Any business that has an online presence would love to be listed on the first page of the search engines. Each of these engines (Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc) have their own set of rules as to what it takes to get listed on their first pages. Because so many businesses want to be in this enviable position, many are misled by promises and guarantees (made by some SEO companies) to get them onto those first search engine pages. So, are these guarantees valid, or are they hype?
The simple answer is most of these guarantees are fake, false, not going to happen. The number of online companies that claim to be “experts” in getting the best SEO results are often run by people who have no idea what they are doing when it comes to SEO and SEM. Many online SEO companies are nothing but “fronts”, run by people who pretend to be online marketing experts but hire out all of their work to other companies or individuals. It is unfortunate, but these are often the same companies that make wild promises that they know they cannot keep. But are more than willing to charge for!
The industry lingo for these fly-by-night companies are “black hats”. Truly professional SEO companies, who know what they are doing, are known as “white hats”. Bad guys and good guys. And, you, as a business owner, need to know about both.
Black Hats Kill Businesses
In the past, black hat SEO techniques worked, at least to a degree. These tactics included stuffing keywords onto webpages that held no valuable content at all. Sending out spam emails, tricking visitors into taking bogus newsletters, and doing just about anything at all if they thought it would give them a page-rank advantage.
It took a while, but the search engines got wise to this nonsense and created software that can recognize these bogus pages and tactics. They also instituted some very specific rules that all sites should follow if they want to move up on the search pages. They also implemented punishments for those sites that continue to break the rules. Companies that break the search engine rules today can find themselves de-listed completely! Banished! Gone!
And here is the part you need to know. The engines do not care if you or someone you hired broke the rules. Your company, even if you had no idea you were breaking the rules, will suffer. Not the lame SEO company that made you all kinds of promises and then used illegal means on your behalf.
So, why do these black hats do this? Greed. It’s that simple. They want your money and they will say (and do) just about anything to get it. And if they harm your business in the process, well, too bad for you.
White Hats Builds Businesses
No white hat SEO company will EVER guarantee your company first page listing. They will not do this because NO ONE can make that guarantee! Even Google says that no one can make that type of promise and keep it. In fact, they have even gone so far as to warn businesses against falling for this type of trickery.
A reliable, honest, and experienced SEO company will do the things that need to be done to improve your site’s ranking on the search engines. This takes time and it takes work. There is no other way of doing it.
Do not be misled by false promises and guarantees. Let real pros help you grow your business online. You will actually get results when you go this route.
