Choosing a Search Engine Optimization Company
Posted on | December 14, 2008 | No Comments
If you’ve ever searched in the Open Directory Project and are Choosing a search engine optimization company you’ll have realized that there are a lot of them out there.
So how does one go about choosing a search engine company? Here are a few simple tips to help you on your way:
A Search Engine Company That Sends You Spam Is Not a Good Choice
Have you ever received one of those emails that say, “Dear so-and-so – I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories….” If you have, you’re not alone. Now, while I thought it would be obvious that you shouldn’t be choosing a company that sends you spam, the technique obviously works, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. However, you should recognize that if they are willing to use spam to get you as a customer, they are probably willing to use spam to rank you on the search engines as well. And that’s a choice that could get your site blacklisted from the search engines forever.
Questions You Should Be Asking Your Search Engine Company
#1 – Do you show different pages to the search engines that you do to my visitors?
If yes, then this search engine company is choosing to use a shady technique known as cloaking. This is where the website server detects that a search engine crawler or spider is visiting the site and feeds it specialized content that is not shown to your regular website visitors. Search engines are known to be especially harsh to websites caught employing this technique, completely delisting them from each directory they are listed within.
#2 – Have your results passed the test of time?
Almost any search engine company can get you a high ranking on at least one of the hundreds of search engines that are out there. But you want to be choosing a top tier search engine company that can give you top-notch results over time. That’s because search engines are constantly changing their rankings, spurring many SEO writers to sarcastically compare watching a website’s ranking moving up and down in the listing to a “dance”: Coping With GDS, The Google Dance Syndrome, Is Google (Break) Dancing?, and Google Dance Syndrome Strikes Again.
#3 – Which search engines and what directories?
You want to make sure those oh-so-precious results that we mentioned earlier were achieved in the major search engines and directories, not just the smaller, specialty search engines. Also, make sure that the good results the company shared with you came from competitive categories. Most search engines display the directory size, so check to see that there are a few million listings in the directories as opposed to just a few hundred.
#4 – How do I confirm that this is your work?
Some underhanded search engine companies will claim to be the authors of others work if it will help them land the sale. Therefore, protect yourself by searching for the SEO’s logo or mark on the website in question. If you can’t find that, then you may have to take it one step further and pick up the phone or send an email. It can be a little intimidating to do this, but trust me when I say its worth it.
For further information on choosing a search engine company, please visit the About Our Optimization Company page or Contact Us today.
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