Deconstructing Common Misconceptions

Unfortunately, the search engine marketing industry is riddled with myths and misinformation . All too often, search engine marketers mix sales hype with facts just to make a sale. In addition, many amateur search engine marketers rely on their personal experiences rather than tested results. To help you select a reputable, reliable search engine marketing firm, you should become aware of the following search engine myths.

Guaranteed Placement or Your Money Back

A credible, experienced , and knowledgeable search engine marketer can demonstrate results from past performance but cannot guarantee future results. Why? Except for pay-for-placement (PFP) search engines, no one can guarantee top positions because there are third parties ”the directory editors and the search engines ”who have all the control. In fact, all the major search engines have some sort of disclaimer stating that they ultimately decide which web sites to include in their indices.

Search engine marketers can guarantee that they perform proper keyword and category research and that they use optimal HTML coding and suitable submission techniques. However, they cannot state, with absolute certainty , that their efforts result in top search engine positions.

Search engine marketers like to guarantee results so that they can tell a target audience what they want to hear. I often compare search engine marketing to being a stockbroker. No stockbroker can guarantee future earnings. In the same vein, no search engine marketer can guarantee future search engine positions.

Search Engine Marketing Guarantees Permanent Positions

Search engines do not want the same sites appearing over and over again in the same positions. They constantly modify their algorithms, sometimes daily, so that the same sites do not always appear in the same positions.

What does this mean to you? It means that having a goal of "permanent" top positions is an unrealistic expectation. A more realistic expectation is to have consistent, quality traffic from the search engines over time.

The Goal of Search Engine Optimization Is to Achieve Top Positions

This myth is very widespread and inaccurate. The goal of search engine optimization is to make a web site more "findable" in the search engines. If a web site receives consistent, qualified traffic from the search engines over time, the search engine marketing campaign is successful.

Generally speaking, most web sites receive between 6 “7 percent of their overall traffic from the search engines. A successful search engine marketing campaign should deliver qualified traffic at least in the double digits.

Submit Your Site to Thousands of Search Engines

If you ever receive an email that makes this statement, consider it to be spam. Most of a site's qualified traffic comes from the top 10 “20 search engines, directories, and industry-specific web sites. In all likelihood , participation in these programs gets your site listed in many FFA search engines and directories. FFA listings are worthless, especially because the major search engines consider FFA sites to be spam.

Search Engine Visibility Reports

If you receive an unsolicited "visibility" report in your email, you are probably not dealing with a reputable search engine marketing firm. Here is why:

• The report you received was unsolicited. If you really wanted a search engine visibility report, you would have requested one.

• The company that sent you the report probably selected a very general keyword phrase or a set of keywords that is not important to your business. No one knows what keywords are your most profitable selections just by viewing your web site.

• If you actually perform keyword searches on the search engines, you will find that your site is appearing more frequently than indicated in the visibility reports. Many of these visibility reports are inaccurate. The search engine marketing company is just trying to scare you into using their services.

• If you have a new web site, in all likelihood, your site will not appear in the search engines for at least one to three months. All search engines have lead times, which is the time between web page submission and when the page appears in the search engine index. Again, this is a tactic used to scare you into using their services. Your site will probably appear in the search engines after the lead time has passed.

Don't fall for the sales hype from a company sending you visibility reports. Your site-statistics software tells you whether your site is receiving search engine traffic.

Search Engine Optimization Does Not Deliver a Good Return-On-Investment (ROI)

Currently, there is a widespread belief that if a company can pay for a position, why should the company bother embarking on a search engine optimization campaign? Search engine optimization and search engine advertising are two different online marketing strategies.

Search engine advertising relies far more on payment than relevancy. Granted, a pay-per-click search engine such as Overture does not let search engine advertisers buy any keyword they want. The landing or destination pages for the advertising must contain some relevant content. However, nothing on the landing page determines positions. Ultimately, what determines positioning is how much the advertiser is willing to pay.

Simply optimize your entire web site so that there is a good chance that your web pages will appear at the top of search engine queries for your selected keywords and keyword phrases. When a site is properly optimized, search engine spiders do not have a difficult time finding and spidering a site. Quite often, with a search engine “friendly site, paid submission and paid advertising are not even necessary.

Many businesses never use pay-per-click advertising and yet, they still get excellent ROI. Personally, I have witnessed many sites receiving millions of dollars in increased sales within months of launching a search engine “friendly web site. Some of the web pages used as examples in this book have generated this type of ROI.

Search Engine Traffic Is Not as Good as Leads from Traditional Marketing Methods

Search engine traffic is often better than leads from traditional marketing and advertising (direct mail, public relations, radio, television, and so on) because people who come to your site through the search engines are actively seeking information about your products and services.

When analyzing cost per lead (CPL) data, you'll find that costs can be much lower for search engine marketing than for more traditional marketing methods.

Effective Search Engine Marketing Should Be Done In-House by the Webmaster

Most companies delegate search engine marketing responsibilities to a single webmaster or web site developer. In my experience, the IT department is a poor selection for relegating search engine marketing. The IT department might be responsible for creating a search engine “friendly web site that downloads quickly, but the IT department usually is not responsible for a web site's content. Usually an Editorial or Marketing department is responsible for a site's content, and they know that the actual content of the page is equally as important as the design. Furthermore, an effective search engine marketing campaign also involves link development, a responsibility which usually falls under the Marketing department.

The fact is that search engine marketing involves talent in web copywriting, site design and layout, technology, site submission and monitoring, site analysis, and so forth. In all likelihood, one person with multiple responsibilities cannot effectively handle all these responsibilities and keep up with the ever-changing search engines. Many search engine marketing firms specialize in all aspects of optimization and submission.

You Don't Have to Change Your Site to Achieve Top Positions

This statement is rarely true. If you hear this type of statement from a search engine marketer, in all likelihood, you are dealing with a cloaking company. All the major search engines consider cloaking to be spam. Thus, if you work with cloaking companies, you should know that your site might be penalized for spamming .

If you are purchasing positions on a pay-per-click search engine such as Overture, you might not have to change your site. However, if you are purchasing a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign, you have to modify your site.

A search engine optimization campaign involves rewriting some of your content so that keywords are more prominent and frequently used. Quite often, a site's navigation scheme might not deliver keyword-rich content to the search engines. In addition, you might need to modify the navigation scheme or participate in a pay-for-inclusion (PFI) program.

A Client List and Testimonials on a Web Site Indicate a Reputable SEO Firm

Just because a search engine marketing firm displays an impressive client list does not necessarily mean that the firm practices ethical search engine marketing. You should ask a search engine marketing firm if any of its strategies have resulted in any spam penalties. If a search engine marketing firm is constantly building micro-sites or purchasing domain names specifically for search engine positioning, you might not be dealing with an ethical search engine marketer.

Note that many reputable search engine marketing firms sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with their clients . Thus, they are not permitted to display all or part of their client lists on their web sites. However, because most firms that want to hire a search engine expert ask for references, firms that have NDAs should still have at least three references that they can give you.