SEO A Scam? The Truth About The Industry

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 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.

with the help of SEO report you can get easily knowledge about your site’s position and ranking, SEO report also helps you to increase your site’s popularity,

Offsite SEO to Increase Your Website Traffic

Search engine optimization abilities are in high demand as more and more web owners are driving to Increase Traffic with organic searches from Google, Yahoo, and Bing. You will find several important elements when it comes to Search engine optimization which cannot be overlooked if you are looking to get your website on page 1 of Google. Onsite search optimization is important but it isn’t enough to get to the very top of the page.

Onsite Search Engine Optimization

About 20% of your search engine success is based in your onsite factors so we will cover them quickly. If you’re truly serious about ranking within the top three for a competitive phrase you’ll need to have the keyword within the website title, meta description, and H1. Another enourmous factor that many people neglect is having the search term within the domain URL. If your keyword matches your domain URL as an exact match you’ll find yourself higher in the rankings without needing to do almost as much offsite Seo work. It is a tremendous advantage to have the keyword you are targeting inside your actual domain, and if you don’t have the domain you can have an optimized page in your website where the keyword is in the URL. This second page can have a positive ranking effect in your main site if your inner linking structure is strong. Another element is key phrase density on page. All you really need is about 1% to 2% keyword density on site and it is a good idea to use some synonyms and long tails of your keyword rather than stuffing it too much with your exact keyword phrase.

Offsite Search Engine Optimization

Offsite Seo is about popularity. Web sites are ranked by their onsite elements to determine relevance, but then a huge part of their ranking is based on popularity from incoming hyperlinks, also known as one way links. One way links are essential for search engines like google to determine how well-liked a website is depending on how many other websites link to it. It’s almost like a vote for your site when somebody gives you a link. The more links you have the greater trust and authority your site will have. It is really important to make sure the links have your search term in the anchor text. When the search engines crawl a website and find an outbound link to your internet site it makes note of the anchor text to assess the relevancy of the website.

The Google algorithm is very complex and a mystery to everybody accept the engineers at Google. However, many of the elements have been determined via testing and trial and error. Backlinks coming from higher pagerank websites do carry more weight than websites without any web page rank and authority. To rank high in the search engines you’ll need a very diverse profile of backlinks from low web page rank to higher web page ranking domains. There are lots of methods that could be used for gaining one way links. If your site is in need of some high page rank backlinks consider posting some articles on the top 10 article directories like Ezines and Goarticles. These give trusted one way links which are critical for a well rounded offsite Search engine optimization profile.

Having a great strategy and persistence you can gain the high ground in the search engines and increase website traffic with solid offsite Seo backlinking campaigns. The time to get ahead is right now while the rest of the world still doesn’t know what Seo means. Get your internet realestate and get it ranked now and you’ll have a nice portfolio for the future.

Find up to date research and information on fat burning supplements to figure out what is the most effective approach. Acquire all the information you need for free at this website.

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most used tools to lure visitors to websites. Business owners exploit Search Engine Optimization to attract targeted traffic to their web sites and getting this traffic will lead to increased business profits. Search Engine Optimization makes use of specific strategic keywords that you make use of when creating your site that web crawlers are attracted to. These web crawlers consequently bring your site up in the various search engines rankings. Developing Search Engine Optimization success takes a small amount of work, but pays off. Here are some tips.

Make sure that your content pieces are related keyword rich. Make sure this carries throughout your whole site. The more keyword rich your site is the more places the web crawlers can attach to. These web crawlers or bots determine where in the ranks of the various search engines your website will be located. You should make certain that you do not overdo it though.

Make sure that your title is obvious to understand, and also keyword loaded. The title is likely one of the most important aspects of making your site. Your title is the very first thing any visitor to your site will see. Without a fitting title everything else you do from that time on is pointless. Whenever you are crafting your title, think about adding your principal key terms. Those that stand out the most to you will stand out to the visitor.

Be certain that the content of your website is relevant to your business. If you’re creating a website on the subject of starting a web-based business, you might want to be sure that you insert business start up tips in your site. Should you fail to do this you may turn away your visitor. The more relevant content you have in your website the bigger chance your customer won’t rebuff your site and move on quickly. There are lots of reputable resources to build an online business which will provide you with quality relevant content. You simply have to discover the one which is right for you.

The more resourceful your long tail keywords, the greater possibility of your site being ranked higher in the search engine. Long Tail keywords usually are 3-4 words in length. They are also some of the most searched words by nearly all web searchers.

Ensure your backlinks are of very high quality. This will help produce the most visitors to your site. Getting free one way backlinks from blogs is easy to accomplish and well worth your time. Guest blogging and commenting are the most productive.

If your site is difficult to navigate the visitor won’t stay. The more user friendly you make your site the better off you’ll be. Set up sections in your site which might then be implemented into new web pages which makes it a lot easier for visitors to browse your site.

Search Engine Optimization is changing almost every day. Things are being added and others are being removed. Continuing your education in Search Engine Optimization gives you the updated info you will need to make the required modifications to your website. The importance of nonstop education on Search Engine Optimization can’t be stressed enough. The more you learn and put into practice the more site visitors you’ll have.

Regardless of what the gurus may tell you, building your own profitable web-based business making use of Search Engine Optimization is not rocket science – and you needn’t spend a large number of dollars on pricey courses. You just need somebody to teach you what to do, in a way that is simple to follow. Find a reputable step-by-step video course on internet marketing or a step-by-step e-book and then study and implement.

How Do You Choose A SEO Specialist

It’s time. You tried doing it by yourself but your aren’t getting the results you want. You heard of all things you are suppose to do but can’t find the time to complete the mundane task necessary to increase your websites listing on google. Your search engine optimization isn’t where you want it to be and you have now decided to hire an SEO Company.

Be Careful and beware of false promises.

Things you should look for when considering hiring a Philadelphia SEO Agency:

1. Transparency – What will they be doing for you? Make sure they list out all the tasks they will be performing before hand in detail. Verify they will provide monthly reporting.

2. Packages Verses Ala Cart Services – During your consultation with the provider you are considering talk about individual tasks and the results each task will help provide. For instance your on page SEO may be already set up correctly so there is no need to pay for this service as part of a package.

3. Work Type – Per Job or Hourly timeframe. It’s important to understand the way you will be paying for the work that needs to be done. If the firm will be correcting Meta tags on 2 of your pages are you paying a flat fee or hourly rate and if you are paying hourly ask how they came up with the time frame for payment.

4. Get What You Pay For – This goes without saying. I’m not saying you need to pay a hundred thousand dollars for good SEO service but just like anything else you get what you pay for.
5. Guarantees – Beware of companies that guarantee high placement in the search engines. While most companies know what needs to be done to achieve high rankings that does not guarantee high rankings will follow.

6. Contracts – Beware of companies that lock you into long contracts. Companies that do this can make you pay even if they aren’t producing results. Typically, you should see some results after a 90-day period. The best companies don’t make you sign a contract longer than three months in the beginning and then after that you can cancel at anytime.

7. References: Ask for references. If they are good at what they do they will be able to provide you with references backing their service.

8. Online Presence – Request a list of some keywords the firm you are considering using is ranking for. If they can’t get high rankings for themselves how are they going to get high rankings for you?

As a Philadelphia Seo Specialist I have seen all types of Philadelphia SEO firms guaranteeing all kinds of things. Make sure you ask a lot of questions, follow the tips above and go with your gut. If it sounds to good to be true it usually is.

Exactly What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a relatively new form of internet searching and marketing. Specifically when using SEO for a small or large business, unique and annoying buzzwords are somewhat moot in today’s internet market. Business owners need results, requiring a rich blend of SEO keywords and content. Investing in a smart, long-run approach to search engine optimization will almost definitely bring a great amount of traffic and resultant sales to your website.

What is Search Engine Optimization?

The process of what makes search engine optimization is relatively simply. When people open a search engine on the internet and perform a search, they use keywords or short phrases to find the site they are looking for. Search engine optimization is the process of which terms are used relative to your particular business or marketed product that provides high visibility and traffic to your website. Specifically, search engine optimization provides an increased ranking to your specific organic search results. These organic listings are generally listed below a large search engine link and also appear to the left of the screen on sponsored results pages.

How do I use Search Engine Optimization?

Ranking your particular product using search engine optimization is relatively easy when done correctly. This process is relatively misleading in that many business owners feel using search engine optimization marketing techniques is truly all they need. This is much farther from the truth than most people understand as the true marketing of your organic product requires much more specific marketing campaigns. Current customers and referrals are really the only people that will enter in upon search engine optimization techniques to find your products online. When new customers find your business, they are usually finding it by searching key phrases or solutions to their particular needs. Thus, writing specific search engine optimization content for your organic material will provide a dovetail to other specific and popular products customers are searching for.

Effectiveness of Search Engine Optimization

Research suggests that when searching any particular key word, the first three links on the search engine page receive 70% of the clicks while the remainder of the first search engine page’s results receive up to 25%. Your particular link being found on the second page will only receive up to 5% of clicks. Naturally, when using search engine optimization, ensuring your content is rich enough to land your particular link on the first three lines is crucial to drive more traffic. An optimum percentage of search engine optimization content is relatively easy to follow. When used properly, the search engine of your choice will rank your percentage of search engine optimization content in the richness provided within your content. Of course, too much content could be considered spamming and removed, thus, working within the confines of search engine optimization rules proves crucial to your SEO marketing success. Maintaining your rankings over a certain amount of time will increase your referral traffic and continually add new customers on a daily basis.

Looking to find the best deal on make fast money, then visit my make money online website to find the best advice on ways to make extra money for you.

Arthor:
Annette Lode

Fetch useful knowledge about make extra money – please make sure to study this site. The times have come when proper information is really only one click away, use this opportunity.

If you want web traffic,, and don’t want to pay for it.. you need to use search engines and Google with subject matter keyword, that pin point what you are selling or sharing.. and you will definitely increase your Hubpages earnings. I know you would like to make extra money while publishing your favorite articles, so this is the time to start using Google search engine optimization and boost your earning in your affiliate programs.

The first step in Google search engine optimization is keyword research, in fact you need to do your keyword research before you even write an article. Keyword research will show you how many people search for your keyword or keyword phrase on a monthly basis. It will also show you the pay per click cost that advertisers pay on average to advertise that specific keyword or phrase. This gives you an idea of how large your target audience will be, along with ideas for choosing more expensive keywords which will pay you better when someone clicks on your adsense ads.

For doing keyword research you will need a research tool, there are several expensive programs out there for doing keyword research, but if you are only using it for writing articles on Hubpages, you can get by with just using the free Google Keyword Research Tool. One of the great tools that expensive programs provide is the number of people competing for that phrase in Google. To do this without an expensive tool, you can just type into your Google search box, your keyword phrase inside of quotation marks, this will show you the amount of businesses competing to get to number one in the Google search. So using this method along with the Google keyword research tool will give you an absolutely free way to find out about 75% if the information an expensive software program would give, the great thing about the software programs is that all the information is right there for you, all in one place. The more expensive programs out there will show you a lot more specific information, such as the estimated intent of visitors that want to actually buy the product you are discussing. Many of these programs do offer free trials, and if you are doing more marketing than just writing articles on Hubpages you should try some of the free trials to get an idea of all the amenities they provide users. Google search engine optimization begins with doing your keyword research, once you have found the keyword you want to focus on in your article it is time to begin writing your article.

Google Search Engine Optimization:

Now that you have your keywords, you want to write your article about… it is now it is time to include Google search engine optimization in the content of your article or posts. First things first, you need to make sure that your exact keyword or keyword phrase, is used in your title. This is the very first place that Google spiders will look to see what your article should be about. The second place that Google spiders will look is your summary, I try to mention my keyword phrase twice in every summary.

Next you need to concentrate on using your keyword phrase in every paragraph of your article, this will help the Google spiders to recognize that your article is definitely relevant to the subject that your title says it is about. Your keyword density should be close to 2%, but try not to exceed this percentage or your article will look and sound very spammy. 2% keyword density means that your article has your keyword mentioned 2% of the time, in other words…if your article is 1000 words long, you should mention your keyword phrase 20 times. I try to emphasize my keyword at least once in each paragraph by using bold, italicize, or underline to really capture the fact that this is what my article in about. For instance, this article is about Google search engine optimization so you can see that it sticks out for the Google spiders to see that this article is extremely relevant to Google search engine optimization. When the Google spiders recognize the relevance that your article has, they can rank you in Google search, but also this helps them to determine which Adsense ads to display on your hub.

Why do you need to do this? Because without using search engine optimization your article has very little chance of getting noticed by Google. If your article is not ranked high in Google searches you will get very little traffic to your article other than other hubbers. I know that many authors here at Hubpages write for the joy of expressing themselves and not for money or commercial intent, but why not utilize Google search engine optimization to get your articles read by more people out there in the world? If you truly do not believe in receiving money for your contributions that is fine, you do not need to use Adsense or any other affiliates, but I would hope that you would want as many people as possible to recognize your skills as an author.

 Page 2 of 2 « 1  2