3 Clues Suggesting SEO Advice May Be Poor Quality: Science Fiction
In this, the second of a pair of related articles, I suggest three indicators of poor quality SEO advice.
The first article put forward indicators of good quality SEO advice.
Most website owners become disillusioned with the vast amount of SEO information as nothing seems to work for them.
So many trees but where is the wood? Poor SEO advice usually comes in recognisable gift wrapping.
3 clues indicating that SEO advice is probably poor quality.
The first clue is that the advice on offer is unrealistic.
An example of an unsustainable promise would be "...
a step-by-step plan of action to get #1 ranking for the desired keyword in the chosen Search Engine.
" Anyone with SEO experience will know that it is not possible to achieve #1 positioning for whatever keywords you choose.
The second clue is that the offer is being made by someone who does not have a website or they have a website with few incoming links.
All website owners regularly receive emails from spammers claiming that they have expertise with SEO but their email address indicates that they do not have a website of their own e.
g.
xxxx.
yyy@gmail.
com.
If they cannot run a successful website for themselves, they will achieve even less success for you.
It is possible to gauge success of those with a website by looking at the number of incoming links.
This can be found by searching 'link:URL'.
HomePage PageRank is a better test as it includes total incoming link value rather than just link numbers.
With Firefox or Internet Explorer as your browser and with the Google toolbar active, you can check the HomePage PageRank (HPR).
A successful website should have an HPR of at least 3.
The third clue is more difficult to spot.
There are occasions when seemingly promising and verifiable claims are being made but with a simple scientific approach it is possible to show that there is an underlying flaw in their argument.
Typically, success is being claimed for a keyword that nobody is searching for or the website making the claim has high authority (HPR of 4 or more).
One example of each follows.
A couple of years ago, I received an email with a link to a landing page that demonstrated #1 positioning out of millions of competing webpages for the keyword 'keyword minute'.
It was confirmed that #1 positioning was being achieved and there were millions of webpages indexed by Google for this keyword.
The Google keyword tool showed that there were millions searching for 'keyword' and more millions were searching for 'minute' but nobody was searching for 'keyword minute'.
Achieving top positioning for a keyword that nobody is searching for will bring no visitors.
Another advertisement showed top positioning for 'SEO book' and there are several thousand searching for this desirable keyword each month.
The webpage in #1 position has 84,000 inbound links and an HPR5.
Very few small or medium sized businesses with websites achieve even HPR4 (about 2,500 average value links).
A website with HPR5 (about 75,000 average value backlinks) can easily target a desirable keyword such as 'SEO book' but this would be out of reach for most of us.
The implication that the SEO book on offer will give you the knowledge that will similarly project you to the top of Google for such a desirable keyword is an assumption that will almost certainly lead to disappointment.
Keyword difficulty and keyword difficulty tools.
Before targeting a webpage for a keyword there is a need for keyword research.
This research involves finding appropriate keywords where the website can achieve top page positioning on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Optimisers require a method to determine keyword difficulty - an assessment of the competitive strength of the webpages occupying the top SERP and a means to measure the competitive potential strength of their webpage that is to compete.
Until recently, all keyword difficulty tools had a scoring system based on an unspecified algorithm and there was no means of identifying the competitive strength of the webpage under consideration.
One must question the accuracy of the advice of such programs where we are not given specified details of their mode of action.
Backlinking campaigns The greater the value of the incoming links to your website the higher your webpages will be on the search engine results pages.
The value of a link from a webpage with PageRank 0 will be zero.
It is the PageRank of the linking page that is used in the link juice calculation and not the PageRank of the HomePage.
A backlinking industry has developed on the back of the importance of backlinks to webpage positioning.
There are programs that will disseminate hundreds of spun articles, blog and social media comments around the web with the false claim that every link produced will enhance your webpage positioning.
It is not the number of links that matter but the number of valuable links.
The value of the link is the PageRank of the linking page divided by the number of outgoing links on that page.
A link on a page with PR0 will bring in zero link juice and will be of no benefit.
Link juice, measured in link authority units, is the currency of link value.
Attempting to increase your Google account with unnatural links is as futile as submitting 'Monopoly' or other toy money into your bank account.
The search engines and your bank will see it as fraudulent and the malpractice is more likely to result in disaster than success.
A link is only of value if it is given recognition by the search engines.
Search engines achieve financial success proportionate to the number of users.
It is in their interest to provide the best possible set of results for any search and those that seek to cheat their way to the top will not be appreciated or rewarded.
The Google guidelines explain that you should avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining your actions to a website that competes with you.
Another useful test is to question if you would do this if search engines didn't exist? You should not participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank.
In particular, you should avoid links to web spammers or your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
Google and the other search engines have anti-spam departments charged with detecting and discounting unnatural links.
The easiest alerting signal would be that a website with very few visitors is acquiring hundreds of links - it must be cheating.
Those unnatural links will not be counted.
In early 2011, Google launched its Panda update which learns on the job.
Should a website manage to beat the system for even a short-time it will be picked up by unfavourable user signals and it will be either demoted or removed from the search engine index.
Reciprocal links There are sophisticated programs and SEO service providers aiming to procure reciprocal links.
Reciprocal linking offers no overall benefit and potentially a net loss.
Matt Cutts, who heads the Google anti-spam unit and frequently acts as the the search engine's spokesman explains that a proportion of every outgoing link is removed before it arrives at the receiving page to prevent the PageRank system imploding - a sort of Google tax.
This means that if two webpages with equal link juice and an equal number of outgoing links reciprocate links, there will be a net loss of precious link juice from both websites.
No easy method to instant website success Anyone or any program suggesting there is a quick and easy method leading to instant success on the internet comes from those versed in science fiction rather than science.
Beware.
The first article put forward indicators of good quality SEO advice.
Most website owners become disillusioned with the vast amount of SEO information as nothing seems to work for them.
So many trees but where is the wood? Poor SEO advice usually comes in recognisable gift wrapping.
3 clues indicating that SEO advice is probably poor quality.
The first clue is that the advice on offer is unrealistic.
An example of an unsustainable promise would be "...
a step-by-step plan of action to get #1 ranking for the desired keyword in the chosen Search Engine.
" Anyone with SEO experience will know that it is not possible to achieve #1 positioning for whatever keywords you choose.
The second clue is that the offer is being made by someone who does not have a website or they have a website with few incoming links.
All website owners regularly receive emails from spammers claiming that they have expertise with SEO but their email address indicates that they do not have a website of their own e.
g.
xxxx.
yyy@gmail.
com.
If they cannot run a successful website for themselves, they will achieve even less success for you.
It is possible to gauge success of those with a website by looking at the number of incoming links.
This can be found by searching 'link:URL'.
HomePage PageRank is a better test as it includes total incoming link value rather than just link numbers.
With Firefox or Internet Explorer as your browser and with the Google toolbar active, you can check the HomePage PageRank (HPR).
A successful website should have an HPR of at least 3.
The third clue is more difficult to spot.
There are occasions when seemingly promising and verifiable claims are being made but with a simple scientific approach it is possible to show that there is an underlying flaw in their argument.
Typically, success is being claimed for a keyword that nobody is searching for or the website making the claim has high authority (HPR of 4 or more).
One example of each follows.
A couple of years ago, I received an email with a link to a landing page that demonstrated #1 positioning out of millions of competing webpages for the keyword 'keyword minute'.
It was confirmed that #1 positioning was being achieved and there were millions of webpages indexed by Google for this keyword.
The Google keyword tool showed that there were millions searching for 'keyword' and more millions were searching for 'minute' but nobody was searching for 'keyword minute'.
Achieving top positioning for a keyword that nobody is searching for will bring no visitors.
Another advertisement showed top positioning for 'SEO book' and there are several thousand searching for this desirable keyword each month.
The webpage in #1 position has 84,000 inbound links and an HPR5.
Very few small or medium sized businesses with websites achieve even HPR4 (about 2,500 average value links).
A website with HPR5 (about 75,000 average value backlinks) can easily target a desirable keyword such as 'SEO book' but this would be out of reach for most of us.
The implication that the SEO book on offer will give you the knowledge that will similarly project you to the top of Google for such a desirable keyword is an assumption that will almost certainly lead to disappointment.
Keyword difficulty and keyword difficulty tools.
Before targeting a webpage for a keyword there is a need for keyword research.
This research involves finding appropriate keywords where the website can achieve top page positioning on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Optimisers require a method to determine keyword difficulty - an assessment of the competitive strength of the webpages occupying the top SERP and a means to measure the competitive potential strength of their webpage that is to compete.
Until recently, all keyword difficulty tools had a scoring system based on an unspecified algorithm and there was no means of identifying the competitive strength of the webpage under consideration.
One must question the accuracy of the advice of such programs where we are not given specified details of their mode of action.
Backlinking campaigns The greater the value of the incoming links to your website the higher your webpages will be on the search engine results pages.
The value of a link from a webpage with PageRank 0 will be zero.
It is the PageRank of the linking page that is used in the link juice calculation and not the PageRank of the HomePage.
A backlinking industry has developed on the back of the importance of backlinks to webpage positioning.
There are programs that will disseminate hundreds of spun articles, blog and social media comments around the web with the false claim that every link produced will enhance your webpage positioning.
It is not the number of links that matter but the number of valuable links.
The value of the link is the PageRank of the linking page divided by the number of outgoing links on that page.
A link on a page with PR0 will bring in zero link juice and will be of no benefit.
Link juice, measured in link authority units, is the currency of link value.
Attempting to increase your Google account with unnatural links is as futile as submitting 'Monopoly' or other toy money into your bank account.
The search engines and your bank will see it as fraudulent and the malpractice is more likely to result in disaster than success.
A link is only of value if it is given recognition by the search engines.
Search engines achieve financial success proportionate to the number of users.
It is in their interest to provide the best possible set of results for any search and those that seek to cheat their way to the top will not be appreciated or rewarded.
The Google guidelines explain that you should avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining your actions to a website that competes with you.
Another useful test is to question if you would do this if search engines didn't exist? You should not participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank.
In particular, you should avoid links to web spammers or your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
Google and the other search engines have anti-spam departments charged with detecting and discounting unnatural links.
The easiest alerting signal would be that a website with very few visitors is acquiring hundreds of links - it must be cheating.
Those unnatural links will not be counted.
In early 2011, Google launched its Panda update which learns on the job.
Should a website manage to beat the system for even a short-time it will be picked up by unfavourable user signals and it will be either demoted or removed from the search engine index.
Reciprocal links There are sophisticated programs and SEO service providers aiming to procure reciprocal links.
Reciprocal linking offers no overall benefit and potentially a net loss.
Matt Cutts, who heads the Google anti-spam unit and frequently acts as the the search engine's spokesman explains that a proportion of every outgoing link is removed before it arrives at the receiving page to prevent the PageRank system imploding - a sort of Google tax.
This means that if two webpages with equal link juice and an equal number of outgoing links reciprocate links, there will be a net loss of precious link juice from both websites.
No easy method to instant website success Anyone or any program suggesting there is a quick and easy method leading to instant success on the internet comes from those versed in science fiction rather than science.
Beware.
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