Take care to avoid search engine scams

By: BRIAN CHERNICKY - For the North County Times | Saturday, March 18, 2006 7:03 PM PST ∞

Almost every business owner I talk to in San Diego asks me the same question: How do I get my Web site to the top of Yahoo! or Google?

The simple answer is that while it is possible, it's never guaranteed. Internet marketing and search engine optimization simply take time and a lot of hard work. Unfortunately, the lack of magic bullets doesn't stop some organizations from promising enthusiastic, non-tech-savvy business owners search engine miracles. Here are some of the questionable practices to look out for:

-- One common scam involves an aggressive salesman who offers a verbal guarantee of top Google placement in exchange for an upfront fee of tens of thousands of dollars. The problems with this are numerous. First of all, nobody has direct control over what sites go into the top spots of the Google and Yahoo! engines. Secondly, if these firms really could guarantee a top search result, wouldn't payment be required only after top placement was achieved? Furthermore, what incentive would they have to keep your Web site at the top?

-- Some firms promote Web sites using tactics that are not allowed by search engines. While these banned techniques usually work in the short term, the punishment for breaking the rules is having your Web site banned from the search engines completely. Recently, Forbes reported that BMW Germany's Web site was reportedly banned from Google for these reasons.

-- Other companies "guarantee" top placement in the search results, but they are only talking about the paid advertisements located to the right of search results. The result is that you pay for an extraordinary markup on these advertisements.

-- There are also the ubiquitous spam e-mails that boast services that "submit your site to thousands of top search engines." The problem is that there are only three search engines that most people use: Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

So, given all this, how do you find a good, honest Web site promotion firm? Ask potential firms what you can expect. Ask if they "guarantee" top placement. Ask for a written list of the specific promotion services they will perform. Check their Better Business Bureau record. Ask if they can provide you with marketing and advertising avenues apart from the search engines. Search engine optimization is really only part of the marketing equation.

The consumer's golden rule is definitely applicable in the world of search engine optimization: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Brian Chernicky is instructor for the San Diego SCORE organization's "Internet Marketing" course. He is also owner of RealOnlineMarketing.com, a San Diego Internet marketing firm. E-mail brianct@realonlinemarketing.com.

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