How NOT to do SEO

I thought I’d see what the Tumblr community have got to offer in terms of SEO this morning. The best I could find was also the best example of how not to do SEO along with self promotion on a platform such as Tumblr. It’s no wonder people who work in this industry have this bad cloud around what we do! So without trying to upset anyone or company. This is a little example on ‘how not to do SEO’.

Who is Website Optimization India?

Websiteoptimizationindia[dot]com offer SEO services in what “I think” appears to be the Tampa area. Part of those thoughts are down to the homepage mentioning Tampa 43 times along with a further 39 in the meta data (of which 24 are meta keywords).

So that’s their idea of keyword relevancy for Google to pick up?

So What’s Tumblr got to do with it?

When searching SEO on Tumblr, I found the blog seocompanytampa[dot]tumblr[dot]com (yes that’s right neither site are getting a real link from me). In the last 4 days they have posted the same link (plus comment) to their main site 7 times;

It’s companies like these that really give SEO a bad name as they have the cheek to “guarantee” top rankings. If techniques like these are anything to go by, I feel sorry for their existing clients.

So if you are looking for SEO in Tampa, do some research first!

Google Stars Enhance Personalised Search

So the latest personalised search rollout for Google has taken place

We’ve long believed that personalization makes search more relevant and fun. For nearly five years, we’ve been tailoring results with personalized search. Today we’re announcing a new feature in search that makes it easier for you to mark and rediscover your favorite web content — stars.

Read the official post, Stars make search more personal, on the Official Google Blog.

For example, when searching for credit cards you will be presented with the following top results (UK).

Credit Card Search on Google UK

You’ll notice a subtle star by each result in which is clickable, allowing you to select your “star” pages. As part of this example, I decided to click on Barclaycard as below.

Clickable Stars

Do another search for credit cards and there you have it - your starred page is ranked top of Google for your reference.

Second Search

So what happens with multiple star pages? I’ve continued by selecting numerous credit card provides and as the screenshot below, the maximum shown at one time is 3 starred results with a link to “show more starred results”.

Multiple Starred Sites

Nice idea and isn’t too much of a distraction to the natural listings. The question I’ve got is that if you search on Google and find a site you like, the first your going to do is spend time on that site, not go back to Google and click a star.

Interesting … can we track the links of those that are starred and clicked through to our sites?

BT SearchSmart

It’s a rare moment when I mention the words ‘search engine optimisation’ in my blog (never mind blog about it).  So why change a habit?

After deciding to do a little boredom reading I decided to do a little search for ‘seo’ on Google just to see who’s ranking, who’s bullshitting & who genuinely deserves to be there.

Out of the top ten results; only two were informative about the query (Wikipedia & Google Support) with the rest being agencies + one forum.

However, what did catch my attention was the following PPC Ad;

SEO Management from BT

Professional SEO Consultation and
Management from only £74.99pm

www .BT.com/SearchSmart

When did BT enter the SEO consultancy market? Furthermore, they are also offering PPC & Analytic services? (worth noting that I have nothing against this whatsoever … good luck to them). So what have they got to offer?

• Keyword selection
• Comprehensive website audit
• Recommendations document
• In depth telephone consultation
• Unlimited email access to online marketing specialists
• Google Site Map production and provision for upload
• Monthly SEO reports position reporting
• Best practice SEO documentation & guides

• All the features of Option 1 plus:
• Unlimited 0800 phone-based support
• Link building via 3 bespoke articles (monthly)
• Directory submissions to up to 50 targeted directories
• Enhanced reporting
• Enhanced reporting of keywords & competitor link analysis

Link Building Package - £100 (ex. VAT)

Give your rankings a further boost by:

• Manual link requests to related websites - highly relevant content sites
• Manual submission to DMOZ
• Manual submission to selected UK directory sites
• Additional directory submissions where necessary
• All activity reported and results tracked on your dashboard

Additional Consultancy Call - £50 for 30 minutes (ex. VAT)

• 30 minute expert consultation with BT SearchSmart online marketing 
  specialist.
• Based on customers needs and questions, supported by a pre-call 
  questionnaire submitted by customer
• Post call report sent to customer
• Bookable online

And lastly, the also offer Analytics

• 30 minute expert consultation with a Google Authorised Analytics Consultant
• Set up of your Google Analytics account
• Implement Google Analytics code on up to 20 pages of your web site (and BT Tradespace profile).
• Guide on how to use Google Analytics to achieve business aims and maximise ROI

No disrespect to BT on their services, everyone has an opinion. In this case, I’d be questioning a number of features (but I guess I work in the field). The one that I will point out is the setting up of Google Analytics.

I’m all for promoting further advice on such Analytic products but offering to implement what is a free product on up to only 20 pages is a bit limited. I imagine your average website these days has way more than 20 pages - especially with Blogs becoming a common feature in most up to date websites.

The only question I’d ask is, does the BT SearchSmart team also do the SEO for the main BT website?