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Archive for November, 2009
Avoiding Penalties from Google
Written by: Nick Hantge
Like any industry, there are many bad SEO’s in the internet marketing world and with the popularity of search engine optimization there appears to be more and more popping up everyday. When the internet opened the globe to world-wide communication, it opened it up to world-wide scams as well. Everyone with an email account will be familiar with the 419 email scam, those pitiful letters from an African Prince asking for help or the emails from your bank asking you for your checking and routing number.
If you don't know what you are doing, you may get penalized!
For entities like search engines, the world of the scam is so much bigger. Everyone on the net is out to manipulate the search engines and it’s impossible to tell the good from the bad. Search engines are constantly sorting through spam and spend a significant amount of time securing them from getting sucked in.
When it comes to rules, the internet is like the Wild West. Although there are undoubtedly rules in place, no-one’s written them down. The only thing that is clear is if you get caught, you get penalized.
The penalties imposed by search engines can vary. The common factor is a drop in the search engine results page (SERP) and ultimately less visibility of your site. More times than not, a drop in ranking is often the only sign you’ll have that you are being penalized. This is fine if you know what you did wrong, but terrible if you don not.
Many companies face penalties for things they had no idea they were doing because they do not know the ins and outs of the SEO world like an SEO company does. In the complicated world of search engine optimization, it is easy to make the wrong moves or take a wrong step. It’s also possible that the error was made by an outsider, a hacker or a less-than-trustworthy SEO company. The trouble is the error needs to be detected and fixed before you can even consider applying for re-inclusion in the search engine indexed pages.
Detecting when you have a problem may be difficult which is one of the reasons a continued relationship with your SEO consultant or internet marketing firm is a must! Having an expert eye on your site can save you a lot of time in several areas. They will help you to analyze your traffic flow, quash some problems before they become a major issue and spot the reasons behind a search engine penalty fast.
If you suspect your site is being penalized by Google, you will need to examine each of your SEO techniques carefully. Did you acquire a link from a “link farm”? Do you have links that lead to a bad community? Is your keyword density too high, to the point of keyword stuffing? Are you attempting to show the search engine spiders something different from the things your human viewers see? Anything that is on the verge of black hat seo techniques could have lead to you being penalized.
The best way to protect your site from penalties is communicating with your SEO Firm. Establishing clear communication with your SEO consultant will ensure you are aware of each step they make. Communicating clearly with search engines is particularly important as well if you are trying to optimize your website on your own. Communicating with others within the SEO community will ensure you are informed about changes as they happen and can help you select the best SEO company for your business.
7 Ways to Know If Your SEO Company is BS
When a car salesman sells a car, the car buyer knows what a car is, what car dealers are, and how to drive. With SEO there are definitely knowledgeable buyers, but there are thousands who become clients in an industry they know little about.
This means that they can become easy prey to SEO companies that don’t really know what they’re talking about. While there is a sense in which results can speak for themselves, and there’s a bottom line return on investment calculation, it still might help for small businesses to be able to protect themselves from self-appointed SEO experts looking to make a few bucks in an undersaturated and expensive marketplace. Here are some tips for someone new to SEO and who plans to work with an optimizer:
1.) Unclear or Poor Keyword Targets
You should know which keywords your SEO is targeting. You should know where you rank for these keywords, keeping in mind that the more obscure and long the keyword, the less point (traffic) there will be in achieving a ranking, for the most part. This is why SEOs that sell their services “by the keyword” are doing something strange. What keywords? How many people are trying to rank for these keywords, and what kind of traffic can you expect from success? That said, a good SEO company might be able to generate lots of traffic through a large list of longtail keywords that produce large traffic in accumulation.
Basically, specific rankings mean little without the traffic they bring, so make sure you evaluate on organic non-branded traffic. People that guarantee top ten rankings for your keywords should have you raise an eyebrow, and those that price based on number of keywords are even sketchier.
Also remember that keywords have to be useful for you. Check where the traffic’s coming from, and make sure the likely searcher’s intent is in line with your conversion hopes.
2.) Insufficient Reporting
Your SEO should be able to justify the expense for his or her services. Establish targets and make sure the SEO company you hire gets in touch at least on a quarterly basis, with ranking progress on the chosen keywords and corresponding traffic growth. Once your site is optimized, the number of links your site has should grow. Install Google Webmaster Tools to keep track. (Also, if your SEO has never mentioned Google Webmaster Tools, it’s not a disaster, but it’s not a good sign either)
3.) Information Hoarding
A good SEO should be confident in their expertise, and know that no matter how much they train you, they will still be of great use to you as a hire. The first SEO I met as a web developer would flat out answer any questions I had, which was impressive and encouraging. The company you decide to go with should be open with you, and comfortable with explaining whatever you want to know about. Being secretive about information is an indication that the person might not know that much. Plus, good SEOs want their clients to know as much as possible so that they can accomplish as much as possible together and deliver maximum results. For a good and honest SEO, a knowledgeable client is a good client.
4.) Keyword Density Emphasis
Given how much this matters (not much), SEOs that focus on this probably don’t really know how to best spend their time/your money. That said, it’s even worse if they’re keyword stuffing. If the sentence reads horribly, with the keyword used almost every sentence, find new help. Of course, this applies to content producers by trade as well.
5.) Directory Submission Emphasis
Links are valuable when they come from relevant sources, and directories are just about the least relevant set up possible. Your link is included with tons of others, from a page with little content, and a large chunk are for money, against Google link-buy guidelines. Ask to see the links pointing to your site, and if they all seem to be directories, something’s wrong. You’ll see at the end of the day when your rankings aren’t great, but you might as well catch it early. This doesn’t mean all directories are a bad idea (Yahoo’s has a history of being useful), but it shouldn’t be the focus. Niche-specific directories can be useful for SEO (added link value from relevance) and direct traffic, but are generally rare.
6.) Search Engine Submission Emphasis
Many SEO websites brag about submitting you to search engines, sometimes even with price structures that reflect how many they will submit to. This is problematic on many levels. It has minimal SEO effect, so any focus on this means they are neglecting more impotant things, or they think it sounds impressive so they pretend it’s actually important. There are only a couple of search engines that really count (Google-Yahoo-Bing). Traffic comes from people. How many search engines do you or anyone else you know use? On top of that, submitting is very different from ranking. If this is on the short list of “things they do” for you, you should probably find someone else.
7.) Retainer Abuse
While a by-the-hour system has its drawbacks, it has some very trackable advantages. There is time put in for the money. That said, to land a really great Denver SEO company or team and have them on-call when you need them does take a little extra on your part, incentive for them to stay with you and give you attention. Don’t run away from a retainer model, but you shouldn’t be paying very much for nothing. If you want to go retainer, make sure you give them all they need and move their suggestions forward, and it can be well worth your time and money. There is always something to do, though, and if you’re really paying someone to be there for emergencies and questions, you shouldn’t be paying a fortune. Retainers also give a peace of mind in asking for help and suggestions, when you know you’re not always on the clock, and can be great for helping you learn about SEO. You might want to suggest a retainer model based on performance and agreed upon expectations (controlling for seasonality). If the SEO is not against the idea, it could be a good sign. If they’re against it, it’s a bad sign. Remember, the goal is non-branded organic traffic, or conversions, if applicable.
Article Source: Simon Abramovitch
