SEO Guarantee: Top 5 Pitfalls to Avoid in Search Engine Optimization
The Unethical SEO Guarantee
The first time we ever encountered a "Top
10 ranking" guarantee was in early 1996 during the launch and promotion of our first
website. Thirteen years later our clients continue to receive unsolicited emails
and phone calls promoting Top 10 rankings in the form of "GUARANTEED TOP RANKING
AND POPULARITY FOR YOUR WEBSITE." Or the infamous, "Get targeted traffic and have
your site submitted to 2,000+ search engines and directories in just minutes!" And
of course our personal favourite, "Guaranteed Page 1 within 7 days or Pay Nothing!"
Unfortunately, we regularly receive inquires from businesses that bought into these
ridiculous SEO (search engine optimization) guarantees, and are now experiencing
a drastic reduction in traffic or even worse, they’ve been banned from search engines
rankings for spamming.
There are two possible outcomes when you buy in these search engine rankings guarantees,
depending on what methods these spammers employ:
- Your website is quickly flagged as a spammy website
and penalized for your actions. Penalties will range from lowered rankings to being
removed from their index altogether. This is usually the case when the SEO spammers
employ obvious black hat methods
- Your website is enjoying temporary high levels
of traffic for your targeted keywords. You will benefit from these high rankings
for a period of few months until either the search engine algorithms catch up with
you, their spam teams start investigating you, or a competitor blows the whistle
on you. Penalties will again range from lowering your rankings to full removal from
their indexes. This usually is the case when SEO spammers employ more advanced methods
of spammy behaviour that are more difficult to detect by the engines
Some business owners seem satisfied with temporary high rankings by using domain
names that can easily be discarded. They were even willing to continue using the
same SEO consultants just by setting a new domain. Until we explained in detail
that Google and other search engines look beyond just the domain name to identify
spam.
Five Things You Need to Know to Avoid Unethical Approaches to Organic Search Engine
Optimization
- No one can guarantee a #1 position
- No one can deliver high rankings in just a few
days
- Submitting to hundreds (or thousands) of search
engines and directories with a click of a button (and thus jumping from zero links
to hundreds in a matter of minutes) will raise flags with algorithms and spam teams,
ultimately hurting your rankings rather than improving them
- "Pay only when you achieve rankings" guarantees
will most likely include your website in link networks. Your participation will
sooner or later be penalized by the engines
- Ethical search engine optimization is a time consuming
effort that requires expert knowledge of both marketing and technology
Will Single Entry Point Guarantee a Top Position in Organic Search Engine Results?
No. Our objective with every SEO project is
to ethically improve your website's visibility in search engines in the context
dictated by your business requirements. While we cannot guarantee top positions,
we always talk about your needs and then we work to achieve our agreed-upon SEO
objectives. To attain and hold top positions in competitive markets, a website must
become an authority in its field. This requires a solid SEO foundation, continuous
optimization efforts, fresh and relevant content, and a great deal of visibility
in related websites. Our deliverables will provide you with an excellent SEO foundation
as well as expert SEO consultation to help you reach
your online goals.
Today more than ever, search engines put more weight on personalization, which means
serving individual results to searchers based on their past activity, location and
other factors. This makes search engine rankings a non-reliable mechanism to
gauge SEO performance. We advise all our clients and prospects to start
optimizing and measuring performance based on the quality of incoming traffic and
on conversions.
Our SEO Guarantee
We do it right the first time. We never employ unethical techniques and we always
abide by search engines’ terms and conditions. We strive to educate our clients
about how the search engines work, and the impact and outcomes of our actions. We
guarantee to remain relevant to your marketing objectives, regardless of how competitive
your market is. We will be reachable via phone, email or in person as you need us.
While we are always on the lookout for ways to achieve fast results and quick wins,
our approach ensures long-term SEO success scalable for future site expansions.
Are you looking for an SEO consultant? Let's discuss your search engine optimization
objectives. Contact us for a free, no-obligation
consultation today.
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Mike
Lascut is Principal of Single Entry Point
® Marketing, focusing on
the search, email and analytics practice and leading the development of the
Single Entry Point Email Marketing next generation product. Mike's professional
career spans over twenty years, including twelve years of intelligent search and
email marketing and over a decade and half of software architecture and development.
When he's not pointing businesses in a smarter direction, Mike spends his time pointing
his lens at wildlife. Connect with
Mike
on Linkedin, read his
Nature Research Photography
blog, or reach him via
email or phone.