Search engine optimisation are words that have been bandied about a lot in the last few years. Many SEOs read an e-book on how to rank well then decide to go in business for themselves to capture the ever growing small business market in hopes to gain some extra Christmas cash. But you can’t learn SEO in a day (and I wouldn’t suggest doing business with someone who has).

SEO isn’t rocket science, but it is more involved than simply learning how to manipulate the search engines through meta tags and links. You have to have some understanding of on page and off page elements that affect the overall rankings. If your SEO is telling you any of the following lies then you should drop them and find a real SEO who will be honest and straight up with you:

1. We can guarantee you a top 10 (insert top 50, top 100, top whatever) ranking.

No one can guarantee you a ranking at all. SEOs understand that search engines have algorithms that consider hundreds of factors. Our job is to help you use the information we know about search marketing to increase your chances of ranking well. A guaranteed ranking is out of the question.

2. More meta tags is better.

If your SEO is trying to convince you that 100 keywords in your keyword meta tag will increase your chances at the search engines then your SEO doesn’t know SEO. Each web page should have no more than 5 or 6 keywords in the keywords meta tag. Then, they should all be used more than once on your web page. The actual truth is the content on your page is more important than your meta tags.

3. Pay-per-click advertising is more effective.

Wrong. More people click on links through organic searches than through PPC. It might be true that pay-per-click can deliver more targeted traffic that is ready to buy, but only if you right your ad correctly. Truth is, you’ll get a lot more traffic through your search engine ranked web pages if they are SEOd well.

4. We’ll guarantee you a ranking within 2 weeks (insert 1 week, 3 days, etc.).

Again, no guarantees. A true SEO works with the search engines to help you rank well. But no one can guarantee you anything.

5. Don’t focus on your website, just focus on the search engines.

This is very lame advice. It’s like saying, “That leak in your bathroom doesn’t have anything to do with your plumbing. Just focus on the city’s pipes.” SEO is all about what’s on your web page and what is happening about your web page in other places.

6. Design isn’t important.

Really, it is. But if you’re design is the most important aspect of your SEO campaign then you are in trouble. Design and content go hand in hand. They should be used to compliment each other for maximum SEO.

7. Flash is a great user experience. Use it as much of it as you can.

Uh, no. Flash is OK is small doses. But that huge Flash intro that takes minutes to load will kill you. Your visitors will leave your website before they get to see what you have to offer. Ditch the Flash intro. If you want to use Flash then go for something a little less Flashy, meaning something that won’t take huge bandwidth and clog up people’s dial up process. Plus, the search engines can’t read Flash so you get no SEO benefit from them at all.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 12:42 pm and is filed under SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.