Search Engine Optimisation is one of the latest buzzwords on the Internet, with webmasters clambering over one another to get onto the front page of Google for a particular keyword.
The problem is, this has brought about near-exponential growth in the number of people calling themselves "
SEO Experts" or suchlike. With so many companies claiming they can get you into the top spots, how do you know who to choose?
It is important that you only work with somebody with a proven track record. Ask them what sites they have worked on and the keywords they have targetted. Confirm their claims by contacting the webmaster of the sites in question. No sites? No keywords? Don't waste your money.
What should you pay for Search Engine Optimisation? Well, that depends entirely on how important a good ranking is to you. The vast majority would benefit greatly from having site content rewritten professionally and running an advertising campaign instead, and even this will boost your search engine placings somewhat.
The phrase that is going around currently is "Content is King", and perhaps you would be more advised to take heed of that rather than spend money on so-called
SEO Experts. There is no magic formula, workarounds soon get discovered and removed and the fact of the matter is
nobody knows exactly how Google's or MSN's algorithm works to determine rankings. I am not saying that
SEO is a worthless exercise, it isn't, and there are many people out there who will be able to help you boost your rankings. My point is there are very few that can guarantee high placings, particularly for competative keywords, and a better strategy may be to keep site content fresh, target less competative keywords, advertise and encourage backlinks from associated websites. These will all help your site placing naturally, as well as increase your
PR and traffic.
Don't assume that
SEO is everything - it isn't.
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