Undeliverable Promises Made by an SEO Company - SEO Advice by Gervais Group LLC

Companies offering SEO services can typically be divided into two categories; those that deliver on their promises of meaningful search engine optimization and those that don’t. Fortunately, weeding out the companies that won’t deliver meaningful results can be as easy as examining the promises that they make while pitching for you business. These promises include:* Promises of a page one ranking – There are so many variables in search engine optimization that promises of a page one ranking count for nothing unless they come from a search engine insider (…and how often does that happen?). Algorithms for ranking on the search engines are guarded in a higher security environment than the recipe for Coca Cola with a handful of people at each engine possessing the A to Z knowledge to navigate the process in its entirety. SEO companies make this kind of promise because they know it’s what a prospective client wants to hear, delivery be damned.* Immediate rankings for keywords relevant to your business – Immediately ranking for keywords can be interpreted as “We are going to concoct a ten word keyphrase that, as long as the keyphrase is entered verbatim, will show up in the number one spot.” A phrase like, “Popsicle Company that has forty three flavors including roast beef” can be delivered and will probably hit the number one spot but who cares? The object of an SEO service is to generate traffic, something that this type of work will not accomplish.* Flat fee pricing at ridiculously low prices – The same company delivering your zero traffic ten word key phrase will probably be very willing to charge a low flat fee for it. Considering that conjuring up the phrase will take less than five minutes, the $99 they’re charging you works out to an hourly rate of over $1,100; great SEO work if you can get it.* Submission to thousands of search engines – This type of promise is another that can be categorized as “Things a client might want to hear”.  This kind of promise means nothing and works more as filler in a presentation than anything that might make a difference. Submissions can be done for free and too many can prove to counterproductive. Finally, someone trying to convince you that your website will have relevance to that many micro-market search engines should be ushered to the door as quickly as possible.         Search engine optimization, done properly, can yield fantastic results and an extremely positive return on investment. The main challenge for search engine companies and their clients is that the process rarely provides immediate gratification and requires a ramp up period ranging from weeks to months before significant results at the search engines can be realized. Additionally, an SEO campaign can take one hundred hours or more per month to get off the ground, requiring an investment from the website owner where, again, the return may take time to materialize. An experienced and reputable SEO company will not hesitate to convey these issues to a prospective client and while it may not be exactly what a client wants to hear, the long term results will always far outweigh a bunch of short term empty promises.