In the early days of search engine optimisation it was a case of every man and woman for themselves as the algorithms that search engines used were not as sophisticated as they are today. This of course is no longer the case and the old nutmeg ‘Content is King’ is ever more true.
Unfortunately though, as in any industry, there are always people who will try to cheat the system. In the short term they may even achieve good results but eventually these techniques will always be found out and it is then that your site can run into real problems. Here we will quickly focus on ‘Black Hat’ marketing and the things to look out for when prospecting for help with your online marketing.
Gateway/Doorway pages.
These are web pages that are not designed to be seen by the web user because they redirect very quickly to the main website. They are web pages that have been stuffed full of keywords that wouldn’t actually make any sense to the casual observer. This excessive use of keywords is just one example of a practice known as spamming. This is highly frowned upon by the major search engines as it is seen as trying to cheat the system.
Link Farming
This is where a company will promise to build inbound links into the website for a set fee and all they do put you onto websites whose only purpose is to list links to as many different sites as possible all of which have no relevancy to each other whatsoever. It won’t result in receiving any extra traffic and will only end up with your site being penalised. The only way to build links into the website is through the writing and distribution of quality copy and submission to relevant directories.
Keyword stuffing
One of the favourite techniques of optimisers in the early days of SEO was to put a load of keywords onto the page of the site but set the font as the same colour of the background so, unless you clicked over it with your mouse, it would be hidden from the viewer. Of course things have become a bit more sophisticated but essentially the same is being done but it is in the back end of the site rather than the front. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to spot these kinds of underhand methods except by someone who knows what they are looking for.
The 3 examples above are just some of the many ways that ‘Black Hat’ marketers will try to cut corners and try to achieve quick short term results to justify their existence and make themselves look good. The important thing to remember is that online marketing is very much like building a house. If you lay the foundations on solid ground the structure will last for years to come but if you build on sand……
Ultimately if you employ a company who are always happy to be upfront and open about how they go about your online marketing and explain the associated processes that go with running a solid campaign you should be okay. However, if you are promised the earth by a company but then they get a bit cagey about the methods they employ to deliver it, then this is the time you maybe need to start asking a few more questions.
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SEO versus PPC
05 June 2009 by Paul
It is estimated that 72% of search engine users still only use the natural listings when conducting a search online. This leaves only 28% (less than a third) using the paid advertising solutions. This begs the question as to why there is still more spend overall by online marketers for Pay Per Click (PPC) management than for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
The answer of course lies in cash flow. If you are in charge of online marketing and you need to justify a large online budget (in relation to the size of the company) then the quickest way to balance the ROI is of course PPC.
Results can be instantaneous and the management systems offered, with the ability to run multiple campaigns, analytics, geographic and keyword targeting, as well as many other features, undoubtedly appeals to the online marketer who can easily feel that the element of control remains firmly in their hands.
But an element of caution needs to be expressed. By becoming so enamoured by the ease and rapidity that PPC can provide are we missing a few tricks and digging ourselves into a hole that becomes harder to scramble out of the deeper it gets.
Firstly there is the issue of quality and relevance that all websites should try to achieve. These can be easily overlooked by someone who only sees the results brokered by the paid option. Because it is so simple to edit and manage keywords, the marketer may not feel the need to update the content or pay much attention to the experience of the user once they have landed on the site.
The overriding issue though is the one mentioned at the beginning of this article. By relying heavily on paid search you are neglecting over 2 thirds of your potential customers who may never get the chance to see your website.
It is true that Search Engine Optimisation is not yet a precise science and that early on in its implementation results are slower, especially in relation to investment (it can take between 6-18 months depending on budget and industry) but the benefits to the website and the business in the long term can be immeasurable.
Now, please do not misunderstand the message I am trying to convey here. Pay Per Click is not a bad thing, but I believe that the best marketing strategy should be one that compliments the use of PPC and Search Engine Optimisation, hand in hand, to reach out to all your potential customers and that your long term budgeting plans should ultimately reflect the true statistics for optimum results.
Tags: online, online marketing, online marketing store, search engine optimisation, seo
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