Comments on Fyneworks: What to look for in a SEO

They put this text"site promotion by FirstFound - ...

2007-05-08T11:52:54.735+01:00

They put this text
"site promotion by FirstFound - Search Engine Consultants"
...at the footer of all their client's websites.

Hundreds of one way links using the link text 'Search Engine Consultants' from quality websites is bound to get any site on top for that term, regardless of their on-site optimization.

Quite annoying really, that's one of the things you can't compete against. Such a strong hold only comes with time, and a long client-list who are so unaware of everything web-related that they allow their website to be used as a dummy for their SEO company's campaign.

I got the key search phase wrong, search for seach...

2007-05-08T09:28:00.000+01:00

I got the key search phase wrong, search for seach engine consultants... then comment on that one...

Hi Guy,Thanks for your reply mate, I knew you'd ha...

2007-05-07T20:13:38.528+01:00

Hi Guy,

Thanks for your reply mate, I knew you'd have something to say about this.

I agree with your comments on the points I made, and I have this to say about yours...

4) The content delivery was terrible, how did they do it?
Well, the essence of search engines and optimization is still content. If your content matches the search and matches it well, your page will rank highly. And let's not forget links. One link from an 'authority' domain can throw any page straight to the top...

7) Reciprocal linking
Scrap that, one-way linking is the way. There's nothing wrong with link sharing, sometimes an outgoing link is the price we have to pay for a quality link of our own. However, the benefits of one-way linking outweigh all the time and effort spent in link sharing. The best strategy, of course, is article submission.

8) Pricing
I agree, this is a complicated topic and you've made some good points.

9) #1 site on Google search for 'search optimisation consultant'
Well, the obvious reasons for their ranking are:
- Spotless semantic code
- High content/code ratio
- Forums - visitor generated unique content
- Blog - more fresh unique content, keep the spiders coming
- Around 200 quality external links
- Thousands of links to forums threads in that domain
- Perfect URLs - Keyword rich, high keyword density
seoconsultants.com has great content and great content delivery. Other than the above, I don't know what else...
Enlighten me!

I gotta comment, I gotta comment.Okay I agree with...

2007-05-07T17:54:00.000+01:00

I gotta comment, I gotta comment.

Okay I agree with some of this, but some is questionable and there is probably a lot more that could be added. I take your points piece by piece.

1) I'll definately put your website on the top 1st Page is more common in a sales pitch. Top 5 is unrealistic, but actually 1st page is much easier and possible. SEO 'cowboys' use that approach more often.

It is of course misleading to say the least.

2) Yahoo, MSN and Other..., I have yet to hear a SEO Company pitch me on anything other than Google, Google dominates... but I have to say I would listern to some who mentioned the other search engines, it works both ways, if you do well on MSN, Yahoo etc, they you'll do well on Google, it is often forgotten that it is easier to rise up the ranks on other search engines.

3) I'll create another domain name, cloaking, whatever you call it avoid it...

4) I was shown a website that did well for about 3 key search terms, their page (i.e. content delivery) was terrible, so how did they do it???, content delivery is part of the whole... more on this in a sec.

5) I cannot fault this point, to vague or too precise, a good SEO will focus on up (not more) to 10 key search terms and work with those only.

It should also be noted Google released some stats on key search terms and around 60% used three individual words. Avoid an SEO that talks about keywords, key search terms is a better description.

6) We see the results... yes I don't know about this, 3 weeks is a little short, I'd be happy to see results within 2 months, but a rise canbe faster, whatever the result a good SEO with be in this for the long haul and that makes pricing complicated... very complicated.

Now it is my turn...

7) Reciprocal Linking... this is so cruical is an SEO glosses over it you can avoid them...

To many SEO's concentrate on what they think their secret is... the bottomline is they are probably mostly right. but it is all the individual bits that need to be done...

So reciprocal linking needs to be mentioned in there somewhere when you are talking to the SEO.

8) Pricing - just how do you compare one service to another when they price thing is such a variety of ways:

a) The annual fee - many SEO propose £500 for an annual fee, be very aware, they take your money play with your meta tags then you'll never be able to contact then again.

b) The monthly fee usually about £30-40, again this is too little to fuss about if it goes wrong, yet not enough to do any real work... avoid them.

c) Paid on results, you would thik this would work, but again you have to be really carefull, what consitutues and result. A 1st page listing for that vague term three a year look up.

My comparision is always with Google Adwords. You need to translate any potential charges into Google Adwords, for example, if you are spending £100 a month on Google and the average cost per click is £0.20 then you are getting 500 visitors.

If your SEO wants to charge £500 then you need to ask him or yourself if what they do will really get you 2500 visitors. That might not seem many visitors over a year, but actually getting that many visitors from Natural search listing is much more difficult.

Equally, if the SEO is only going to concetrate on up to 10 keywords for the £500, it is going to taken even longer to get that 2500 visitors.

The final comparision is simple, if your SEO cannot match or better Google Adwords you are better off spending the money on Google Adwords, you'll be guranteed the visitors for your key search terms, adverts in your geographic area at a time you specify. Google Adwords are tough to beat, but the comparision is worth it.

9) I leave you with a question. Google 'search optimisation consultant' click the first natural listing you get to and ask your self how did they get there. I know the answer... but do you?