SEO Experts and Clients Information

One frustration you have is when a client of yours talks to an “SEO Expert” and the “bad/outdated” information is burned into the head of the client and they begin to question everything you say based on this “expert’s” opinion.
By: www.seoadvertisingagency.co.uk
 
Aug. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- In talking to many of you, one frustration you have is when a client of yours talks to an “SEO Expert” and the “bad/outdated” information is burned into the head of the client and they begin to question everything you say based on this “expert’s” opinion. What can you do?

The first thing to realize is most “SEO Experts” are “book smart” without much “real knowledge”. I say this with all due respect as many are good with their advice, but the only money they make online is for what they charge to “access” their information. What often times happens is the same information is stated by guru after guru without any of it being tested, it is just accepted as truth.

And that leads to lots of problems…

I am not attacking any single person here, so don’t read into it like that. I have basically a list of questions/comments I have received from members over the last several years, and they generally repeat themselves. There are still “issues” that people still believe that need to be “undone”. While you may look at some of these techniques as “black hat” I give you the results of what is currently working and making revenue online. Because, that is what is most important.

Let’s go over some of these issues. They are in no particular order:

Issue 1. Never violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines as this can lead to a penalty or a ban.

Truth: Google’s Webmaster Guidelines are routinely violated, including by Google themselves (they have been caught cloaking, buying & selling links, etc.) The true definition of SEO is manipulating the search engine rankings. Gurus would have you believe that any manipulation of the search results is Black Hat SEO. Therefore, all SEO is Black Hat marketing if you get right down to it.

If this was an issue for Google, any site in violation of their Guidelines would not be ranked nor would not continue to be indexed. Because this doesn’t occur, this is a clear indication that Google isn’t as good at removing offenders of their policies from their system as they want you to believe. Remember that.

Takeaways: Buying Links, Run of Site (ROS) links, etc. are GREAT ways to get your site to rank and rank well, but you must do it the right way. I have covered this extensively in the forums and throughout the membership area.

Issue 2. Using “sub-domains” to achieve high rankings in Google stopped at the end of 2007 and any SEO still doing this practice isn’t “plugged in” to current trends.

Truth: Sub-domains still work to some extent and in some cases work well in Google. Period. This is true even after the Panda Update. The main issue you have here is this statement can be traced back to a question Matt Cutts of Google answered in 2007 at Webmaster World asked by yours truly. I was tired of all the back and forth on the subject and what Matt did was make things worse with his comments. Why? Because he didn’t really answer the question, he gave “best case scenarios” of how it should work, but doesn’t. Google didn’t improve on how sub-domains were treated, much of the same way the canonical issue still causes 302 proxy hijacking of domains even today.

Takeaways: If you want to create sub-domains based on targeted keywords and develop landing pages focused on the keyword phrase, you will see solid rankings with less than expected link building campaigns. But a better way is to get the keyword in a .org domain, as those domains continue to rock in Google.

Issue 3. Template-based pages for “geo-targeted” terms do not get indexed and are viewed as “duplicate content” by Google and the pages are essentially ignored. Basically, what this is covering is if you have the same content on a page, but the only difference is the city and state on the page (if you were doing real estate pages), Google will not index the pages, but probably ban the site for duplicate content.

Truth: That’s just not true and it never has been true. Remember, duplicate content only really happens within your own site. Most webmasters make the mistake of using the same Title Tag for each page. This is where it looks like it is the Duplicate Content Penalty when it really is just the webmaster being lazy.

Takeaways: If you want to use this technique, you need to find a programmer that is familiar with using Tokens and using them in the Title, Description and Heading tags so you avoid the Duplication Content Filter. You can get the Excel spreadsheets from your government which will cover all the cities and towns. Then get a piece of software that can do the “merge” of the two files and you are in business. They key issue is to get enough authority to the home page in order to allow for all the pages to get indexed and STAY indexed.

Update: With the Panda Update, a lot of these types of pages took a hit, however, they did so because they lacked authority throughout the site … there was only power at the home page level. With increased link building at the sub-category level, the rankings returned Post-Panda.

Issue 4. The value of backlinks to a domain is only 60-70%. Therefore, using paid links is very overrated.

Truth: No fact is given to support these numbers, in fact, you can do a test yourself. Buy some links with your targeted anchor text and watch your ranking move up the SERPs.

Takeaway: When someone uses hard percentages without concrete evidence, chances are they are making them up.

Issue 5. Domain age accounts for only 5% of Google’s algorithm.

Truth: No proof is offered, nor supported. How do these experts come up with these flat percentages? Cough-cough.

Takeaway: Domain age doesn’t have the draw that it once did. “Domain Authority” is more important. In fact, for whatever reason, if you get a .org domain with the keyword phrase, you can rank in the Top Ten in as fast as ten days. This is a brand new domain. With enough link building it can get to #1 in about three months for a competitive phrase. To me, domain age is highly overrated.

Issue 6. Title tags are the most important SEO factor and should be keyword stuffed with as many keywords as possible so you can rank high.

Truth: The Title tag is not worth what is used to in terms of On-Page SEO. For example, do a search for “job search” an many sites, including the #1 site, Monster.com, do NOT use the keyword phrase in the Title Tag. However, the Title Tag is VERY effective when it comes to winning the click in the SERPs. The bottom line is, your ranking is worthless unless you get the click. Keyword stuffing should NEVER be done, it is a complete “turn off” and your click through rate will be lower as opposed to writing your Title tags the same way you write your Titles for your AdWords campaigns.

Issue 7. Internal linking is not as important as the Title tag or on-page use of the keyword phrase.

Truth: Internal Linking is a VERY important ranking factor. This is one of the most underused linking strategies there is.

Takeaway: Review my SEO in a Box for more details. If you learn this, and I mean, really learn it, you will rank better with less effort.

Issue 8. Google uses LSI as the base of their algorithm.

Truth: No proof can be made to back this claim as numerous “non-themed” sites rank for competitive keyword phrases. For every example someone gives you that LSI exists, there are dozens of examples that it doesn’t. Don’t get sucked into the hype.

Issue 9. Getting links from sites with high PageRank is what drives top ranking in Google.

Truth: It is more important to have links from sites which have a fresh cache date than it is for a “high PageRank” as the Google Toolbar is both inaccurate and out of date. Google only updates their public Toolbar information approximately four times a year and has stated the PageRank shown on the Toolbar is often incorrect. If PageRank was such a vial process, PR0 sites should not rank for competitive phrases, which they often do.


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Source:www.seoadvertisingagency.co.uk
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