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The smart buyers guide toSearch Engine Optimisation
If your business aims to be successful online,appearing in the search engines is going be adefining factor. Because when you’re relyingon people finding you, visibility is vital.When making purchasing decisions, 81% of consumers In the UK use search engines tofind new websites.Breaking down the market share of eachsearch engine shows the importance of beingranked in the ‘big three’:
Google –79%MSN –9%Yahoo –8%Others –4%
Within the results pages themselves, the top30 results for a search query receive over 90% of all traffic for that search term.In fact, the top 3 results receive 60% of alltraffic for a particular search term.
So if your company isn’t there,your customers can’t find you.
 
Spotting common scams
Choosing a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)consultant can be confusing. The majority of people hiring aconsultant have a very limited understanding of the servicesthey are buying.Unfortunately a lot of unscrupulous sellers take advantageof this. They sell un-necessary, sub-standard services, or inthe worst cases they just take your money and run.Generally a good rule of thumb is that if it sounds toogood to be true, then it probably is. Less than honestSEO consultants tell you what you want to hear, but thegood ones always present you with reality.
Luckily, Datadial have compiled a list of the morecommon tricks and scams used by people who are just after your money.
Search engine submission
There are hundreds of companies offer-ing to submit your website to ninety-nine million search engines for £59.99.However, submission won't mean your site is actually ranking for anything inthem. There’s an important distinctionbetween submission and ranking.Submission to all of the major UKsearch engines is free. Anyone can doit easily with no expert help. It’s alsoworth noting that search engines arepretty good at finding sites thoughincoming links without actively submit-ting to them.
SEOat a low low price!
 Aprice that looks too good to be truegenerally is. It’sworth asking yourself how much the consultant values their time, or how little time will be spentworking on your website. In most lowcost cases, it will probably be none atall. Agood strategy allows for consultation,analysis, keyword research, page opti-misation, link building campaigns andreporting. Make sure you check all of this is being included in your price.
We know a guy at Google
Really? I know a guy at Coca-Cola butIdon’t know the secret recipe. Bewareof anyone alluding to know someone atone of the major search engines. It’sanother very well known trick.
Long contracts
Don’t be tied into long contracts.Reputable firms will advise you howlong it will take them to achieve your rankings, but they won’t tie you in toany binding contracts.
Fast Rankings
Getting sites ranked in a short space of time is possible. However, getting themranked for competitive search termsthat people use, generally isn’t. Buyingservices from people promising to rankyour site within 24/48 hours will proba-bly leave you ranking for search termsnobody actually uses.Worthwhile competitive rankings cantake months. Ask yourself - if it’s thatquick and easy, why isn’t everyonedoing it?
‘Secret’methods
The process of search engine optimiza-tion should be completely transparentand ethical. You’d be wise to avoid con-sultants hinting at secret strategies. Atbest they don’t actually have anysecrets. At worst they could be involvedin practices that could get your sitepenalised or banned by the searchengines.So, ask about the ranking process. Anygood SEO consultant will be happy totalk though the strategies they’re using,in terms that you can understand.
Keyword Choice
Make sure you make the final decisionon the keywords you’re targeting. AnSEO consultant should advise you onthe search phrases they target. It’sacommon trick to railroad a client intotargeting ‘easy’search terms that arequick and simple for the consultant toattain. Remember the final choiceshould lie with you.
Thousands of links
Promises of thousands of links to a sitefor a low price or automated linkschemes and link networks are com-mon. In almost every case these arelow quality directory links delivering fewvisitors, but they can have a harmfuleffect on your website link profile. Insome extreme cases you can evendamage your search engine rankings.Judging your links by the quality of referring links and the websites theyare on is a much better metric thanquantity.
‘Guaranteed’rankings
Be very wary of these. They’re another service that sounds too good to be true. Afew scoundrels use the ‘guarantee’hook to take your money and you’llnever hear from them again.Other favorite tricks include rankings inminor search engines that people don’tuse, temporary paid listings using spon-sored links, and rankings on uncompeti-tive search terms that people don’tsearch for.Google themselves warnagainst such tactics - “No one canguarantee a #1 ranking on Google.Beware of SEOs that claim to guaran-tee rankings”.
Ownership
Ensure you retain ownership of all of the work. If the firm you employ startsto register new domains or add pageson other websites, this should ringalarm bells. Not only could this be asign of unethical practices, it will likelymake it much harder to cancel the con-tract.
 
 Avoiding unethical practices
You should also watch for companies using unethical practices that go againstsearch engine guidelines. In some cases such strategies can result in your sitereceiving a penalty or a ban.
Here are some examples of strategies to avoid:
Cloaking
 –Delivering one version of your content to your visitors and another version to searchengines, usually though an automatic redirect or refresh.
Doorway pages
 –Creating new pages specifically aimed at search engines rather than visi-tors. Often these look nonsensical to a user and don’t make sense to read.
Automated link-building
 –Link building is good, but anything automated or participating in large reciprocal schemes is almost certainly bad.
Hidden text
 –Hiding text and/or links on a page is bad. All content should be visible to users.
Large changes to pages –
 Any good SEO consultant will tweak the content of your pages.Making wholesale changes and rewriting the content for search engines is a bad sign. Visitorsshould come first, search engines second.
The right SEO Process
 Agood SEO strategy should include the following stages. Make sure your SEOprovider covers all these, and if not, ask why.
ConsultationAnalysisKeyword researchOn-page optimisationOngoing link developmentMonthly analysis and reportingSocial media marketingReputation managementEmail MarketingOptional services
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