So I’m sitting here, reading through some of the larger social sites like Digg and Mixx, and I’m seeing a surprising amount of blogs and sites popping up today talking about things like “The secret of getting to the top of Google”. I just want to point out that most of what I’ve read is bullshit. Plain and simple. So, what I wanted to do was basically go through these sites, make a list, and give my two cents to the matter at hand in a “Truth or Bullshit” manner and explain why.
1. Ways of getting traffic other than Search engines
Half Bullshit, Half Truth – This article basically goes through, explains some basic techniques of stealing other people’s steam, and then goes on to try and explain what directories are. For the most part, these methods work, but they are not going to put you at the top of Google. Instead of going and adding your listing into a directory, go make your own directory. There is plenty of software out there to do this with little or no licensing fees associated with it. If you do it right, you can actually create an income by selling placement in these directories.
2. How to Hire a Good SEO Expert
This is extremely important to note (and truthful):
“You don’t find offers of guaranteed placement from most of the reputable firms,” says Brad Fallon. “Almost to affirm it, they’ll say, ‘We can’t guarantee results – and anyone that would is a charlatan.'”
NO ONE CAN GUARANTEE YOU AT THE TOP OF GOOGLE! But, a friend of a friend told me…. No, you’re not listening now. You’ve bought into the whole “AdSense will make me 100 Dollars” mentality. Again, NO ONE CAN GUARANTEE YOU AT THE TOP OF GOOGLE! There are plenty of techniques that even I employ and show on this blog that used in conjunction with each other on a full moon MIGHT get you to the very top of Google, but that doesn’t mean you have any permanent fixture there.
Think about it. If you go in, decide nonchalantly “I want to be at the top of Google” like a moron, and start padding the wallet of an SEO company, then you’ve done nothing but waste your money – bottom line. The BEST thing that you can do for yourself is go write and rewrite your content. Say it 10,000 different ways on 100 different pages, watch your tracker/stats, and make sure your Robots.txt isn’t blocking anything and you’ve just done 75% of what an SEO company will do.
I can remember thinking to myself, “Why not just hire an SEO company (to do my job for me)”, and I realized after I spoke to them just how much of an idiot I’d really have to be to buy this service just because I was trying to impress my boss. SEO companies do NOT have any further control over Google than YOU do. So, what, you’re paying them to make YOU feel better? Fluff, you pay them for fluff.
3. Damn sure SEO tactics- SEO tips
Absolute Bullshit. Ok, well, maybe it is true that you need the right keywords, but how the hell are you going to know that they’re working? Easy and I’ll tell you because this guy obviously doesn’t. Go use DomainTools and search your site or go use Google Webmaster Tools. There will be an SEO browser, also better known as a plain text browser, there to show you.
I digress. You don’t convert keywords. Words can have several meanings, but rarely do those words mean anything to anyone else unless millions of dollars worth of advertising and branding has happened to them…like the words Camel, Frosty, or Gateway.
He instructs you to use your company logo….well, I may use my company logo time and time again, but in the end I know that no one gives a damn about my logo, how much time I spent making my logo, or what it means. No one cares about your “free wallpaper” either. If they came there to get something for free, after you’ve fulfilled the obligation of “free stuff”, nothing is going to keep them there – including a search engine.
Translation is a funny thing too. Babelfish has been out for years and it’s still wrong. What would make the difference to say that Google has any better technology yet? Well, I can tell you from being quoted in Portugese that Google isn’t right all the time. Just because you translate it to another language doesn’t mean that you’re even anywhere near the Google search engine for that language. Go search your site on something like http://yandex.ru/ and see where you stand. Much different, isn’t it? What makes you think that SEO from just translating the site to another language makes any difference? Again, the majority might just ignorantly brush this off because they think Russians are poor or because they have this inate fear of doing business overseas. But, it matters, so think outside the box.