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

Many blog platforms are set up, by default, to catch any spammy looking email address or website, as well as a comment with more than two links within it. Of course, the blogger always has the ability to refine these parameters; even approving on a comment-by-comment basis. If your comments are getting disapproved, this might be why:

Your name isn’t India SEO. That may be what you do – and kudos for the attempt to incorporate as much anchor text as possible; but I’m sure your mother didn’t see you for the first time and think I shall call him India SEO.

You’re not adding value. While “Really great post, I’ve subscribed to your blog” might boost the ego of the blogger, it does little more than that. The comments section is meant to create a conversation – not accentuate an ego trip.

You included links in your comment. While readers might find a substantial resource over at your website for Viagra, I’ll thank you to not include links like that. Every blogger is different, so while many don’t, I approve comments with links if they provide a valuable resource – especially when I know the commenter isn’t linking to their own site.

All of these things add up to one reason your comments are being disapproved: you look like spam. Whether you’re trying to be or not, commenting using these tactics makes you look like a spammer and any blogger, if they’re paying attention, will delete and/or block your comments.

Nicki Hicks
Are you adding value?

Earlier this morning I made a few searches to determine where some of our clients rank for the keywords we optimized their sites for. Needless to say, this became necessary due to a recent tiff between Google and WebPostion Gold. So there I was, minding my own business, scanning through the first few Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), when I made my final search (I’d made only 12 altogether). That’s when this little beauty of an error message showed up:

Without having to read it, Google basically told me they thought I was spam and they’d like me to verify that I am, in fact, human. I typed in the code, and again, I get a Google message of love:

I’m sorry too. I’m sorry because I’m not spyware, spam, or some nuisance of a spider. I just like to make a lot of searches…is that so wrong?!??!

Neither here nor there. I think Google was making a point. High rankings are great, yes, and speaking strictly short term, they are the major goal of SEO. However, do you get paid for ranking #1? I wish, but alas, not the case.

The long term goal of good SEO is qualified traffic being driven to your site, resulting in whatever transaction you want your customer to make (be it a text book retail purchase, newsletter sign up, or software download). That, my friend, is a conversion. When conversion rates increase, that is when you know your search marketing strategy is working.

The issue, however, is that this is not a perfect world. Like nearly every other form of marketing or advertising, when your company participates in multiple strategies at once (SEO being one of them), it’s nearly impossible to tell which tactic is making (or unfortunately costing) you money.

Let’s think positively though – with a good SEO strategy, your rankings should increase. With higher rankings (all the while optimizing for the right keywords), you should see more qualified traffic. More qualified traffic should undoubtedly yield higher conversion rates. And then the wonderful cycle of search marketing begins all over again!

So…lesson of the day? Don’t pay so much attention to where you rank as to whether or not you’re making a higher profit!

Nicki Hicks
Anti-Spam