SEO is an acronym for "search engine optimization" or "search engine
optimizer." Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can
potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk
damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential
advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to
your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful
services for website owners, including:
- Review of your site content or structure
- Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
- Content development
- Management of online business development campaigns
- Keyword research
- SEO training
- Expertise in specific markets and geographies.
Keep in mind that the Google search results page includes organic
search results and often paid advertisement (denoted by the heading
"Sponsored Links") as well. Advertising with Google won't have any
effect on your site's presence in our search results. Google never
accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results, and it
costs nothing to appear in our organic search results. Free resources
such as
Webmaster Tools, the official
Webmaster Central blog, and our
discussion forum can provide you with a great deal of information about how to optimize your site for organic search.
Before beginning your search for an SEO, it's a great idea to become an
educated consumer and get familiar with how search engines work. We
recommend starting here:
If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A
great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign, or
planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure
that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom
up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.
Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:
- Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
- Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
- Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
- What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
- What's your experience in my industry?
- What's your experience in my country/city?
- What's your experience developing international sites?
- What are your most important SEO techniques?
- How long have you been in business?
- How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all
the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about
your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?
While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical
SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly
aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to manipulate search
engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may
result in a negative adjustment of your site's presence in Google, or
even the removal of your site from our index. Here are some things to
consider:
- Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.
Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
"Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."
Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for "burn fat at night"
diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.
- No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special
relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google.
There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a
site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.
- Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.
Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates
deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or
"throwaway" domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's
index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies
you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to
"help" you. If an SEO has FTP access to your server, they should be
willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site.
- You should never have to link to an SEO.Avoid
SEOs that talk about the power of "free-for-all" links, link popularity
schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These
are typically useless exercises that don't affect your ranking in the
results of the major search engines -- at least, not in a way you would
likely consider to be positive.
- Choose wisely. While you consider whether
to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry.
Google is one way to do that, of course. You might also seek out a few
of the cautionary tales that have appeared in the press, including this
article on one particularly aggressive SEO: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002002970_nwbizbriefs12.html.
While Google doesn't comment on specific companies, we've encountered
firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly
beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.
- Be sure to understand where the money goes.While
Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other
search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with
their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you
highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section
rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid
prices in real time to create the illusion that they "control" other
search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice.
This scam doesn't work with Google because our advertising is clearly
labeled and separated from our search results,
but be sure to ask any SEO you're considering which fees go toward
permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.
- What are the most common abuses a website owner is likely to encounter?
One common scam is the creation of "shadow" domains that funnel users
to a site by using deceptive redirects. These shadow domains often will
be owned by the SEO who claims to be working on a client's behalf.
However, if the relationship sours, the SEO may point the domain to a
different site, or even to a competitor's domain. If that happens, the
client has paid to develop a competing site owned entirely by the SEO.
Another illicit practice is to place "doorway" pages loaded with
keywords on the client's site somewhere. The SEO promises this will make
the page more relevant for more queries. This is inherently false since
individual pages are rarely relevant for a wide range of keywords. More
insidious, however, is that these doorway pages often contain hidden
links to the SEO's other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away
the link popularity of a site and route it to the SEO and its other
clients, which may include sites with unsavory or illegal content.
- What are some other things to look out for?
There are a few warning signs that you may be dealing with a rogue
SEO. It's far from a comprehensive list, so if you have any doubts, you
should trust your instincts. By all means, feel free to walk away if the
SEO:
- owns shadow domains
- puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
- offers to sell keywords in the address bar
- doesn't distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
- guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
- operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
- gets traffic from "fake" search engines, spyware, or scumware
- has had domains removed from Google's index or is not itself listed in Google
If you feel that you were deceived by an SEO in some way, you may want to report it.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles
complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a
complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click on "File a Complaint Online," call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:
Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
Washington, D.C. 20580
If your complaint is against a company in a country other than the United States, please file it at http://www.econsumer.gov/.
