The Maine SEO Blog

Last night, I got an interesting letter. Since I bought NickiHicks.com a few months ago (and have since proceeded to do nothing with it), the kind folks at a company called Web Listings Inc. offered to help me list my web site on the 20 major search engines for my 8 best keywords! Rich has received similar letters before, but this is my first.

I feel sorry for this company. They probably didn’t know…I do this for a living. So, let’s break down why this is bogus – and hopefully I’ve caught you in time before you gave Web Listings Inc. $65.

The promise: Domain Name Submission to 20 established Search Engines

Let me be frank. You don’t need to submit yourself to the search engines. If your web site is clean, readable, and doesn’t block the search engines, they’ll find you.

Just for giggles, which search engines would you get submitted to?

Google, Aol, ExactSeek, Cipinet, Netscape Search, Alexa, ScrubTheWeb, InfoTiger, Kazazz, Jayde, Searchsight, Amfibi *

Interesting. I’ve only heard of three. And only one even counts. What’s more?

* Any of the 20 search engines are subject to change without notice

…to start including even more search engines we haven’t heard of?

The promise: Up to 8 keyword/phrase listings

I don’t know what that means. In their FAQ section, Web Listings Inc. talks about meta-tags. But they’re not getting access to your site, so I can only assume they’re using these keywords for tracking purposes for…

The promise: Quarterly search engine position and ranking reports

This is the one piece that may…or may not have value. At flyte, we track rankings, but do they really matter that much? Not so much.

My hope is not to bash this company; but rather to make people aware of the issue before you go spending your precious money on something entirely ridiculous. And for what it’s worth, I’m not the only one talking about it.

Nicki Hicks
At least they say it’s a solicitation