't do this to the extent that anything reads as unnatural. You need to always keep your audience in mind.

7) Outbound links - What your page links to matters, in terms of both the quality and quantity of links. As you build links out of your page, be specific about where they go. Don't link to low-quality or bad-neighborhood sites. Also watch your number of links. Generally, the less the better. However, having no outbound links is not always good. I believe Google uses your outbound links as a way to position your site in the vast weave that is the Internet. Often times, Google can get a good feeling about what your site is about just by looking at who you link to. So again, select these links wisely understanding they will actually impact your SEO.

8) High-quality, original, content - I probably should have put this first because it can't be stressed enough for SEO. Your site needs to provide high-quality and original content. You will read this maybe a hundred times as you research SEO. Content is king. And I firmly believe this to be true. If you are under the impression that the internet is so big that search engines can't identify content as really unique, guess again. One afternoon spent playing with CopyScape will convince you that there is technology available today that is able to tell you if any given sentence has been repeated anywhere on the Internet. It's staggering, actually, when you really think about that. The volumes of data are just outrageous. But if CopyScape can do it, I'm betting that Google can do it also. And I firmly believe that your site receives a positive bump when Google determines that the content is original. Many people have asked me if using content that is repeated on other sites will penalize the site. I believe the answer is no, you will not be penalized by Google (copyright infringement is a completely different and very serious legal topic that I won't go into today). But I also believe that you won't get where you want to be by using content that already has high mileage. The other hot debate related to how sites using duplicate content can actually rank higher than the site where the content originated from. Yes - This has been demonstrated empirically a bunch of times. But you don't need to be too concerned with that for reasons we will get into later. Just keep your eye on the ball. Put in the time, energy and creativity it takes to create unique content and you will be rewarded. Plain and simple.

9) Appropriate amounts of content - Somewhat different from #8 is the issue of how much content to put on your site for good SEO. I don't believe there is a single magic answer as each site has a different objective. But as far as SEO goes, I generally believe the more the better (assuming you are following #8). Give those hungry spiders as much food for thought as you possibly can. But let me also qualify that statement. You need ensure that your content doesn't stray too far from the core message of your site. If it does, this can create confusion around what your site is really about. Tightly focused sites perform much better than more generically focused sites. For example, a site selling used Honda Civics that uses appropriate SEO strategies will probably get ranked higher and faster than a more generalized site selling all types of used cars. This is a generic statement, and there are many exceptions, but it's a reasonable place to start your thinking about niches and themes.

　

　

Although they may sound similar, SEO content providers and SEO writers are actually quite different in practice when it comes to search engine optimization. While it's true that they both provide valuable services to website owners or similar, there's actually one main area where the two are completely different - and it's in the name itself. Whereas SEO writers will generally write articles for a website or blog, SEO content providers will also look at the overall SEO of a website to maximize its SEO visibility.

Writing SEO

To really understand the difference, you need to know what an SEO writer is. Whether it's for their own website or blog, or creating articles for a client's website, blog or even article directory like EzineArticles.com, an SEO writer usually only writes keyword rich articles. That's not to lessen their worth - far from it, since SEO writers need to know how to distribute keywords effectively throughout their articles.

However, SEO writing is completely different from SEO content writing - after all, an article for a website or submission site can be on pretty much any topic that the writer or client wishes. It may be that the writer wishes to be known as an expert on a certain niche, so they write keyword rich articles to place on their blog or similar. Nothing wrong with this at all - but it's a far cry from being an SEO content provider.

The SEO Content Provider Difference

While a good SEO writer may make for a decent SEO content provider, a decent SEO content provider will always make for a good (if not excellent) SEO writer. This isn't said from a "mightier than thou" position either - it's simple writing economics.

This is down to the different and more expansive roles that an SEO content provider has to fill. Not only do they need to provide strong, keyword rich and SEO-friendly articles and content, they also need to:

Enhance the overall SEO of the website in question

Work in conjunction with the website's URL and meta tags for increased SEO performance

Constantly provide fresh and relevant content to maintain SEO performance and visibility

Be aware of the competition's SEO and marketing methods

Combine the SEO potential of website and complementary blog(s)

　

One of the most commonly asked questions regarding search engine optimization is: "What is the best way to learn SEO"? The answer I always give to this question is simple yet complex. My answer to this question is always: "It Depends".

Now before you say that my answer is not a definitive response to the question - let me explain my answer to you.

Search engine optimization by its very nature is not a black and white concept. There is a lot of gray area in the field of search engine optimization SEO.

Thus, it is only natural for people who are trying to learn SEO to be totally confused about how and what to do in relation to learning SEO because there are so many options and opportunities available for people to learn search engine optimization.

Well, let's look closer at my answer to the question what is the best way to learn SEO: "It Depends".

My answer to the question is based purely on my viewpoint of education in general and learning new subject matter.

The fact that someone is trying to learn SEO is only the current situation for the individual. The real question that is being asked is what is the best way for the individual to learn and this depends on the individual.

For example, some people learn best using visual aids while others learn more through audio aids while still others learn better from reading books.

In the end, the best way to learn almost anything is to use a combination of these methods.

However, in our society today people have very little patience, so the visual method tends to be what many people prefer because frankly it is easier to apply and use; but in my experience, the "visual" method in the long run is the least effective method for individuals to utilize for retaining and applying new information.

With this being said, the best method for learning in my opinion is reading a well-written book related to the subject matter.

The book should include visual aspects in the material to enhance the learning experience and access to an instructor for reinforcement of the material that is read or it should be written in a manner that presents the material as if the author is actually sitting with the reader and explaining the information.

Therefore, my answer "it depends" regarding the question of what is the best way to learn SEO can be summarized this way.

"The best way to learn SEO is by reading an SEO book that is well written and covers the entire realm of SEO at the level of the actual reader so that a clear understanding can be conveyed. Hence, for beginners to the intermediate level, the material should be written for readers at that level in a manner that is best for them to learn SEO, which would be different than a book written for an advance SEO reader."

The main problem with reading SEO related books is that most of the books and ebooks sadly are not well written and the information is usually written in a manner that is not designed for the reader to learn but only for the reader to apply what was read. You or no one else can learn this way. It is easy to write a book; but is very hard to write a well-written book that helps an individual learn new material.

If you want to learn SEO, you need to read a good SEO book and/or eBook that actually provides the search engine optimization material in a comprehensive manner and also provides the material in an easy to read, easy to understand, effective and easy to apply manner for real world situations.

Don't fall victim to the hype. If you want to learn SEO, it will take time. A two-day SEO workshop, SEO videos and/or SEO online classes will not help you learn SEO. You can learn to apply specific information using these methods; but you will not learn SEO.

Search engine optimization is much more than a few techniques or tips. SEO is a field of expertise, which requires a strong understanding of all aspects related to SEO before you can truly learn SEO. Thus, it will take time. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.

If you want to learn SEO, you will need to do it the old fashion way by reading and applying the material from a good SEO book and/or ebook.

Remember when you were in grade school, middle school, high school and/or college were you ever just given a CD, video, two-day workshop or other similar methods to learn a subject? No, I will guess that you learned primarily from books or material derived from a book presented by an instructor.

On this note, a well-written SEO book, by an author, that presents the material as if he or she is talking to you can be the substitute for an instructor; but you will still need to read the book and apply what you learn. This has been a time-tested method of learning for hundreds of years around the world. The method will not fail you; however, you can fail the method.

Learn SEO by reading a very good SEO book today.

You can determine the SEO book to purchase and read by carefully reviewing the promotional material for the SEO book, reading objective book reviews regarding the SEO book, comparing the prices of the various SEO books, making sure that you purchase a book that is written to actually teach SEO and finally purchase an SEO book that provides a money back guarantee in case the book does not meet your expectations.

However, remember that you should never take advantage of a money back guarantee. The author worked hard to write the book. If you actually benefited from reading the book or ebook, don't ask for a refund just because you do not want to pay for the book. Always remember that what comes around goes around. Treat people fair and be honest in your dealings with others.

　

　

In order to separate SEO truths from traditional misconceptions and errors, you always must first examine the truth. For example, if an expert is trying to determine a counterfeit $100 dollar bill from a real $100 bill, he only gains insight by examining the genuine $100 bill first. You could examine many different counterfeit bills for a long time and never gain any ground at all, because you did not learn to recognize the truth first. But once you know and understand the real government issued bill, then you can spot the false things much more quickly.

First A Word about Hats: White, Grey or Black

Let me say that most skilled SEOs are not bad people. They are not schemers who are just out to get your money. Like anything else, there are people who are good and bad in every area of life. When it comes to practicing SEO skills, there are many people doing many different things, but it all comes down to the "intent of the individual person."

People pegged for being "black hats" usually think quite a little bit differently than the SEO with a professional long term career. The Black hat is more prepared to lose the domain and knows that they are always on the run and they often view the search engines as the enemy. They thing that search engines MUST be "outsmarted" or so they are convinced. Some tend to enter more like a game with throw-away domain names that they'll purchase in quantity, fully knowing that they'll have to do the same types of things over and over again each time they get penalized. They think they are at war with the search engines.

White hat SEO professionals are more focused on creating high quality, useful content that serves a purpose and satisfies the reason why the user initiated a search. Many white hats have had structured skills training. They generally understand that they are not at war with the search engines. They choose to respect the search engines guidelines instead of trying to cheat them. They are never on the run, because they have done nothing to fear being caught at or banned for. They tend to do the job once for long term stable rankings that can last for years.

Black hat technique tends to relate to "tricks" and little "short cuts" to try and fool the search engine.

Okay so this fits in with the first misconception or idea that was first pitched years ago. However, this first misconception is a major misconception. Here it is...

Misconception 1. You are at war with the search engines to gain top rankings. Therefore you must learn to do sneaky tricks to outsmart their algorithm. Therefore you must learn ways to beat the search engine to gain top visibility in search results. Have you heard this story before?

While this whole concept (probably dreamt up by a marketer years ago sometime) it cleverly appeals to a human beings somewhat carnal side of being "sneaky" or being able to beat the search engines at their own game by using "secrets" and "tricks." Even though the pitch may appeal to some people, the only trouble is that the concept is 100% FALSE from beginning to end. Some of you may be disappointed to hear this because for years, you thought you were at war with the search engines. Think a little bit more and let's separate marketing pitches from the real truth.

Truth 1: The truth is that you have never been at "war with the search engines." You are not required to "outsmart" or fool" the search engines at all to gain top visibility for your Web pages.

Listen up now. The only one you are truly competing with for visibility is your competitors, NOT the search engines. The whole idea that you must "beat" the search engines or "outsmart" the search engines is a completely false concept.

You never need to compete with any search engine. You never need to trick it or even try to "fool it" in order to get excellent visibility. A search engine does not really care whether you rank number 1 or not. They are fine with it, so long as you are offering relevant content that is useful and satisfies the reason why the user searched. Obviously any search engine does not want junk showing up in the results.

The only competition you have now or you have ever had, or will ever have in the future is with other competitors pages, not the search engines.

Being "sneaky" may appeal to some emotionally in a marketing pitch. It may make you even feel like the service or the course or publication will ultimately "make you smarter" somehow. But people need to learn to distinguish truth from error and you'll be blowing far less money on e-books, tool sets and memberships that appeal to the emotion but are founded on untruths.

Many marketers come across with this anger or emotion in their messages using words that are planted to trigger your emotions.

You can be sneaky...

I am angry because...

I am so embarrassed by what happened...

You are going to learn a secret...

I am going to show you something exciting!

etc...

Don't let your emotions be exploited.

Learn to recognize a marketing mailer that is attempting to exploit your emotions. Recognize these types of messages. Separate them out from communications that offer advice based on truths. I'll do an article on this in the future.

Misconception 2: You must submit your Web site to the Search Engines, therefore you need to buy our services and we will submit your site to 30,000 search engines for only $29.95 per month. The misconception here is that a submission to a search engine is beneficial.

Truth 2: You are far better employing strategies that allow search engine robots to find your pages on their own (without submitting.) Any company that bases their whole concept of traffic or SEO on submitting does not understand how search engines work themselves. If you are using this type of service, save your money. There is no valid reason to be using a submission service for search engines. It is still being offered today widespread because there are always new people coming online to be exploited.

Misconception 3: If a Web site has been banned, the person must be an evil or unethical person.

Truth 3: Search Engine Workshops reject anything related to Spam or short cuts or tricks that are outside of the search engines guidelines, but we do not believe people are "always evil." Many people that get banned or penalized by the search engines, are not even aware of SEO best practices. The only thing they turn out to be guilty of in the end, is of never having had any real structured SEO skills training.

In other words they were listening to some bad advice or perhaps were not even aware that each search engine has guidelines. In some cases it's their Webmaster that may have gotten their site banned. Every situation is different but ultimately it's far better to gain your skills sooner than later. It is not always about good and evil but there most definitely is always a story behind the story and it boil down to user intent.

Misconception 4: SEO is a nightmare to try and learn.

It is extremely important to measure each SEO influence and get each factor exactly right. Therefore you need to research how many characters go in a title tag, keyword density, keyword prominence, keyword placement, how many keywords can go in a Meta tag plus all of the other factors for each individual search engine. This concept is what people seem to talk about because it's what some people are selling, but it is also completely false.

Truth 4: Sure you can spend your days measuring these types of things, but chances are you will be burning out after a while and getting very few success stories. This is because there are for more important things to understand that have an extraordinary impact in the results. SEO influences all affect one another, plus each search engine grades on a curve based on each specific industry.

Any researcher that tells you he is giving you the latest criteria based on these old fashion units of measurement will not make much impact. These days you are looking for the big picture, not individual influences one at a time. We have seen cases where people spend hours working on one page, when they could have dozens of pages performing for them in minimal time with much less stress. Yes I mean all 100% white hat strategies too, because these are all that we teach our students.

Misconception 5: You need to spend hours tweaking your source code each month to keep those top ranking positions. Therefore you cannot possibly manage your own in house search marketing. False again.

Truth 5: There are advantages to having your SEO handled by a professional firm that has been structurally trained. But don't buy it if someone says they must continually "tweak your code" to keep you in top place. It is just not true. Yes, you may want them creating fresh new content. Yes, you'll want continued practices if you're Blogging maybe for example. But if a page is ranking in top spot, leave it alone. If you do look at making changes, make sure you are grabbing a look at the entire search landscape for your industry.

Misconception 6: SEO is Dead. This myth makes a great attention grabbing article headline although in my opinion it has been a little bit over-used and rather gimmicky. If you've read it, it is completely false.

Truth 6: SEO is merely more competitive these days but SEO is far from being dead. SEO is alive and well!

It may feel like it is dead if you are relying on old second hand advice or listening to some marketers who are pushing their next big thing. Most Webmasters have access to all of the same old common tools that everyone else has, so there feels like there is less advantage than a few years ago.

Misconception 7: There is only one correct solution to solve a specific SEO challenge. If it is not my way, it is the wrong way. Needless to say this is also false.

Truth 7: For any specific SEO challenge there are often multiple solutions to choose from. In many cases there are alternative strategies that are all white hat and yet very solid solutions. Don't let anyone tell you that there is only one way. Every Web site is different with different challenges and you need to be equipped with the full range of solutions.

To gain a real significant advantage, the answer rests with building your genuine SEO skills and less reliance on tools.

Since we are talking about misconceptions in this article, let's take it a step further and discuss a few old and new

"confidence schemes" to be aware of as well. Confidence schemes are not exactly misconceptions but you need to be aware of at least a few of the newest ones.

A Con Man or "Confidence man" is (a swindler who exploits the confidence of his victim) A few other names for Confidence men include bunco, scam artist, fleecer, swindler, shark, rainmaker, hustler.

Some confidence schemes operate on the same old methods, others come up with new methods. Here are some examples of old con tricks and new ones to be aware of.

From Wikipedia:

The Phishing Scam:

"Phishing is a modern form of scam in which the artist communicates with the mark, pretending to be from an official organization that the mark is doing business with, in order to extract personal information that can then be used, for example, to steal money. In a typical instance of phishing, the artist sends the mark an email pretending to be from a company (such as eBay). This email is formatted exactly like email from that business, and will ask the mark to "verify" some personal information at their website, to which a link is provided. The website itself is also fake but designed to look exactly like the business' website. The site will contain an HTML form asking for personal information such as credit card numbers. The mark will feel compelled to give this information because of words in the email or the site stating that they require the information again, for example to "reactivate your account". When the mark submits the form (not checking the URL), the information is sent to the swindler."

A Blogging Scam:

"The Ogged Scam: A new con trick born in the age of blogs. For this scam, the con artist creates a pseudonymous internet persona and befriends a group of people online who will become his marks. Then the scammer feigns some terrible disease, such as stomach cancer. Finally, the scammer subtly pushes the idea that his online "friends" could pitch in for something to make him feel better, such as a $700 gift certificate to the French Laundry. After the boon is received, the scam artist claims a miraculous recovery or doctor error."

The Paranoia Scam

"The Paranoia Scam is a scam that involves the con man telling the mark various lies about the different scams and instigating false attempts so that the mark (feeling worried and with no place to hide their money from fraud) turns to the con man for help."

For more insights of these types of scams and and what to be aware of, visit Wikipedia.

Have SEO topics been used for scam purposes?

Unfortunately, SEO has been used as a buzz word by the modern types of hustler.

I think you'll agree that there have been plenty of cases where people have been sold some expensive bill of services in the name of SEO, but never really delivered on their promises. Genuine SEO Professionals seldom need to hype up their offers as there often is a trail of success and results that follow their work. In other words, it is evident that they are good at producing fair to highly satisfactory results without to much hoopla in their presentation.

Still, there are SEO scams being worked. But there are ways to determine if you have found a dependable and trusted resource. There ways to help you distinguish those services who actually are keeping their skills up to date and by studying truths you can quickly learn to detect error and protect yourself.

* If you are interested in building genuine skills or managing a team overseeing SEOs then the surest why to close the gaps in your learning time is with a focus on live skills training and ongoing mentoring at a workshop or else study a course that focuses on teaching you the genuine skills. It is safe to say that you will be far less likely to ever be taken advantage of again, once your own knowledge is up to speed.

* That being said, there are many who do not feel they can learn the skills. Maybe you're looking for hiring an SEO firm instead of managing your own projects. One of the easiest ways to separate the trained experts who have had good structured training from the hit and miss individuals (or worse,) is to simply examine the evidence of their work.

Examine it closely so you can determine that behind them, the results show the evidence of their skills.

- Ask them for a list of their recent client's phone numbers.

- Ask them for a list of their oldest client contacts and their Web sites.

- Dependable SEO services will never have trouble providing you with the evidence of their success although they may want to offer you client contacts in a different business category than the one you are in (out of respect for their clients.)

* While many SEOs will offer you typical proposals, try and watch for those who also have alternative approaches that will serve your best interest at reasonable cost. Optimization is only one aspect of visibility these days. It is not just about how many pages show up in the top rankings for specific keywords anymore. There are a lot of additional things that a well trained graduate can bring to you that are beyond SEO.

* If you decide to build your SEO skills and are trying to choose which workshop to attend, look for education that is based on time tested methods. Some who claim to teach classes, will often have a second or third agenda to try and sell you SEO services. Others may focus mainly on using tools. The best training is where you can get personalized hands-on skills training, ongoing coaching and mentoring even after class is over. Each of our associate educators have expert training and offer the full workshop in multiple communities.

* Beware of any service that builds their whole success platform for SEO on "search engine submissions." Submitting to search engines is one thing you don't need to do and you don't need to do certain things over and over to get results.

　

　

Search engines are usually not interested to promote or suggest an SEO service because they lose ad revenue and are held liable when the SEO firm does a bad job. SEO organizations do not work due to the power struggles between various marketers.

Why Search Engines do not like SEO

Search engines straight away cannot agree with SEO services since SEO services providers may or I can say directly affect their revenue search engines are getting through the pay per click programs they are offering. So, there is no official guidelines for How to SEO. Search engines always give a brief guideline but never provide a precise help required. Because if they had direct rules someone can find or crack a similar techniques to manipulate the search results thats were still under their TOC rule book. What matters in the SEO industry is results. How did the top site get there? How can my site rank at the top?

Why You can't Trust an SEO Based on Their Rankings

A Site owned and run by an SEO which is doing good and for competitive terms will rank well, still there is no guarantee that the search engine will do a good job for them. Because I have come across a lot of website owners who buy SEO services lose money and again bought a different service from a different SEO. Some SEO's have qualities outside the Box thats makes them popular and help them spread the message. This help does not mean that these guys are good at promoting your websites, only that they are good in promoting their websites.

Quality SEO is always expensive and takes more time. But because of bad SEO's in the market the entire SEO field gets tarred with the same brush for the action of few bad people. Some companies rum PPC as regular SEO. But one thing always keep in mind that organic SEO if always different from PPC marketing.

The Problem with Labeling SEO's

A website is important or not but the main task for an SEO is to make a search engine believe that the site is important. No matter how you do it, the job of the SEO is to improve rankings and to drive traffic. It depends upon the website to website that which techniques is to be used for the promotion. Because there are certain categories which are very competitive so an SEO has to work outside the SEO guideline ( think out of the box) set by the major search engine like Google, yahoo or msn. So, Ultimately it is up to the SEO service consumer which path he/she has to follow to achieve their goals to promote their website.

Other Problems with SEO

Some foolish SEO's do stupid stuff that will get your website banned from search engines. These are not the only problem in SEO industry there are some lazy SEO's to do a good job. Its for sure that your site won't get banned if you are not aggressive. For SEO many keywords requires research, loads of efforts, and extensive link building.

For Example link building is the most time consuming and most expensive part of SEO. But often it is skipped of not done properly by many members of SEO community.

　

　

The job of a Search Engine Optimizer, popularly referred to as an SEO helps the visitors to acquire the required information from the visited website. So, an SEO plays a major role as far as research and development are concerned. Both, the clients availing of the services of an SEO as well as the visitors to the website, many a times, prove to be too demanding for the Search Engine Optimizer. Well no pains, no gains. An SEO's job seems to be based on this pattern rather too strictly.

The SEO's Job vs. Sales

The SEO's role is quite important not only for researching a particular subject or idea, but more so when it comes to sales. The Optimizer in the majority of the cases provides his services to help the visitors to the website research about the products of the company.

The products may vary from biscuits or other eatables to cosmetics to electronic devices including almost any saleable product, object, idea etc., that exists upon the earth. An SEO understands well that basically his job aims at optimizing the sales for the company. He would not like to displease the company or those who visit the company's site. So, most of the SEOs prefer a little sentence at the bottom of the page to the effect that the visitor's search results may vary from site to site. After all, an SEO, like any other professional prefers to play safe!

Expectations from an SEO vs. A Few Realities

As the company's demands from an SEO are sometimes even unrealistic, he has to be extra smart (that of course, is different from being over smart). When it comes to selling a new product, the Search Engine Optimizer is not just asked to optimize the sales, in such specific cases, he has to initialize the sales for the new product first, more so if the business house happens to be a small one or a newly opened one.

If an SEO's services are hired by a small or newly opened business, the Optimizer is expected to optimize the sales of the products (if they are new, then even to initialize the sales) so that the business comes closer to the big rivals and then gradually goes ahead of them. Now, anyone can understand the kind of expectations regarding the sales from an SEO. When the expectations are not met with (that may be the case sometimes), the resulting picture may be a sad one.

As if that is not enough, even the sales department of the company loves to transfer the major share of its responsibility to the shoulders of the SEO, once his services are hired. The department's attitude, most of the times, sends the message across to the SEO, in no implicit terms that it is his responsibility to optimize the sales of the popular products, initialize and optimize the sales for new products and reinitialize the sales even for those that had previously failed in the market.

In other words, it is the SEO rather than the sales department who is expected to optimize and maintain the market. The Optimizer is left only with two options: either fulfill all the expectations or if he fails to do so even once, then provide an absolutely convincing explanation to the company that has hired his services.

SEO: Catering to the Clients' Expectations

Though the contract letter as provided to the SEO clearly reads the terms and conditions related to the responsibilities and even ranking, traffic, ROI, and conversions etc., it is the result of the work that counts in the long run rather than the job profile as discussed in the contract letter.

An SEO's Perception of His Job: Risk Factors

Thus a potentially existing, but not a very explicit (and hence not very frequently realized) risk factor is that most of the SEOs focus on executing the operations as specified in the contract letter rather than laying stress on the results. The result: the sales for the company for which an SEO's services are hired are far from being optimized. In some cases, the SEO fails to maintain even the previously existing sales. It can even tell upon his professional relationships with the sales department of the company. Eventually, he may be sacked and replaced by another SEO, in most cases, a tried and tested one by one or more reputed or established companies. So focusing upon the result is the key factor for any SEO. He must focus on the TARGET.

Services Provided by An SEO: How Do the Clients Evaluate Them?

A large number of the companies hiring the services of an SEO are extremely conscious of their web ranking. Naturally, they want the ranking to shoot up faster when they hire an SEO. A sensible client would allow at least a reasonably period of time to the SEO as even a highly intelligent and professionally smart Search Engine Optimizer would require at least a little bit of time to increase the number of the visitors to the website of his client.

Even if the search engine is optimized making it several times more effective than it originally was, the improvement will catch the notice of the net surfers within a little time only. Given the time (a reasonable one, of course, and not an unusually longer span), the web ranking of the client's site can be expected to shoot up the popularity charts.

Moreover, the requirements of the visitors to the website of the clients vary from time to time. Thus the SEO is expected to be on his toes all the time. Further, the phrases searched by the visitors most of the time would never be an all time favorite with the net surfers. They may change with the changing requirements of the surfers. Thus the client would obviously expect the SEO not only to make the web ranking go higher, but even to maintain it. Not a very easy job, indeed.

How Does Web Ranking Effect A Company's Sales and An SEO's Performance?

Though a smart SEO can employ a number of ways to make the web ranking shoot up, the point is that whether the people who visit the web site actually get converted into the customers buying the products of the company or not. So even if the SEO manages to attract a large number of visitors to the site of the company, what actually counts is whether they are the targeted visitors or not. The SEO must never forget that as far as the results of his work are concerned, the web ranking is to be used as a means to enhance the sales for the company. After all, it is for this purpose that the client has hired his services.

In some cases, a client's website may already be enjoying an excellent web ranking, but a poor conversion rate. In such case, the SEO is expected even to a greater extent to focus upon the conversion rate. A greater chunk of the traffic visiting the site is to be converted into actual buyers of the products of the company. This is what the SEO is expected to achieve.

The Job of an SEO: A Few Tips

The SEO may suggest the clients to alter a few links in the SERPs i.e., the search engine result pages. It can make it easier for the visitors to the site to find what they are looking for? When a visitor himself/herself refers the site to other surfers, it counts. Because making the web ranking move up, it definitely increases the conversion rate.

Finally, the SEO must take care that the desired, if not higher, conversion rate is achieved within a specific time. Though there should be synergy between the client and the SEO and the required time should be allowed for achieving an excellent web ranking as well as conversion rate, the SEO must not forget that he cannot delay in producing results beyond a certain time period. He is fully responsible to make the client progress in the business as fast or even faster than expected by the client.

Finally, the SEO should be focusing on improving upon the sales for the company. After all, this is what that actually counts for the client. It is the result, the result and the RESULT ONLY that will matter in the long run, as already discussed in this article.