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28
Aug
2003

Search Engine Optimization – Professional Hazards

Unethical SEO Firms Are Making A Mockery of SEO Process
92% of the Internet users worldwide use search engines to find the web sites they are looking for. So merely launching a web site won’t make you richer in terms of traffic, popularity and exposure. That’s why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultants or firms have mushroomed at a brisk pace to quench your thirst for traffic. They strive to place your web site at the top of the search engine rankings.

The search engine optimization industry is thriving consistently by capitalizing on ever-increasing desire of the web site owners to wrest the lion’s share of the traffic-pie from their rivals. Fierce competition for popularity is the lifeline of the SEO industry.

The honesty and integrity in promise and service are two key factors the SEO firms or experts are always trying to maintain. But there are also some unethical SEO firms who make lofty promises to hoodwink the clients of search engine optimization services. Eventually they fall well short of fulfilling their promises. But in the mean time, they make quick bucks and put other honest and ethical SEO firms under scanner.

These fraudulent SEO firms float some false promises that, in turn, give birth to some general misconceptions. These misconceptions are too deep-rooted to be wiped out from clients’ psychology. As a responsible SEO service provider, it is our duty to allay those grossly misleading notions on SEO services. These are the bottlenecks that we have tried to remove in the ensuing discussion to make life easier for ourselves and the SEO industry as a whole. We sincerely hope it will be an eye-opener for SEO clients so that they can ward off the evils of SEO industry.

Commitment Assured Not the Results

Clients often seek guarantee from SEO firms as a proof of its credentials before assigning the job. But in reality no SEO firm, practicing ethical search engine optimization norms, can confirm you a top-notch position in the search engine rankings. Because we can’t influence the search engine ranking process.

The search engine results and index are the exclusive properties of the search engines. What an honest SEO firm does is that it makes your web site compatible for winning the top positions in search engine rankings.

We guarantee you our expertise, our dedicated effort and our vast experience in SEO to churn out the best. The rest is controlled by the search engines.

Guarantee is an alluring bait that the fly-by-night SEO firms dangle before you to win your confidence. Beware of them!

Popularity of the Search Engine Matters Not The Numbers
Some search engine submission and optimization firms play with the numbers to woo the clients’ psyche. They promise you plum rankings in more than thousand search engines. This is extremely ludicrous. They tend to distract you from the reality. The reality says that 95% of the traffic is controlled by 15-20 search engines.

So, top search engine ranks in few quality search engines are much more desirable and useful than futile rankings in countless mediocre search engines. So before going ahead with your SEO firm, we request you to make sure that your web site would be submitted to the major search engines, not to run-of-the-mill ones.

The lists of search engines that the crooked SEO firms flaunt to substantiate their baseless claims include innumerable FFA pages and link farms. These pages can hardly win any traffic for you. Not only that, your web site may bear the brunt of your hasty decision. Hiring the service of such dubious SEO firms can have adverse effects on your web site’s popularity and credibility.

Let’s Face It: SEO IS Not Cheap
Some SEO firms offer their services at a much cheaper rate. Some SEO firms confuse people by flashing misleading statements like ‘Guaranteed Top 10 Rankings at $300 or Your Money Back.’ Don’t fall prey to its face value.

If you delve into the search engine optimization process, you will soon discover $300 is too meager to tide over the cost. A successful search engine submission and placement project is painstaking, laborious and a costly affair. It requires the creative expertise of efficient copywriters, technical know-how of web designers and versatility of search engine optimization experts who supervise the nitty-gritty of search engine optimization.

They try to improve the link popularity of your web site and manage other key aspects of search engine optimization in a bid to win top rankings in search engine-results for your web site on a long-term basis. So, they do not come cheap.

It’s absolutely impossible to take up a search engine optimization assignment at less than $1000. Those who are promising you SEO service at cheaper rate are simply trying to take you for a ride.

Money-back guarantee is another bluff. Because search engine ranking of your web site among top ten positions can’t be predicted beforehand. The SEO firms don’t have any clout on the ranking algorithms of the search engines. It’s a no-entry zone for SEO firms. An ethical SEO firm can guarantee you its best effort and nothing else.

Genuine SEO firms always play safe when the time comes to submit the clients’ web site to the search engines. They always abide by the rules laid down by the search engines. Legitimate SEO firms use zero-spam methodologies. They take every precautionary measure to promote your web site in a secured manner.

Search Engine Optimization – Not an Overnight Game
By now you certainly have come across bold claims by some SEO firms, for example, “Guaranteed top placements within 48 hours”. These worthless SEO firms are making a mockery of SEO process. They are too desperate to deceive the clients.

In any given circumstance, no SEO firm can deliver results in the search engines in such a short time-span. In fact, search engine optimization is a time-consuming process. Overnight success is next to impossible.

Instant or immediate top-notch listing facility is only available with pay-per-click search engines (e.g. Overture). The moment a web visitor clicks on your web site, you have to pay the pay-per-click search engine. The fallacy of the system is that the moment you stop paying your web site lose the ranks. This is not at all a viable solution for your web site’s popularity.

So, it is simply absurd to commit the accomplishment an SEO assignment within four weeks let alone the 48-hour time span. A genuine SEO firm needs at least four to five months to fulfill its commitments to its clients.

There are so many behind-the-scene activities needed to be done to produce the best result. Every search engine updates its index after a certain period of time. This may vary between 30-60 days. To keep pace with the search engine-ranking algorithm, the web sites also have to make necessary chopping and changing to maintain stability in the ranking. So within a brief period, search engine optimization is unattainable.

A genuine search engine optimization campaign is not an overnight job. It will take time, research, specialized skills and ethical and balanced methodologies.

Looks Important But SEO Indispensable
Some web site owners don’t like the way their web sites’ appearances are edited and contents are altered by SEO firms. They always fear that SEO firms will deface the pleasant appearances of their web sites. Some unscrupulous SEO firms take advantage of this inhibition. They promise better ranking without meddling with the existing web pages.

This is one more blatant lie. For a true search engine optimization, one has to work on the main existing web pages of a web site. In the recent past, doorway pages, page redirection/cloaking, hidden text and links, participation in link farms were in use to secure better search engine ranking without flirting with web pages.

But improved algorithm of search engines can now detect these ploys. Those sites using these improper methods can be banned from the search engine listings. So, play safe and gain more!

Authorized Software for Authentic Rankings
You may have come across some software that promise automated search engine optimization and submission process to relieve you from the entire tedious task. We request you to steer clear of those pranksters. Otherwise, you could be labeled as spammer.

SEO firms may choose to use software for the purpose of researching keywords, monitoring search engine ranks, analyzing traffic, link checking, reciprocal link management, search engine submission etc. But search engines do not like automated submission.

Monitoring of the search engine positions is vital to every SEO campaign and it is nearly impossible to do that manually as it can be very time-consuming. There are some rank checking and monitoring software that are quiet safe if used at certain intervals. But, there are some that use the search engine resources heavily and eventually slow down their functioning. When you choose an SEO firm, ask them about the software they use for rank monitoring and make sure they are safe.

Ethical search engine optimization saves your web site from the risks of getting penalized by the search engines. Honest search engine optimization involves massive amount of labor. It is time-consuming and therefore expensive, but it pays off in the long run.

Author:
Search Engine Ethics