Dirty SEO trick
This weekend I was reading a few search engine marketing forums (SEW and WMW mostly) and I came across a dirty SEO trick that I wanted to warn internet retailers about.
When you first create a site on the internet it takes a while for you to rank well on your target keywords. Depending on how specific your keywords are, it could even take years to rank really well on competitive phrases or words. Most people believe that there is some type of penalty imposed on new sites (commonly referred to as “the sandbox”). The logic is simple - sites who have been around for a while are typically more authoritative than brand new sites.
Some SEO’s will watch for new sites, then advertise their services to webmasters after the site has been live for 6 months - 1 year. By coming into the game at this point they are almost guaranteed to look good to the webmaster (since their rankings are due to “pop” anyway). The webmaster will generally fork over some money and then the SEO will take the credit for all of the hardwork that the webmaster originally put into the site.
I am not saying that you shouldn’t hire an SEO - in fact, I think it’s one of the best ways for an internet retailer to improve their rankings (and revenue). When you do hire an SEO, however, have them explain what they are doing very clearly. This will ensure that you are getting the best bang for your buck and will help you identify anything shady that might come back to haunt you later.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
| TrackBack URI
You can also bookmark
this on del.icio.us or check the cosmos
I am paying this guy $5k a month because he said he can get me to the top of every search query in google and yahoo. Do you think I am getting ripped off?
Comment by Sam — February 22, 2006 @ 12:25 pm
I would tell you that too for $5K/month… then I could DIY Happy…
Comment by admin — February 22, 2006 @ 12:28 pm