4 Myths When Shopping for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Services

There are many myths you’ll likely run across when you are looking for someone to provide you with SEO services. You likely have gotten an amazing amount of spam promising guaranteed results (keep reading to see why Google says to run away from those!). You probably have had official-sounding phone calls wanting to show you the latest tricks that can fool the search engines into putting you at the top of the rankings. Many of the offers that are made can be rejected after a bit of common sense. But other “deals” may sound tempting until you look more closely. Let’s look at a few of those.

Myth #1: There Are Special Tricks To Push Your Rankings Up to The Top

Anyone wanting to use “secrets” or “tricks” to get you to the top will likely send you to the bottom! A few years ago a lawyer hired me to find out why his website was buried in the searches. He had hired a SEO company who had hidden a lot of keywords at the bottom of his homepage and throughout his website. They used a white background and white font so it wasn’t visible to visitors but was detected by search engines. That trick used to work. But once Google and others started detecting those and blacklisted this client and many others using these tricks. There are plenty of legit ways to improve your rankings without risking everything by trying to fool the search engines. It isn’t worth the risk.

Myth #2: “You’ll Have Several Keywords on the Top Page of Google”

That sounds great. But if you think about it, I can probably look through your website and find a few obscure phrases in your content that Google has already picked up on if you aren’t a brand new website. Get specific and find out what those keywords are that they will be working on. If they are vague about those keywords they’ll be using, that should send up some red flags. Remember that the keywords that you rank well for should be ones that your visitors might use to find your website. And if your SEO person plans to place you on the top page of Google, that means you might be at the bottom of that page and that means you might have nine competing companies ahead of you. Make sure you understand what you are being offered.

Myth #3: “We Guarantee Top Rankings”

I hear this a lot. SEO Companies promising top rankings. No one can guarantee a top ranking on Google. This comes directly from Google:

“Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google.”
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35291?hl=en

Even though you should be able to look at some examples of ranking results but no one can realistically promise top rankings. Even Google knows that.

Myth #4: Extra Pages Will Magically Attract Search Engines

It might be accurate if someone tells you that they will build extra pages. Yet that is not the cure-all it used to be. Why not enhance your current web pages to make them attractive to search engines. The days of just cramming in a bunch of extra content just to attract search engines are gone. 

The days of wizardly tricks and magic to push you up in the rankings are gone. They are being replaced with websites that have clearly defined web pages. Each page has a clearly marked title and subtitles. Content is well organized and easy for search engines to find what they want. If you decide to try to get around the standards, you may find yourself