SEO Misinformation & Shady Tactics

In the world of SEO it seems everyone is out to make a quick buck. Questionable SEO firms promise businesses limitless leads, instant #1 listings, and a whole host of 'too good to be true' shenanigans.

For example, we were recently approached by a firm stating that we could get the #1 Google search result for 'web design Manchester', or our money back. At first glance, this seems perfect. We had a look into the SEO firm's tactics - hundreds of almost identical, spammy, low-quality websites serving the sole purpose of linking back to their clients. This is what's known as a link farm, designed exclusively to funnel Pagerank to client websites. Google doesn't like link farms, because they're attempting to fool the system. And everyone knows the first rule of SEO is 'Never annoy Google'.

SEO firms also love to promote things like 'Site Structure Analysis', where they look at every bit of your website's code then tell you what you've done wrong. We've lost track of the amount of times our clients have had someone tell them they're "missing the keywords tag", and that that's why they're not rolling around in great big piles of money. In reality, the keyword tag might've been the be all and end all back in 2001, but nowadays Search Engines are much smarter, and over the last 2 years missing keyword tags have very little or no impact on SEO. And here at Sizzle we're dedicated to keeping on the edge of web design and search engine optimisation techniques, and so we don't waste time on redundant technology!

Another issue is the 'W3C Compliant Code' business, insisting that our clients should have 100% valid 'Strict' XHTML, and that doing so would make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. Now don't get us wrong. We love strict XHTML, and we aim for it with every site we make, but that doesn't mean it's a neccessity, nor that it's absence is an issue. And besides, search engines are smart. They're very capable of pulling information from all but the most poorly constructed sites. As you can see from our website we're all WC3'd up!

Finally, our last rant goes to the international spam centres which offer '5,000 hand web directory submissions' and similar. The problem here is that all of these directories will be off-topic and rarely visited. Google can tell when you've been spamming, and nothing reeks of it more than thousands of poorly-worded links from general websites. And if Google thinks you're spamming, that's it. No more search engine visitors. You can't afford to annoy them! 20 links from quality, hand-picked niche directories are infinitely more valuable than any number of ones from spam-infested general dirs. And do you really want the link to your site showing up next to adverts for pharmaceuticals or other undesirables?

SEO is an ongoing job. It's not something you can 'do' in a week or even a month. Good, long-lasting results take a considerable time to develop. If you're promised results in a miraculously quick time, you're getting ripped off.

Here at Sizzle, we pride ourselves on being honest with clients. If you want good, ethical link building, you're on the right site. Want instant results? We'll handle your Pay Per Click campaigns. If you want something suspiciously cheap which runs the risk of total and permanent removal from Google's index? You'de be wise to get a second opinion first!