SEO - Guaranteed SEO Results? Buyer Beware

Nothing is more comforting at the start of a new business relationship than guarantees. But be very cautious about believing guaranteed SEO (search engine optimisation). Yes, optimising your website can have amazing results but guarantees can be dangerous, for the following reasons:

• The search engines control the results. No SEO company, no matter how good, can manipulate the search engines. And if they promise you that they can, chances are that they're using grey or black hat strategies which are temporary, at best, and could be potentially harmful to you (with the potential of your site getting blacklisted).
• Nothing is permanent. Even if you achieve the rankings you desire, they may not "stick". SEO is ongoing and the competitive landscape, as well as search engine algorithms, will change.
• It's not all about SEO. Getting top spot in Google does increase your chances of success but won't guarantee it.

While you want certain satisfaction, customer service, and growth-related guarantees when you invest in the marketing, design, and SEO of your website, very specific SEO results shouldn't be guaranteed. A skilled company can give you some ideas of potential traffic increases and should be able to show you marked improvement during the contract period but to guarantee you spot#1 for a highly popular search term is unrealistic. And beyond rankings, it's important to look at your overall marketing strategy as well.

Once your visitors get to your website you want to also focus on ways to get them to buy from you. SEO is important but it isn't everything. It should be a part of your overall marketing strategy.

Here are a few things you should strive for in your search engine optimisation campaigns:

• Diversification. Don't rely solely on your Google results. Don't rely solely on one keyword/key phrase.
• Testing and analysis. Continually measure your success. Then, you can switch gears if necessary or work to replicate and expand upon a specific method that seems to be bringing about great results.
• Long Tail. Go for long tail keyword phrases. If you sell computers, don't just optimise for the word 'computer'. Instead, go for Best Perth Computers online or something like that (based on investigation and analysis of which search terms are being searched in your area and how much competition there is).
• Optimise for both "on page" and "off page" and utilise several approaches for multiple key phrases. Google and other search engines measure many factors when indexing your page and most search engines experience tweaks in their algorithms on an almost ongoing basis. If you have an approach that has multiple layers you're more likely to withstand new competition and rule changes and if you are indexing well for multiple phrases and lose ground on one, you won't be as likely to suffer a dramatic loss in traffic and sales.
• Make SEO ongoing. You can't just do it once and you can't set it and forget it. Optimisation and marketing campaigns need to be an active part of your ongoing strategy.
• Get some help from a reliable SEO consultant. Most small to medium-sized businesses don't find it practical to have a full-time SEO department. Choose an SEO consulting firm can help you with initial strategies and maintenance to help you work at it on an ongoing basis. Beware of guaranteed SEO. Most SEO companies that know their stuff will guarantee your satisfaction but won't make unrealistic promises that can't be kept.

Source: Ezine

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