I see this over and over on many webpages and you only need to blink in the for sale section on here to find loads of kids offering SEO services for x amount of $$$. 'We guarantee a higher ranking' 'We guarantee google page 1' 'We will do all this in a week' The thing that worries me after my many years of experience, and reading books written by the pros on this subject is that its an on going process which takes many months and then many years to nail a website to the 1st page of a search engine for decent, relevant, keywords. Then many more years to keep it there. So how can these people say things like we will get you to the top of google in under a week ect. Also if they are offering a true SEO service doe's this mean I pay them there $50 and they will take care of my website for the next 10years to make sure it stays at the top? I highly doubt it, the amount of man hours put into make SEO work for a website is relentless and that's with a large experienced team behind you. Seems to good to be true? I think it is.
Generally they tend to target the weaker keywords with less competition to justify their claims. Usually though these search terms aren't even worth what the service providers charge their clients; however there are exceptions.
I suggest for the large part you are correct. Many of these 'kids' offering SEO services neither have a real grasp on the entirety of the matter, nor are they capable of delivering on promises and guarantees. On the other hand, it is entirely possible to reach page 1 of Google within X amount of time. I say this because I am one of the service providers who is capable. I have proven my claim over and over. More importantly, you are correct in your assumption that SEO project results do not last forever. Longevity depends entirely on the efforts of your competitors primarily. In highly competitive niches you can expect shorter and shorter life expectancy of results. Regardless, of whether you are a believer in SEO services or not, the fact of the matter is that far too many people have no concept of what a successful project objective actually is. SEO is not a process to circumvent Google's SERPs. What you truly hope to achieve via any SEO project is a natural increase in overall traffic to your website. The only reason you really want to be on top of Google search in the first place is to grab a larger share of organic traffic which is up for grabs. In my opinion, once you really grasp the entire purpose is fundamentally based in human traffic gained from such engines as Google and Yahoo, then you can comprehend the SEO process. Personally, this would be my first question posed to any potential SEO service provider, i.e.: will your seo services increase traffic to my site? By the way, I have handled so many client projects I have never taken the time to work on my own marketing projects. I think that is both good and bad. But, if the economy continues to slow, I will have that luxury real soon.
They take guarentee for weeker keywords only and sell plan for one time top ranking only.. Most of them also provide different plans for more competetive keywords and different plans for top ranking maintainence.
I completely agree. My biggest beef with the SEO services space in general is the lack of truth out there. It takes months, and even years, as you say - for real seo services to work and get you to page 1 (assuming you are after a keyword with value).
Sadly people do beleive the hype of these services - it almost verges on the 'get rich quick' industry. I guess you've just got to think that if it sounds too good to be true . . . it probably is. ----------------------------------------------------------- Guaranteed Top 10 Ranking for 'Gambling' - $100.00 - Click Here
I'm glad there are some people that agree with me, I thought I might have been going mad and it was possible by how many 'company's' out there where offering such services. I thought everything I had learnt over the years about good quality SEO building and working upon it over a few years (or the life time of the website) counted for nothing. But as you say it sounds to good to be true and it is! @Thomas J this is not a pick at every SEO company, there are honest ones out there and ones that work! Don't get me wrong on this, but they do not charge $50-$1000 for service and it doesn't last a few weeks/months, they know just as much as the rest of us how important good SEO is to website survival.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to SEO. However search engines clearly distinguish between competitive keywords and less competitive keywords. Most of the SEO companies give a clear timeline to the clients, but the clients come back to them saying that "Mr.XYZ with company ABC is offering me top rankings within 3 months, whereas your company's timeline is 8 months." The tragedy is that most of the clients fall victim to SEO's offering smaller timelines. This is where the real problem starts. There is no such thing as manpower/day or manpower/month in the case of SEO. There is a customized approach for each and every keyword and how you would be achieving that target within specified timelines. In a game of chess your STRATEGY matters most. If your SEO company has a good grasp about your business and its targeted audience, then they will create a customized approach which will include PPC, SEO and several other promotional activities. If any company is offering you that they will provide 8 hours/day dedicated services, it means that most of the SEO activity will get FLAGGED as "SPAM". Search engines do not like artificial promotion in any way. It will only backfire at the end of the month. Therefore the best approach is to discuss your issues with 10 different established SEO providers. If your project is a big one, then you can ask for a reference. This will help you filter out genuine websites and non genuine seo websites. Asking for a previous reference is the best way to perceive service quality of any provider whether it relates to software, web development, design, promotion, seo or any other. Also there are no shortcuts to SEO. If you are targeting a competitive keyword ( for a new website), then it can easily consume around 8-12 months ( or more than that).
I agree, these kind of people rely on the lack of knowlege of the buyers. We actually put together a free SEO buyers guide, I recommend anyone thinking of hiring an SEO reads this before hiring anyone. http://www.datadial.net/blog/index.php/2008/09/18/seo-buyers-guide-free-download/
I think if you have a website, low budget, want to be in top 10, and you seek for a cheap solution then obviously what you will get is a bad SEO service. The only way around it is to increase your budget, improve your website, and do your own research and background about each and every SEO company. Moreover if you see that the "SEO Company" doesn't offer wide range of services, then it is most likely that their approach is not serious enough for your business, because you have just increased your website budget, you own a business and you want one marketing company to be responsible for marketing your business, in all possible aspects. An "SEO Company" who can't provide wide range of services isn't serious enough.
Very good explanation. Most of this kind of "SEO experts" rely on the lack of knowledge. But there are such experts in any business. All of us have seen coding offers for 5$ per hour or something like this. SEO, programming, etc are with high requirements. You need to read and practice a lot. And clients must choose carefully their provider.