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What to watch out for with some SEO companies
First of all,
when you are choosing a search engine optimization company
you want to find one that has a website with up-to-date
information. If you are on a website and see a company stating
that Yahoo charges $199 per year to index your site, this
is old information. Yahoo now charges $299 per year. If
the SEO website you are on states Alltheweb.com or Altavista.com
have a basic free submit service, this is out-of-date information.
These two search engines have gone over to the "dark
side" and have joined Overture in the pay-per-click
business model.
Of all of the
websites on the Internet that should display the latest
information, the SEO companies should be at the top of this
list. This is our game. Old information on any website is
bad news (except for archived information that is).
Some search
engine optimization companies will guarantee that you see
significant results within 15 days for a new website. This
is an unrealistic statement that no reputable SEO company
would make. Most significant results from search engine
optimization and submission will occur in months, not days.
Some search engines like Google and MSN may index your site
within 30 days, but if you have a new site, your search
engine placement will be in a sort of "holding tank"
for a while and may be buried in the search engine database
for another 30-60 days. Sure, your site may be listed, in
short order but it will take additional time to gain prominence
in the search engine rankings.
Also, some search
engine optimization companies will guarantee newbies high-ranking
results on low-traffic keywords that have little competition
in the search engines. If you are an SEO company who is
not concerned about your customer, this approach makes sense.
There are fewer high-traffic keywords than low-traffic keywords
and the high-traffic keywords generally have much more competition.
There is an
SEO scam on the Internet that consumers need to be aware
of called the "I'll host your optimized pages"
scam. In the "I'll host your optimized pages"
scam you do not have control of your own web pages and basically
pay ransom to the host company on an ongoing basis. Once
you miss a payment your web pages may disappear or the optimization
you had previous paid for will be wiped clean.
Have you been
unfortunate enough to receive the SEO spam scam? This is
the email scam that starts out, "I've noticed you
are not listed on some search engines." You may
have gotten this email even though you are listed number
1 on all of the major search engines. First, any reputable
SEO company will not spam you to gain business. The first
quest of any SEO company is to try to get to the top of
the search engines, not send out spam. Second, this email
is not specific to you or your company. Like all spam, the
spammers send out thousands of emails hoping a small percentage
pay off for big profits. Many of the reputable SEO sites
now have ethics statements on their sites. Ethical website
optimization includes no cloaking, no deceptive practices
and no spamming.
This list is
not comprehensive so it is a good idea to ask your SEO company
questions upfront and that you receive answers to your satisfaction
before you jump onboard. Also, if you have had any bad experiences
with some SEO companies not covered here, please send us
an email so that we may include what to watch out for in
this section and warn other consumers.
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