Quality Content Writers Group
S.E.O
by Arthur Webster Just plain honesty
Arthur Webster 
Just plain honesty
Search Engine Optimisation - or the easiest way to steal the bread from your mouth?
Many people swear by S.E.O. and maintain that they have to keep 'tweaking' their web sites in order to retain their high position in the search rankings.
Many other people pay an absolute fortune to S.E.O. experts for them to do the 'tweaking' for them - I wonder if it is a coincidence that an old form of 'tweak' is 'twit'.
I was invited to meet with a friend who has recently gone into the S.E.O. business. He is very successful at it and charges a fortune for his service. I met with him because, the last time I spoke to him he was selling rip-off holiday packs to time-share owners and taking away their time share at the same time (a popular and lucrative option on the Costas of Spain). As far as I knew, he had absolutely no knowledge of computers apart from how to work with one.
My first question to him, after the usual social chit chat, you know, who's died' who's gone to prison and who's under police surveilance, was "What's the scam?"
We've known each other for years and we both speak directly and have no time for cow pats.
"It's an absolute doddle" he told me, "I offer people the optimisation of their web sites and show them how they can get '000s of extra hits every month. I show them how few hits they are getting now and guarantee a minimum of 1,000 extra hits a month for €50. I don't claim to do anything to their web sites I simply say that I will optimise its' performance."
"So," I asked, "where do these guaranteed hits come from?"
"That's the beauty of it!" he was quite enthusiatic about this point, "I buy them on the internet for $10! I make about €43 a pop from each client each month! There is so much business out there, it is unbelievable."
We chatted on over a luch he paid for and he got round to explaining why he wanted me to work with him. He was now getting ambitious and wanted to get high search rankings for the 'clients' he had already signed up for his guaranteed hits. He understood that the extra hits were a great sales or promotion tool and now he wanted to go for the really big money - getting number one rankings in Google!
He out-lined what he had learned as a salesman for a genuine(?) S.E.O. company. Basically he had learned that he could virtually guarantee a number one Google listing if he included a pertinent but obscure keyword on the mark's web site. This key word would guarantee the number one spot because of it's obscurity. The example he gave me was "How many people will search for 'left handed screwdriver'?". He would do a search for 'left handed screwdriver' and if there were no results - BINGO! - he now can guarantee somebody selling tools the number one spot on Google by adding 'left handed screwdriver' into their keyword list.
I had to reject his offer of a partnership but he certainly got me thinking.
Now I know how so many people can appear to guarantee a number one Google rank to so many web sites.
I put his little theory to the test on one of my sites by adding 'omnipotence through verbal dexterity' to the keyword list - sure enough - Google Nº1 out of over 1,800 results!
I've never held much regard for S.E.O. any way but seeing how simple it appears to be to manipulate apparent results, it has sunk even lower in my estimation.
Maybe content is king, after all.
Jan 16th 2008 05:08
Just plain honestySearch Engine Optimisation - or the easiest way to steal the bread from your mouth?
Many people swear by S.E.O. and maintain that they have to keep 'tweaking' their web sites in order to retain their high position in the search rankings.
Many other people pay an absolute fortune to S.E.O. experts for them to do the 'tweaking' for them - I wonder if it is a coincidence that an old form of 'tweak' is 'twit'.
I was invited to meet with a friend who has recently gone into the S.E.O. business. He is very successful at it and charges a fortune for his service. I met with him because, the last time I spoke to him he was selling rip-off holiday packs to time-share owners and taking away their time share at the same time (a popular and lucrative option on the Costas of Spain). As far as I knew, he had absolutely no knowledge of computers apart from how to work with one.
My first question to him, after the usual social chit chat, you know, who's died' who's gone to prison and who's under police surveilance, was "What's the scam?"
We've known each other for years and we both speak directly and have no time for cow pats.
"It's an absolute doddle" he told me, "I offer people the optimisation of their web sites and show them how they can get '000s of extra hits every month. I show them how few hits they are getting now and guarantee a minimum of 1,000 extra hits a month for €50. I don't claim to do anything to their web sites I simply say that I will optimise its' performance."
"So," I asked, "where do these guaranteed hits come from?"
"That's the beauty of it!" he was quite enthusiatic about this point, "I buy them on the internet for $10! I make about €43 a pop from each client each month! There is so much business out there, it is unbelievable."
We chatted on over a luch he paid for and he got round to explaining why he wanted me to work with him. He was now getting ambitious and wanted to get high search rankings for the 'clients' he had already signed up for his guaranteed hits. He understood that the extra hits were a great sales or promotion tool and now he wanted to go for the really big money - getting number one rankings in Google!
He out-lined what he had learned as a salesman for a genuine(?) S.E.O. company. Basically he had learned that he could virtually guarantee a number one Google listing if he included a pertinent but obscure keyword on the mark's web site. This key word would guarantee the number one spot because of it's obscurity. The example he gave me was "How many people will search for 'left handed screwdriver'?". He would do a search for 'left handed screwdriver' and if there were no results - BINGO! - he now can guarantee somebody selling tools the number one spot on Google by adding 'left handed screwdriver' into their keyword list.
I had to reject his offer of a partnership but he certainly got me thinking.
Now I know how so many people can appear to guarantee a number one Google rank to so many web sites.
I put his little theory to the test on one of my sites by adding 'omnipotence through verbal dexterity' to the keyword list - sure enough - Google Nº1 out of over 1,800 results!
I've never held much regard for S.E.O. any way but seeing how simple it appears to be to manipulate apparent results, it has sunk even lower in my estimation.
Maybe content is king, after all.
Jan 16th 2008 05:08
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Comments
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Rae Steinbrink
 This explains some of the "new" tips seen around the internet regarding Google and search engine ranking, only they don't say it like this. These new tips include using tools that do "keyword" searches and using the "least" used keyword for that search or long-tail keywords. Sounds like the same thing to me! Getting a higher ranking is only part of your website arsenal anyway. Unfortunately, with so many networking websites using the google search bar to earn money, Google search ranking is still going to play a role in gaining traffic to ones website. Many are realizing the power of using Web 2.0 optimizing and slowly Google rank will depend on user popularity not keyword usage! Jan 16th 2008 12:08 |
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Cheryl Baumgartner
  Medical Billing/Coding/InsuranceBelieve it or not I'm actually coming up high in searches and I have not paid anyone a dime to do it. All it takes is some time and a little planning on what you what to say in your content and having that content match up to what people are searching for. The biggest challenge is providing the fresh content to feed the robots! Jan 16th 2008 12:57 |
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Jenny Stewart
Hi Arthur, That is quite an eye opener about the tricks played by SEO companies. The only thing that surprises me is that people fall for it. I'll go along with Joseph on this one - stick to good original content with the right keywords that people might use to find your business and advertise your seite all over the place to attaract more attention and higher rankings. Because YES search engine rankings are important. Itis important to optimize your site, in so far as you must use the words that relate to the way people will search for your type of site - but as the search engines catch up on the tricks pretty quick - today's success can be tomorrows blacklist if you rely on this kind of stuff to get good rankings Jan 16th 2008 12:58 |
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Jean DAndrea
RetiredHhmmm, I must write a note to myself, advising never pay for SEO. :-) Think I'll stick with my keywords, and content. I may not come out on top, but I do get listed sometimes. My keywords are usually those which I'd use myself to search for whatever the site is about. Jan 16th 2008 15:18 |
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Wendy
Excellent advice and I won't be hiring any SEO soon that is for sure I have already hit #1 on Google for Online Business Alliance and also on page 2 for the same thing (different site) Also for Global Wide Business in a box Need work hard on a few more key words Yes I said work hard. Wendy Jan 17th 2008 21:56 |
Hi OC,
Hope things are well with you. Great article! Yes content is king and will continue to be until all the surfers become brain dead robots. I have not put much stock at all into SEO pointed at specific search engines. When I build my sites, I look for things like "How to make it easy for someone to find what they are looking for" and are the graphics clear and clean, As far as Meta Tags and Keywords, I will put in the keywords that I would use to find the content and let my plugins handle the Meta tags.
Jan 16th 2008 06:23