In Part 1 we discussed the redundancy of search engine submission and the risk of buying into guaranteed search engine optimization results. This week we are going to focus on a few other SEO strategy warning signs.

3. You’re going to do ALL THAT, for how much?
As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! The same goes for SEO services. If your SEO provider is promising monthly link building, content creation for your website and reporting, all for $100 a month, there a few questions you should ask:

• So do those monthly services translate to 1 directory link, an automated report and a poorly written, keyword heavy article for my site?
• What quality of work can be expected and will there be a tangible, quality SEO result from this?
• $100 a month for 12 months is still $1,200 – is this the best way in which to invest that $1,200?

One of the greatest costs of making a poor SEO decision is opportunity cost, all those other things you could have done such as actually ranking higher in the search engines, instead of losing time, money and patience. Do not make the mistake of selecting SEO according to price. The price you paid for the SEO is the least of your costs.

Have you ever thought to yourself:
I could buy the cheap pair of shoes and replace them in 6-12 months, or I could spend some more money, buy quality and only have to replace them in 2 years.

The same analogy works well for SEO. If you buy cheap SEO, you will be replacing that provider faster than you think, but if you opt for quality, the mutually beneficial relationship can last a good few years!

4. Stay away from the usual suspects in black hat SEO
Finally, don’t get drawn into strategies that could potentially penalise your website. These strategies include:
-    Hidden text
-    Cloaking
-    Keyword stuffing
-    Manipulative linking
-    “Low value” pages

These concepts have been discussed in great detail online, so instead of rehashing what has been said quite eloquently before, here’s a link to Rand Fishkin’s updated section in Rewriting the Beginner’s Guide Part IX: Myths, Penalties & Spam.

There are many ways to skin the SEO cat, because there exist a significant number of factors that affect how the SEO strategy will be approached, they include:

•    Competitiveness of the industry in which the given business operates
•    Infrastructure on which the site is built, i.e.: dynamic database vs. static site
•    Trust and authority of the host domain name
•    Level of competition and number of the targeted keywords
•    Client budget that can be allocated to the project

The above are a mere snapshot of the factors that need to be taken into account when developing an effective SEO strategy for a client.

There are, however a number of SEO approaches that can could more aptly be called myths or misconceptions rather than strategies. If you are investigating SEO services and are offered any of the following, it is worth thinking about twice, questioning it and even asking the SEO agency to explain the strategy – it would be worthwhile hearing what they have to say.

#1. Search Engine Submission
Quoting Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz: ‘Since 2001-2, search engine submission has not only not been required, but is actually virtually useless.’

The best practice is to earn links from other sites rather than manually submitting URLs. Furthemore, there are really a handful of search engines with which you should be considered, the big three, consisting of Google, Yahoo! and Bing (formerly Microsoft/Live) and perhaps a few others such as Ask.com and certain vertical search engines relevant to your business.

You DO NOT require any type of service offering to submit your site to one let alone THOUSANDS of search engines.

Should you be offered a strategy that includes submission to thousands of search engines and directories, whether this is a free addition to the service or costs you anywhere from $30 per month to $200 per month, this is a waste of your money.

If a submission service offers linking to Free-For-All (FFA) directory pages, this is an even greater warning sign as these pages do not generally pull much weight in search relevancy algorithms. Why? Because they are ‘free for all’, many automated programs fill these pages with links pointing at low quality sites.

Warning signs to look for in regards to search engine submission services:
1. A website with a search engine submission service page is a warning in itself. No high value, reputable SEO business would offer search engine submission services in 2009!

2. Offering to submit your website to 5 search engines is as redundant as submitting it to 75 000*.
(*I found a site actually offering to submit your website to this number of search engines)

3. Stay away from Free-For-All (FFA) directories – in business,  the price of something is directly proportional to its value. Very often this is not even the case, as you may pay a certain price and still be disappointed with the service. But when it is free, the value needs to be evaluated with careful scrutiny.

4. If there is any fee charged for this submission service – run! Imagine, if 1000 people decide that $29.95 for search engine submission is not that bad a price to pay. Why not, if it means getting your site ranked, right?! That makes some business $29950 richer while 1000 business owners have not moved a step closer to ranking well in the search engines.

Not a bad business model and that is why you will still find so many websites on the Internet offering this ‘service’.

2. Guaranteed Page 1 Rankings within a Week
If you see ANY types of guarantees that read like this one, taken from a website offering search engine optimisation services, you should consider these words carefully: ‘We guarantee to have your website listed on Page 1 in Google within seven business days GUARANTEED or you pay nothing!’

1. Your website listed on Page 1 in Google is fairly ambiguous. Will your website be ranked on page 1 for competitive keywords, your business name, your website URL?

Let us look at this within the context of an example. You sell jewellery online and your website is ‘crazyaboutjewellery.com’.

So, if you find in a week that your website is ranking for the phrase ‘Crazy About Jewellery’, this would be related to your business name, rather than any extensive search engine optimisation work that has been done. Every business should rank first and foremost for its business name and if your website URL matches the business name exactly, your top ranking for your business name will be attributed to the strength of your domain name.

In simpler terms, the search engines recognise that the most relevant result for the search phrase ‘Crazy About Jewellery’ must be the website that has the website address: crazyaboutjewellery.com

2. Be absolutely clear about the types of keywords that your website will be ranking for on the first page of Google. Are they going to be competitive, relevant keywords or very long-tail and specific keywords for which your site may have already been ranking, but you simply never thought to check?

For example, to rank for ‘silver earrings’ would require a great deal more work than ranking for ‘49mm sterling silver hoop earrings’ because the first is a much more competitive phrase compared to the latter. Certainly, the latter is very important, because if someone is typing this into the search engine they are much further along the buying cycle, but from an SEO perspective, this would be an easier phrase to rank in the SERPs.

Find out what the fine print is in the agreement. Take the time to learn what ‘Page 1 Google ranking’ really means because from a technical or legal standpoint it could have a number of meanings. So if your website is new and not even indexed by the search engines you may find that on day 1 it does not rank for your business name, but you certainly do not have to pay a cent to find your website on the search engines by day 7. There are free and easy ways of doing this.