Why Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings
Posted by randfishTonight, I received an email with a familiar question, asking why the top companies providing SEO consulting and development services rarely ever provide guarantees (and virtually never use it as a marketing tactic). Since the subject has been popping up of late, and since we’re just emerging from the summer lull, I thought it was as worthy a time as any to address persistent concerns. Here are five solid reasons that compel SEOmoz as well as the many companies we work with/recommend to stay far away from any "guarantee" of search engine rankings.
Reason #1: SEO & Guarantees Have an Abominable History
From 1996 through to today, SEO scams have used "guaranteed rankings and traffic" as a slimy catchphrase to lure in gullible buyers with too-good-to-be-true promises. That association has stained the entire industry and repulsed even businesses that might consider using the "guarantee" label. Just look at some of the questionable messaging used by so-called SEO companies that employ this moniker:
(source) Our search engine optimization software comes with the latest link popularity and web site optimization tools for helping you achieve guaranteed ranking. Here is what the Internet’s best search engine optimization software has to offer:
Link Popularity & Link Exchange Tools
Website Submission Software
Automated software for link exchanges and website submissions? If you’ve done ten minutes of due diligence into how SEO is practiced, you’re well aware that these claims venture deep into the sort of tactics that haven’t been effective in the last half-decade.
(source) $399 annual - Guaranteed fast listing on DMOZ, Netscape, Google, MSN, AltaVista, LYCOS, FAST, ASK/Temoa and 100+ other engines and portals! Trace your traffic and guarantee a higher position!
Not only is the listing and traffic guaranteed, it’s guaranteed fast. I’m reminded of Homer Simpson’s infamous utterance after a crayon is re-inserted into his brain, "Extended warranty? How can I lose?"
(source)
We guarantee to keep you on 1st-page results each month, or you don’t pay for that month.
We guarantee to optimize your website for up to 100 different keyword phrases.
We guarantee to provide monthly reports that document all of your 1st-page positions.
Many of the SEO companies that do still guarantee rankings have taken the clever tack of guaranteeing a certain number of keywords that they themselves choose. In this fashion, they can select primarily non-competitive terms and have a fairly high rate of success. Whether those keyword rankings provide any serious traffic is another matter altogether.
The point doesn’t need belaboring. Just as time shares have their "free" weekend getaways and used cars have high pressure salespeople, SEO has its own insiduous, stereotyped marketing claims that legitimate providers avoid like the plague.
Reason #2: The Search Engines Expressly Warn Against It
I don’t often reference Google’s guidelines on search marketing, but since the page ranks so well for a variety of queries related to SEO and guarantees, its virtually unavoidable if a client is performing research about your offerings. This line in particular, stand alone:
No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
Even though the context is meant to put it in a slightly different context ("Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or…"), the messaging comes through very clearly. If your potential clients have read on Google’s website that guarantees are bogus, they’re likely to carry that bias with them as they peruse what the market has to offer.
Reason #3: Rankings are Inherently Unstable
If I perform a search for SEO Company here in Seattle, then drive 3 hours south to Portland (or 3 hours north to Vancouver) and execute the same query, I’m likely to end up with very different ordering of results. Likewise, if I log into my Google account and get personalized results or hit a different datacenter during the course of my querying. Many searchers have even had the odd experience of hitting refresh on a query and finding the results change or re-order.
Given the incongruous nature of ranking fluctuations and the fact that ranking in a particular position on a given machine at a single point in time says very little about the future or even the present, it’s no wonder that savvy SEO firms stay away from the guarantee.
Reason #4: Rankings are a Poor Metric for Overall Performance
Rankings do not equal traffic. A great SEO campaign should be measured by the increase in search engine traffic and (if the contract also includes site optimization for conversions) the rate at which that traffic performs the desired actions on your site. Achieving rankings is (almost) always a means to an end and not the end itself (the one exception being reputation management campaigns).
If your patrons are seeking rankings for posterity or to boost their egos, they might not be the best choice of clients. Those clients who have a solid business model and great content or services to back it up want the kinds of qualified, interested visitors that come from search engines because they’ve expressed a desire that the website can fulfill. Yes - position #1 will generally get you more traffic than any other real estate in the search results, but plenty of campaigns we’ve seen and even some we’ve worked on have been sabotaged by an obsession with pure rankings.
The metric shold always be traffic - increasing search traffic means the SEO is doing their job. Making the rankings of a few top phrases the priority, above and beyond the overall search traffic means that goals are out of whack. Don’t forget that 70% of search volume is in the tail of the demand curve - and there’s usually a lot more low hanging fruit to be found therein.
Reason #5: Making Guarantees About Something You Cannot Control Carries Inherent Ethical Problems
Politicians constantly fall into the trap of making promises they cannot possibly deliver on. Luckily, since they’ve let people down since the dawn of government, we’ve set the bar relatively low. This isn’t true, however, in the business world. If FedEx promises to deliver a package by tomorrow, that’s a guarantee they can make because they control the means of delivery. On the flipside, if a camera-maker promises that all your pictures will come out beautiful, that’s irresponsible - what if you decide to point your lens at Gary Busey?
This same principle applies to SEO.
What search engine optimization companies can & should guarantee is that they’ll provide the best advice possible to help your site earn more traffic. They may even guarantee, after reviewing your site, that they can grow your search traffic by at least 10, 20, 30% or more (we’ve done this in the past, at least verbally, when we’ve seen sites that had incredible potential and extremely poor SEO practices). But, SEOs cannot control the search results the way FedEx can control shipping packages or Coca Cola can guarantee the taste of their beverage. The search engines alone are responsible for and privvy to the rankings methodologies.
In my personal opinion, there are times when I would be willing to gamble a large amount of money on the fact that we could achieve a certain ranking for a given keyword. However, that’s not the same as a guarantee. A guarantee is a promise - a basic contract that necessarily creates an assumption of certainty by the deliverer to the recipient. Anytime you cheat on that logic and make a promise outside your sphere of direct control, you’re walking on shaky ethical and business ground.
Thanks to the list above, I shy away from even using the word "guarantee" in relation to our consulting business. In reality, we do guarantee that our clients will be happy with our results (and so far, at least, we’ve made good on that promise), we do guarantee that if they implement our recommendations, search traffic will rise (but that’s often a big "if"), and we do guarantee that our work won’t put you at risk of penalties from the search engines. I think that these types of promises are perfectly acceptable to make - just stay away from guaranteed "search engine rankings." It’s just asking for trouble.Do you like this post? Yes No
SEO Newbie Mistake #1 and 2: Unfriendly Domain Names and Multiple Versions of the Same Site
Posted by rebeccaRand recently debuted his new series of Headsmacking Tips (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), which comprise of "Why didn’t I think of that?" SEO suggestions, tricks, and recommendations. Today I came across a headsmacking revelation, but it wasn’t of the "Why didn’t I think of that?" variety; rather, it was more like "Why are they DOING that?!"
Thus, I’m officially debuting an "SEO Newbie Mistake" series. Sure, a lot of this is going to be eye-rollingly easy for most of you, but I was surprised at how, as a professional SEO, it’s easy to forget that a lot of sites make some pretty basic SEO mistakes. Well, I discovered a big’un today, and it hits close to home, making me realize that a lot of webmasters and site owners still don’t understand what SEO is, how search engines work, or the fact that a lot of the decisions that they make in order to make their users’ lives easier actually hurt the website from a ranking standpoint.
Now onto the fun part–example time! Most of you know by now that this season I’ve started dabbling in triathlons. I’ve done five this season (two sprints, one Olympic, and one half Ironman), and I’ll end my season with another half Ironman in Cancún, Mexico later this month. For the past several months, I’ve learned how to swim, bike, and run better. And I couldn’t have done it without Herriott Sports Performance, an endurance training facility that focuses specifically on cycling and triathlon training in Seattle (hey, they got me to lose nearly 15 lbs and become better, stronger, faster–the least I could do is give them some decent anchor text).
When it comes to training, HSP knows their stuff. The owner and founder, Todd Herriott, is a professional cyclist and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. (He also has a one-eyed pug. No, that is not a euphemism.) My trainer, Teresa Nelson, is a USAT Level II triathlon coach, a freakishly fast swimmer (she swam for the University of Nevada, Reno, and always yells at me to stop dragging my arms when I swim), and often wins top overall female in local and regional triathlons. She’s competing in the Kona World Championships in Hawaii this October. So yeah, Todd and Teresa (and the other trainers at HSP) are pretty hardcore.
Their website has gotten tons better since they started working with a new developer. When I first started training at HSP, the site was Flash-tastic and very search-unfriendly. Slowly but surely, however, positive changes have been made to the site in an effort to get it up to speed. Yesterday, however, I noticed a bit of a hiccup. I regularly go to the site to login and see my training schedule for the week, and I was surprised to see that it has committed SEO Newbie Mistake #2.
Let me back up for a minute and talk about SEO Newbie Mistake #1, which in turn led to Mistake #2. HSP’s website is http://www.herriottsportsperformance.com. It’s kind of a long URL. It took quite a bit of conditioning on my part to consistently type it in correctly. The URL can be a bit tricky to remember/type in/share, which is why SEO Newbie Mistake #1 is not picking a relatively concise, easily constructed domain name. The longer the URL, the harder it can be to type in correctly or share with others.
Also, I recommend, if possible, shying away from consecutive consonants/vowels in the URL. In HSP’s case that can potentially be difficult since Todd’s company is named after him, and his last name has both a double R and a double T. However, if you can, try to avoid it. Despite my love for all things Matt McGee, I’ll use Small Business SEM’s website as an example. Their URL is http://www.smallbusinesssem.com. Three s’s in a row = me getting a snake slither noise in my head whenever I type out his URL. Plus, I always think I’ve typed in one ’s’ too many, so I end up reading the URL over and over again to ensure that I’ve typed in the correct number.
Lastly, try to work a keyword into your URL. It’s not a huge deal, but hey, if you can, why not? It’ll get bolded in the search results when someone searches for that term, which should help your result stand out more. Also, if other sites link to you using your domain name as the anchor text, you’ve already got a built-in keyword pointing to your site. Sure, sites like Etsy and Craigslist don’t have "handmade goods" or "classifieds" in their domain name and they’re doing just fine, but for a small, local business just starting out, every little factor helps.
To be fair, HSP’s domain name isn’t bad at all, but somebody must have received feedback from members saying it was too long to type in or remember. Thinking that they broke SEO Newbie Mistake #1, they decided to take corrective action by publishing a post on their site titled "New, Shorter Web Site Addresses for HSP." It read:
For too long, you’ve had to suffer through typing in www.herriottsportsperformance.com. Suffer no more! HSP now works with the following addresses:
www.herriottsports.com
www.hspseattle.com
The old address still works, but life just got a little easier if you want to use the new ones.
HSP decided to provide an alternative, more user-friendly URL…twice. And both of these websites, of course, resolve along with the original URL. Thus, we’ve got three versions of the exact same website which, obviously, is a problem.
Most of you already know what URL canonicalization is, but for the three of you who don’t, it’s when you pick a single accessible version of your website. Out of various URL choices, you pick one that you want users to access, link to, and have the search engines rank. In HSP’s case, while the following URLs all bring up the same content, they are technically different URLs because, as Matt Cutts puts it, "A web server could return completely different content for all the urls…" (he has a great post on URL canonicalization, so check it out if you’d like to learn more):
http://www.herriottsportsperformance.com
http://herriottsportsperformance.com
http://www.herriottsports.com
http://herriottsports.com
http://www.hspseattle.com
http://hspseattle.com
All of these versions of the home page can potentially rank in the search engines. They’re also exact copies of each other, which can trigger duplicate content issues (Rand does a good job of explaining duplicate content in the search engines and covers what can potentially trigger issues and penalties, and Eric Enge provides some examples of when duplicate content really hurts). And, of course, if you have six different versions of one page, you have six different areas to point links. You’re diluting the strength of your page because you’re splitting inbound links into six different paths instead of having all of these links point to a single page. It’s easier to rank one page that has 5,000 links pointing to it than to rank six identical pages that have these 5,000 links split unevenly among them.
What’s the solution? Dust off those 301-redirects, because they’re about to spring into action! HSP should pick a singular version of their site. If, say, they decide that they want their domain name to be "hspseattle.com", then both herriottsportsperformance.com and herriottsports.com would redirect to hspseattle.com. Additionally, if HSP wanted all of their pages to be the www version, non-www pages would 301 redirect to their www counterpart. Thus, any links pointing to non-canonical pages will automatically be redirected to the canonical source, and users will instantly be taken to this page when they either type in an old URL or when they click on a link pointing to a non-canonical page. Webconfs.com has a handy list of how to create 301 redirects using IIS, ColdFusion, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, CGI PERL, and Ruby on Rails. They also outline how to redirect an old domain to a new domain and how to redirect non-www versions to www pages via htaccess redirect.
Hopefully our first two examples of SEO Newbie Mistakes have helped out those of you who weren’t aware of these issues and have provided a nice little 101 refresher to the rest of you who already knew about them. I’m sure that Jane, Danny, and Rand will contribute to the SEO Newbie Mistake series in the future, so forgive us for occasionally catering to the less advanced members on SEOmoz. They need some lovin’ too, and some of these issues do need to get covered (especially after dipping into Q&A and seeing the large amount of beginner questions and concerns that constantly arise). Stay tuned for the next post in this installment–I’m sure by then HSP’s little canonicalization hiccup will have been corrected. These little tidbits should be worth some free training sessions, right? Or maybe a new time trial bike… :)Do you like this post? Yes No