We've all seen the ads for Search Engine placement services or
training courses on how to get a top 20 listing for your site.
They tease and tantalize with very logical sounding theory. We
read of how their research has turned up some startling new
revelations about a new Search Engine algorithm . Some of them
will even post testimonials from previous clients telling how
well their site fared after getting a top placement from
xyzplacements. Blah, blah, blah....
There is only one criteria that will prove their claims.
That is the CURRENT ranking of their own website in the various
Search Engines.
There is a lot to learn on the subject. Each engine treats their
rankings differently. Just because your page lists high on one
Search Engine doesn't mean that it will get a good listing on a
different one. In fact, quite the contrary. A Webmaster can't
possibly keep up with the unending changes to the ranking wars
all by themselves. The services of skilled and knowledgeable
Search Engine specialists have never been more important.
Just a few days ago I read what looked like a very well
researched and informative article about Search Engine
placements. I was excited! Finally, someone who knew what the
heck they were talking about. Of course I immediately went to
her site and found even more compelling copy. WOW! Where do I
sign? For only $75 I can get an 84 page report that shows me how
to properly prepare my site for top 20 listings.
I was just about to place the order when a thought occurred to
me. In the article, this author talked a lot about link
popularity, having other sites link back to yours. Hmmmm, might
be worth a little trip to the AddMe site popularity service
http://www.addme.com/sitepop.htm.
What did I find?
Zero links back to her own marketing site. Wait minute, there
must be some mistake here. Maybe this isn't a page that she
shares links with - even though that was one of her strongest
points. Tried another page on the site. This one was a little
better, 103 links. And another, and another... All with similar
or worse results.
Gosh, most sites easily get twice that many links without even
trying. Well, I thought, maybe this isn't fair to her. The real
test is where her page ranks in the Search Engines. So I looked
at the meta tags that had been placed in the source code of the
main page. Lots of good key words there. I took some of them and
went to the Search Engines.
Guess what?
None of the key words in the Meta tags brought this site up in
the top 30 listings.
As was so clearly stated in the article that this great
webmaster had written, "if your web page is not in the top 10 to
20 listings you might as well not be listed at all".
Why on earth would we want to spend 75 bucks on a report that is
written by someone who either doesn't practice what they preach,
or is out and out lying to us?
Now don't misunderstand me. There are certainly some very
knowledgeable people who understand the search engines very
well. Just make sure that you put them to the test BEFORE you
send them your money.
About the author:
Chris Small is a cyber entrepreneur and host of the very
successful http://www.WorldDealCenter.com/ You may contact him
at mailto:webmaster@worlddealcenter.com
