by Jonathon Hyjek | Jan 10, 2013 | Search Engine Optimization
In the process of learning SEO, I have tried many different tactics to improve rankings as I am sure other SEO companies have also done. There is some trial and error as it relates to SEO and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work.
However…
There is a big difference between doing testing and trial and error on your own websites versus those of a client. I learned SEO through building and doing SEO on approximately 50 of my own niche websites. Some were successful and ended up earning me some money, some where not, but I had nothing to lose and everything to gain by learning the SEO business this way. If I messed up, I was only hurting myself.
Unfortunately not all SEO companies are created equal. It would seem that many SEO companies are still using techniques that are old and out-dated and are more likely to get your site de-indexed by Google, rather than get it onto the front page.
Two scenarios come to mind when I think about all the different problematic SEO tactics I have seen used by SEO companies in the past 5 years.
1. A few years back I owned a few article directories. This was when article marketing was at the height of it’s effectiveness for SEO. Day after day I would clear out hundreds of spammy articles, written by offshore writers for some pretty reputable companies. Time after time I would see the same poor quality article, submitted to all 4 of my article directories. Spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and often they just didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
A few times I was tempted to contact the owners of the businesses being represented in the articles to let them know what their SEO company was up to, but I never did. It would have been a full-time job in itself. I think it’s safe to say that they had no idea what their SEO company was doing to get them higher rankings.
2. A few months ago I was doing some SEO work for a client. When I logged into the control panel for their website, I noticed that their website had hundreds of blog posts about various topics, which in no way related to their business. It would seem that their SEO company had signed them up to some sort of private blog network which allowed other people to post articles on their website (unknowingly) everyday, linking to various websites. None of the posts were accessible through the website’s main navigation, so customers weren’t seeing these articles, however they were there. Google was indexing these articles and many were about gambling, online poker, online dating and prescriptions drugs.
What’s My Advice?
While you don’t need to know every detail of your SEO company and what they do to get your website to the front page of Google, you need to be able to trust them. If you don’t get the sense that you can trust them, don’t work with them. It’s that simple! Get to know your SEO company or SEO expert, ask them questions, learn about their integrity (if they have any) and then move ahead with the business relationship. You don’t need to choose your SEO company overnight either. Choose carefully and make sure you are going to be comfortable working with them since this is not a one-time transaction.
A word of advice though: Don’t breathe down their neck. SEO takes time and sometimes, LOTS of time. If you hire an SEO company today, don’t ask them in 3 days why your website isn’t on the front page of Google. It takes time. Most likely they will want to work with you ongoing for several months to start and at first, you may not see a lot of results. Rest assured that a good SEO company is building a foundation and that over time, you will see those rankings improve.
by Jonathon Hyjek | Nov 4, 2012 | Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization
If you operate a business, it’s important to build a strong online profile for you or your business. Your online profile is like a trail that leads right to your business and will show prospective clients and customers that you are serious about doing business online.
What Do I Mean By Online Profile?
Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers or clients. They will fall into two different categories when searching for information about a business:
1. They don’t know who you are, but they are searching for keywords related to your company’s activities.
2. They know who you are and they’re searching for your company, using search terms like your company name.
SEO most often deals with the first scenario. We help our clients get found in search engines by keywords that customers are searching for. For example, in my business, it’s important for me to be found by the terms “SEO company” or “London Ontario SEO Companies.” Those terms are of value to me and I optimize my website and try to build backlinks to my website with those terms in mind.
Scenario number 2 seems to get overlooked by far too many people, but it is equally as powerful.
Imagine that your customers have been referred to your company by a friend or family member and they decide to search for your company name. First and foremost, you hope that your company website is the first website that appears. If that’s not the case, you have some work to do.
After your company website, if you have spent any time online building your online profile, your customers will find other profiles about your company. Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Quora, Weblocal, Manta, Yelp and the list goes on and on.
The goal of this second scenario is to fill up the first page or two of the search results with your company.
Why would you want to do this?
Because it makes you look like a large company, with plenty of reach. If someone searches for my company name, Jonathon Hyjek, the first two pages are filled with my profiles on various websites. Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Manta, Yelp and so on. If they don’t go to the first option, which is my company website, there’s a good chance that they will still end up on my website eventually by choosing any of the other links associated with my company.
While this isn’t rocket science, it gets overlooked and it’s too bad. Some of these websites can also offer valuable backlinks to your website, which will help improve your organic search results as well.
What’s the Final Word?
Seek opportunities to build online profiles and accounts on social media sites, local directories and more. Just be careful not to build these profiles too quickly and make it appear that you’re spamming the search engines. Just be diligent and serious about growing your reach online and making sure you’re everyone that your potential customers are.
by Jonathon Hyjek | Aug 22, 2012 | Search Engine Optimization
You don’t have to look very hard to find an SEO company to help you improve your rankings. Just Google the term “SEO company”, do a search on Twitter or check out Linkedin and you will be faced with hundreds or thousands of results for SEO companies and independent consultants who claim to all be able to get your website onto the front page of Google.
How do you know which company or consultant to trust? How do you know what they’re telling you is true?
SEO is a field that technically doesn’t have right or wrong answers because there isn’t a formal/official body that oversees the industry. It’s not like doing a safety check on a car or wiring a house where there’s a right way and a wrong way. There’s a standard list of do’s and don’ts.
SEO isn’t like that. There are tactics and strategies that one SEO company will use and another will avoid. Each company has their own way of doing things and it may vary slightly from what another company does. At the end of it all, there isn’t an official body or group that oversees and makes sure that SEO is done right because in one sense, it’s like nailing jello to the wall!
SEO is Evolving
SEO is an ever-changing and evolving field and what worked 12 months ago may not work as well today, or might not work at all. That in itself isn’t a bad thing as it keeps professional SEO consultants and companies on their toes. Daily reading of whats happening in the industry and with Google is just part of understanding the field.
Bad SEO Companies Use Old Methods
With the SEO world changing so rapidly, what sets a good SEO company apart from a bad one is updated information. Good SEO companies are always learning, reading and testing to keep up with the changes and evolving their techniques and strategies as Google rolls out changes to their search algorithm.
SEO Company Tactics to Avoid
If you ever see phrases like this, you might be dealing with a company that “thinks” they know SEO, but they clearly do not.
“We will submit your website to search engines”
“We will submit your website to hundreds of web directories”
“We will submit hundreds of articles to article directories”
“We guarantee #1 rankings”
Other Warning Signs
If an SEO company is secretive about their methods and they aren’t able to answer your questions, you might want to look elsewhere. While every SEO company isn’t going to know everything there is to know, if they can’t or aren’t willing to talk specifics about your SEO campaign, it’s probably time to find another SEO company.
Work with Someone You Can Trust
If you find a good SEO company that you feel that you can trust, settle in for the long haul. Don’t look at it like a one-time transaction, but rather a long-term relationship.
by Jonathon Hyjek | Aug 14, 2012 | Search Engine Optimization
An SEO audit is the foundation of an SEO campaign because it gives us an understanding of the factors affecting a websites search engine rankings. Until we do an SEO audit, we can’t fully understand what we need to do in order for your website to be a success.
SEO Panic…
The usual scenario unfortunately goes like this: A company realizes that their website is under-performing in the search engine rankings so they start doing completely random activities like link building or article marketing in a flurry of activity, trying to get their website rankings to improve. It’s a panicked approach to taking action and often fails because activity apart from a strategy is an inefficient way to spend your SEO efforts and may even lead to a penalty.
A better approach is to have an SEO audit completed to get a full picture of where your website stands, the issues affecting your rankings and the solutions to improve. This method offers a more methodical approach to SEO and is a must for any company or organization serious about website rankings.
What’s included in an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is the starting place that allows us to help you build a strategy. The SEO audit addresses many factors including:
- Keyword Research, Placement & Anchor Text
- Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools Data
- Response Codes (404, 301, 302 etc.,)
- Sitemap, Robots.txt & .htacess Analysis
- Title Tag & Meta Information review
- On-site & Off-site Content/Media Review (text, video, images)
- Website Structure & Usability
- Backlink Analysis
- Competition Comparison
- Social Media, Web2.0 & 3.0 property evaluation
- Up to 2 hours of SEO coaching to help implement recommendations
The SEO Audit is Done: Now What?
The good news is that our SEO audits don’t just tell you the issues, but they give you the solutions and actionable steps to improve your rankings. We write the report in plain, easy to understand language with steps that can either be implemented by your in-house developer or team, or you can inquire about an SEO package with Jonathon Hyjek and allow us to work to build your rankings.
To answer the question at the outset of this post: Do you need an SEO audit? For many, the answer will be YES without any hesitation.
by Jonathon Hyjek | Aug 13, 2012 | Search Engine Optimization
Being on page #1 in Google is exciting. That special moment when you realize that all your SEO work has paid off and you finally make it to first place.
But is there ever a time when being #1 in Google isn’t a big deal?
I can think of a circumstance when being #1 isn’t really a big deal.
When no one is competing for your keywords!
It happens. You may have a very specific niche in a small geographic area and in order for you to rank on the first page of Google for various search terms, it isn’t very hard. Some search terms get so little search volume and have no competition that any mediocre SEO company is going to be able to get you onto page one pretty easily.
If your website falls into this category, maybe it’s time you did some keyword research. There are terms that you can rank #1 in Google for, and because there just isn’t any demand for those search terms, that being #1 isn’t going to help you much. If your search terms are legitimately so narrow that no one is competing for them, that’s one thing; But if your just trying to compete for the WRONG search terms for your business, that’s a totally different problem.
Doing keyword research means that not only do you find keywords that you want to rank for, but you find keywords that you want to rank for that actually have search volume. There’s no challenge in ranking for terms that get next to no search traffic, on the other hand it cane be pretty difficult to rank for terms that get a lot of search volume and this is when having an SEO company working for you can really pay off.
Afterall, investing your SEO efforts on ranking for keywords that no one is searching for is a complete waste of time and money.
