4 common search engine myths

1. Just because your website is on the internet everyone can find it

Not so! Just because you have a mobile phone, does it mean that people who don't know the number, or perhaps even that you have a mobile, can ring you?

It is true that people who know your website's address can type that in to their browser and find it that way, or perhaps even second guess it, e.g. www.ashleybrownguitars.co.uk. But... what about the people who don't know that either you, your product and/or service exist? You need to tell them!

Getting your website found in an internet search depends on many factors: good site design / coding, good content, existence of 'meta tags', whether search engines know about your site, inbound links from other quality web sites etc., etc.

There are many companies that design wonderful-looking websites, but they often have no knowledge - and nor do they even care about - search engine 'friendliness'. Their sites are purely graphics driven and you might end up with a beautiful website with stunning graphics and Flash animations, but ultimately it is unlikely to be found during an internet search using your key search words.

2. You have been GUARANTEED a No. 1 Position in Google by a search engine optimisation company

Most website owners have received the type of e-mail that says, "Dear yourdomain.co.uk, I visited your website today and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."

Be wary of search engine optimisation (SEO) firms that send you e-mails out of the blue. Whilst your site may or may not be listed well, the seemingly amazing offer to make your site No 1 in search engines without using something like 'Google Ads' will likely be a scam.

The reality is that there are NO guarantees to search engine success. Search engines frequently update their databases and professional search engine marketing companies do NOT have any say in what these changes are, or how they affect sites.

Achieving and sustaining top search engine positions means trial and error, success and failure and anybody that tells you otherwise is trying to hoodwink you. Moreover, it is not possible to get good natural (i.e. not paid for) rankings instantly - particularly in Google. The ONLY way you can be guaranteed to be at the top is to pay for listings via Pay Per Click ads (PPC), and this will cost you money.

A professional SEO should follow "best practice" techniques to attract quality traffic to your website and not just use ranking as proof of their success. Likewise, avoid SEOs that use so-called 'black hat' search engine techniques (unethical ways to gain unfair advantages) as your site will likely be thrown out of the search engines when this is discovered. This happened to BMW, whose website was 'blacklisted' by Google [N.B. this link will open in a new window] for using unethical search engine optimsation techniques.

How can companies guarantee top search engine rankings?

The guarantee that some companies offer should not be taken at face value, as it will probably result in one of the following scenarios:

1. It is offered on non-competitive phrases. Anyone can rank a site in the Top 10 search results for a phrase that only has competition from a few other sites, or by using an obscure search phrase. Unless your site is optimised for the phrases that will deliver targeted traffic to your site, a Top 10 listing from meaningless search words will do nothing to contribute to the success of your website.

2. As with any industry, professional search engine marketing has its own share of fraudsters. Just because a company claims to have a money-back guarantee doesn't mean that they will necessarily honour a refund promise. If a marketing company demands full payment up front and promises a money-back guarantee, consider it even more of a warning against doing business with them! An example of such a company can be seen here. [N.B. this link will open in a new window]

3. There are some professional SEO companies that are so good that they make a promise they will honour. Although they may sometimes have to give a refund, the price charged for optimising your site is usually enough to offset this cost. However, these types of firms are the exception and not the rule, so BEWARE!

What Google has to say about search engine 'guarantees'

Google mostly keeps pretty quiet about the way its organic (i.e. not paid for as in 'Google Ads' etc.) search engine listings work. What they do say, however, is the following:

"Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google."

3. Once your site is No. 1 it will stay there

Nobody should promise that if your site is No.1 today it will remain there after the next search engine update. Keeping at the top of the search engines and growing quality website traffic takes constant monitoring, not to mention forward planning. Remember that the sites that rank behind you want to take the top position away from you: they are always 'hot on your heels.'

Be' pro active' rather than 'reactive' and you will go a long way to keeping your site at the top.

4. Submitting your site to 1000s of search engines will get you to No. 1

You may have noticed ads on the web inviting you to "Submit your site for free to 1000s of search engines!". It may seem too good to be true, but that's because it is. No ethical Search Engine Optimiser would ever advise this as a good way to promote your site.

Aside from immediately filling your Inbox with spam for ever more, these are not real search engines but 'link farms.' Link farms, or link popularity schemes, are also known as FFAs (Free-for-Alls), and are created solely to obtain bogus search engine rankings, comprising almost entirely of a long list of unrelated links.

In short, a link farm is a form of spamming search engine databases (sometimes called spamdexing).

A final word of warning is that some search engines may even penalise you for submitting your site to a link farm.