result

Most link building by many SEO firms is absolutely not natural but is actually blackhat according to Google. If you have to pay for it, request it, comment for it or insert a hyperlink in your article to achieve it, then you are manipulating Google search results and Google terms that as blackhat. You just really should view lots of video's by Matt Cutts to understand that if you do any among the above, you then are creating links manually and violating Google's TOS.

It simply baffles me how many SEO experts will quickly denounce Cloaking as unethical or against Google's TOS or merely label it as spam which manipulates search results but then each day create artificial, manual or software generated backlinks for clients.

If you are distributing countless articles with links or posting on blogs/forums to get backlinks or using automated backlinking software, isn't that also spamming to govern google search results?

There is also a silly mindset that whitehat SEO is free or risk and blackhat is totally full of risks. Really? What number of whitehat sites, that supposedly conformed to most of Google's TOS, suddenly lose their ranking and their business when Google decides to complete a major algorithm update? Ha! Where will be the reward for loyalty from Google?

So does blackhat or being unethical really exist anymore? Isn't this really about traffic, conversions and surviving within an ever tightening monopoly created by Google that we now are left with few other options, unless to line the pockets of Google shareholders.

The talk on whitehat versus blackhat is becoming de-emotionalized and fewer religious overtones over the years. When I started off with SEO services back during the nineties, the controversy was all about ethical versus unethical SEO. Plenty of hard core reactions then to what was, after all, merely a technological, and not a theological or moral issue.

Add to the ever growing domination of Google which marketers are forced to address online also it all becomes clear. You can arguably say that online commerce as a whole has matured, as, it goes without saying, has the SEO industry proper.

As of late, when we speak with clients they happily consider the choices even if you ask them whether or not they desire to opt for a whitehat or even a blackhat approach. Clients will openly inquire about efficacy, the relative risks involved and thus on. So it's a basically unexcited, hands-on discussion, which is an excellent thing as far as we are concerned.

We are experiencing much more openness towards cloaking as an SEM strategy when compared to five years ago. Generally, corporations aren't as impressed or as easily fooled by the various search engines (especially Google's) fear, uncertainty and doubt tactics regarding anything they don't like.

The tortuous argument that blackhat is risky and whitehat is safe is ludicrous to the extreme. There is no promise by Google that whitehat SEO will bestow you superior rankings. Like there is no agreement that if you control good rankings, Google will guarantee that you benefit from ranking consistency subsequent to an update.

Ethical or whitehat behavior only makes sense amongst equals. Consequently, as an online organization, are you actually an equal to Google? No, you're not the odds are stacked firmly against you.

Fantomaster world renowned customized Cloaking & IP Delivery SEO Services.

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I frequent many SEO and Internet marketing forums on a daily basis every so frequently you will find there's debate around the SEO industry and ethics. After being involved with some debates, it is really obvious which the main problems are the important points that no two SEO companies are alike and there is no unified methodology. It is extremely hard to make statements in regards to the industry overall because it is debatable just what 'SEO' is. Add the reality that most SEO companies keep their methodology and campaign strategies secret therefore we have a situation where every company is completely different with unique results.

Fact 1 : There isn't an unified SEO methodology. SEO is actually defined by wikipedia as a means of improving traffic from SERPs into a site. Obviously, Where did they do that would be the big issue and results in the debates.

Fact 2 : The strength of a search engine campaign is dependent upon the web page structure, site content, keywords, methodology used, and how popular the website is. An internet site cannot just rank for any random keyword. SEO is also not voodoo. It really is logic, problem solving, and Online marketing mixed together. If the site provides no value to users, it likely won't rank.

Fact 3 : Some 'SEOs' do search engine ranking plus some do search engine manipulation. Naturally, it's all regulated marketed as SEO. Unethical optimization provides results no matter what and is particularly always temporary (usually ends in a banned website). Ethical optimization presents you with the website on the search engines like google and provides lasting benefits.

Fact 4 : Most SEO companies get paid whether or not your internet site gets any rankings. Unfortunately, this is actually the case with all the industry. Most SEO companies implement A, B, and C and proceed to the following client. Hopefully, the internet site ranks. Whether it doesn't, they will have more clients.

Fact 5 : Most SEO companies use both ethical and unethical inbound linking strategies.To maximise profits, it is quite common for SEO companies to acquire bulk links from India, links on spam/scraper web sites, or sell large directory submission packages. It is usually common for SEO companies to place immeasureable the agreement into inbound linking to make up for your sub-standard of the site optimization.

I really don't think it is fair to characterize an overall without identifying what is wrong by it and how SEO companies can overcome it. So how exactly will we determine what is an useful one and bad around the industry? I've got now been linked to the online world for more than A decade and, specifically, while using SEO industry for almost 4 years and I've come across intricacies of major SEO companies and worked clients who were burned by their previous SEO campaigns. Joined with numerous Web postings and forum debates referring to the identical basic problems, I've compiled a summary of the most common issues.

Problem 1: Responsibility for Results

It's not secret that this vast majority of SEO companies take no responsibility for results. The simple truth is that no Seo firm can guarantee results (in case they certainly, they can be lying to you). Additionally it is undeniable that the client takes a risk by to spend by having an Search engine optimization firm that basically says 'We'll do might know about can'. SEO companies simply guarantee they'll do the try to 'optimize' the internet site, but without full disclosure with their methodology, what exactly is the buyer spending money on? Nothing else industry sells a product without any guarantees and no specific listing of work that is to be completed. Of course, SEO work is basically the sales of knowledge and keeping the more knowledge about a methodology is vital, however the mixture of secrecy without responsibility for results really makes SEO campaigns risky. So, how can a search engine company decrease the risk for that client and provide the most benefici al grade and services information?

Answer 1: Incentive Based Pricing

A common solution to slow up the financial chance the buyer would be to share raise the risk. Through incentive-based pricing, the Seo firm can charge a clear portion of the complete contract (say 70%) to pay for their intellectual property and time while placing the other contract price (remaining 30%) in incentives for achievement. Obviously, incentives and their portion of the contract would be totally relative based on the campaign. This first take on sharing from the risk provides both reassurance to your client that this company believes rolling around in its methodology and places a few of the financial burden with the campaign for the Search engine optimization company. At this time, however, very few SEO companies are going to portion of the danger and charge a similar price regardless of if the client gets top rankings or no rankings by any means (or possibly even lower rankings).

Problem 2: Unethical Optimization

Unfortunately, unethical (or blackhat) optimization is still very prominent on the net. It is also unfortunate that 'SEO' may be mistakenly wrongly identified as 'Blackhat SEO'. This can be still the most important problem for SEO companies. Saying that all SEO companies deal in blackhat optimization is similar to saying everyone who emails can be a spammer. Blackhat optimization is just not optimization at all...it can be internet search engine manipulation. While there is a lot money associated with top rankings, customers with rock-bottom prices a place for unethical SEO and look engine spam. Until companies realize what's ethical and unethical and prevent supporting those blackhat SEO companies, they'll still thrive. This will make the industry in its entirety look bad and does not reflect the ethics of proper SEO companies. Blackhat provides fast, short term results, but has never been a good option over time.

Answer 2: Ethical Optimization

There isn't any quick and easy treatment for blackhat optimization's stain on the SEO industry. Chance to find the that most marketing departments research optimization techniques and educate themselves on what techniques are unethical. No SEO company will probably say they are doing unethical optimization. It's also not recommended to instantly trust a business or product based simply on the rankings. Unethical optimization DOES provide rankings...hardly for that end.

It'd be also helpful should the major search engines like google could well be more open and accessible to SEO companies. Currently, search engines like google and SEO companies don't cope with each other and possess formed sort of love-hate relationship. As a result, many ethical SEOs have slowly moved into dark territory. Ethical optimization seeks to create sites with less effort available for the engines and increase the engine's search results. The problem is the search engines like yahoo mainly clump all SEO companies together like as uninformed users do: search engine manipulation. This is just not the case. Search engines like yahoo don't want to reveal the things they consider unethical given it would basically be providing a list of holes into their algorithms that blackhat SEOs can manipulate further, but a definite set of 'what never to do' offers a definitive list for businesses looking for the best Search engine optimization company.

Basic Rules of Ethical Optimization

Any campaign that does not follow this rules is dealing in unethical optimization techniques and should be ignored.

1.) What are the user sees and what are the search results sees really should be the identical. Do not hide anything.

2.) Keywords and phrases (as well as the resulting optimization) should exactly reflect the information on the page.Keywords must always reflect what your internet site is about.

3.) Tend not to build out pages only for search engines like google. The web page must always cater to both audiences (users and look engines). Catering to only users is why optimization is important. Catering simply to engines like google is optimization gone too much into blackhat.

4.) Don't get involved in manipulative inbound linking schemes like link farms, bulk links, triangle linking, or other unethical manipulation of one's Google PageRank or link authority. One way links really should be tightly related to the content of your respective site and you should always know who's going to be linking to your account and where your links come from.

Problem 3: Assembly Line / Software SEO

With all the increase of the SEO industry has also come the automation of SEO. The first thing any prospective SEO client should be aware of is always that all effective SEO campaigns are custom. There isn't a checklist of items that can work exactly the same on every site. If the Search engine optimization company claims there is, chances are they'll will not be doing full optimization plus the campaign is minimal. A superb optimization campaign optimizes the internet site architecture, text content, and code from the site. Assembly line SEO will not think about the unique needs/design with the site and might supply blackhat optimization. SEO software especially really should be considered closely. You'll find really only a couple of things SEO software could accomplish that works for any site: doorway pages (showing engines another thing and users some other thing; which is unethical) or possibly a system of pages build only for search engines (referred to as info or inf ormation pages and linked in the aside section of the page). Doorway pages are 100% unethical and info pages are deep inside the gray area. Neither of such two methods address the architecture of the site, proper keyword analysis, or effective text content. The next links are degrees of automated SEO software freely available on the internet. All links contain 'nofollow' to counteract the websites from getting inbound link credit from the site. These sites are certainly not recommended by TreeHouse SEM.

/ - Doorway page system; UNETHICAL

/ - Doorway page system; UNETHICAL

Answer 3: Custom Campaign and Assessment

'SEO Software' can be cheap and affordable, nevertheless, you get what you pay money for. Any campaign that will slap on additional pages are just sell you links is NOT a highly effective SEO campaign. Any SEO effort that simply has you give a few 'optimized' pages for a site is not going to be optimal. If you desired to convert a street car to a race car, that you do not simply add racing strips into it. Don't believe that dumping some pages on your site aiimed at some random keywords matches a genuine SEO campaign.

If your Search engine optimization firm will never have a seat and focus on customized for specific cultures, architecture, and goal your blog, then its not providing a top-end service. Bear in mind nearly all 'SEO software' either is for building doorway/landing pages or perhaps giving you data regarding your site (data that is already liberal to everyone on the internet). Good SEO campaigns take into account their user along with the search engines...probably none or other. A search engine marketing company should have a commanding idea of buyer and appearance engine optimization and make use of these in combination to produce a campaign that may provide the best ROI. The finish goal ought to be leads/sales. Attracting piles of non-targeted traffic often brings about extremely high sell rates and intensely low lead conversion.

Conclusion

Shop around. Learn what you wish from an optimization campaign after which ask the right questions. Ensure that the salesman you speak with knows what they're selling. As long as they will not, they are definitely not the individual to have information from. Many SEO companies use hard sale tactics as well as the reps are less than proficient in what they are selling. Ask the following questions to see what they've got to state.

1.) How do you assess keywords? If an SEO company simply optimizes for whatever keywords are sent to them by the client, the SEO campaign kicks off on very shaky ground. Keyword analysis must be performed that may into consideration how many searches in the major yahoo and google and the relative competition for those terms. The internet site should also be than the keywords to find out if they support one another.

2.) Do you plan on building out pages specifically to store keywords? Landing pages and doorway pages are not effective extended SEO options. SEO the likes of them as they do not have to touch the rest of the site this is quite simple to simply add band aids as opposed to performing surgery.

3.) Will my SEO campaign also improve the user example of the site? Proper architecture and usability goes in hand with SEO and enables increase ROI. You need to want to bring in new traffic and convert it.

4.) Does my revenue model affect my keyword selection plus the optimization in general? Any Search engine optimization company it doesn't optimize based on the market is just not offering the more effective campaign. An ecommerce site marketing to comparative shoppers will need to optimize heavily for product names and model numbers. An online magazine planning to attract recurring traffic should optimize for article topics and particular themes. Local companies will need to optimize for geo-targeted keywords.

5.) I would like to optimize this site, but do not desire to change many of the existing content or layout...would you build a garden shed? Any SEO company saying they'll simply add-on landing pages or hide text is selling blackhat. This goes back in the earlier analogy. You happen to be really nevertheless you then have a car that you would like to modify to be very fast, but don't need to replace the engine plus the mechanic simply adds racking stripes and charge full price.

Appreciate reading TreeHouse SEM [/] articles. If you need to know much more about some of these topics, twenty-four hours a day contact us.

The author: Steve comes from a rich Web background when they have labored on the design and style, development, and marketing issues with countless Web sites. Formerly from Mississippi where he attended Ole Miss, Steve gone to live in San Diego to pursue further challenges in the Internet promotion arena.

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Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." That applies to your job search. No cookie-cutter approach works for everyone every time so if you are getting the same results for all your efforts, it may be due to your doing the same thing time and again and you've got to make a change. Get started here:

Resume: You can have a basic resume for each type of position you are seeking. Here's the key - when you go to use it, you absolutely must customize it to the needs of the employer. Whether it's changing or rearranging the selected accomplishments or reworking your professional profile to reflect qualities expressed in a job ad, your response has to align with an employer's challenges to get any traction.

Cover letters: Definitely worth the time and effort, a cover letter is an opportunity to highlight areas of expertise directly targeting specifics in the job ad or news item to which you are responding. It's also a way of expressing some personality or an interest in the industry or company that is not reflected in a resume. Being able to communicate in writing in an articulate and cohesive manner can impress a potential employer by showing maturity, knowledge and communication skills. If you are using a generic cover letter, you are missing your chance to stand out. To avoid re-creating all the content each time? Try creating bullet points about different aspects of your work and hold them in a Word document on your computer so you can use them as you need them. Then it's as easy as choosing the right promotional content for each circumstance.

Spot Opportunities: Just because a company doesn't list a job on their web site or have one posted on a job board doesn't mean they don't have opportunities coming up. If you have only been looking on a job board it's time to get your head out of the sand and start looking at movement within companies as a signal that there may be hiring ahead.

Reading a job ad: Read the ad thoroughly and several times. Look for themes that tell you what the employer really needs. Do they mention management or research or team collaboration or a set of technical skills in multiple places in the ad? If they do, then you should address those needs in your resume and cover letter. Don't make the employer dig for the information or assume you do or do not have the skills they need. It's important that they stand out. If you are using a template upon which you base all your letters and just change the addressee and the title of the job, you are wasting your time, the recipient's time and some very valuable advertising space. Just as you customize the resume to meet the employer's challenges, so must you customize the letter.

Expand Your Horizons: If you only look up job titles, try looking up a specific qualification instead. That will bring up other jobs that require that qualification that you may find interesting. Try reaching beyond your current geographical parameters. You may find a job, company or spot opportunity that's not too far away or, after researching, you may find out it has a more local affiliation or location.

Research: This cannot be stressed enough - you must do research on the company before you send any communication to them. If you don't know who they are, what they do or what they need, how can you approach them intelligently? Organize your resume, cover letter and research material in a way that allows you instant access to everything you need to handle a phone screen because you never know when that's going to come. If you aren't prepared for a phone call, why did you reach out to them? If you aren't prepared for the phone call, you probably won't hear from them again.

Fit: Ever get the response that there just wasn't a fit with the company? That can mean many things to many people so what can you do the change that perception? Really do your homework about the company culture and what the company supports, like community partnerships and charities. Reach out to your network for any information about how the company works and the people you are going to be meeting. Make sure you bring these elements out so you will be perceived as someone who is compatible with their vision, not just the business goals.

Networking: Talking to the same people or saying the same things can be boring as well as unproductive. If you already spoke to someone about your talents, you're going to have to be creative the next time you speak with them. Keep it fresh, interesting and enthusiastic. Ask them different questions, request new information, tell them what you have been doing since the last time you spoke. Make them want to help you.

Stopping the insanity means changing what you are doing and, ultimately, getting different results. It's that simple. Every effort will produce different results and some efforts will be more effective than others depending on the person and circumstance. The one thing that remains true, though, is that if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. Think about it.

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Do you feel like you're on an endless journey of not finding a job?

Do you hate being ignored when you send your resume to countless employers?

Are you approaching your job search like everyone else? BINGO!

You're just blending in with the Job Search Herd when you're like everyone else. In order to get noticed by recruiters and hiring managers, you must stand out from the Herd.

Don't Blend In - Be Different

How to do this? Be creative. Take a different approach to your job search and you'll start to see positive responses.

For instance:

(1) Have business cards advertising "You" and your job search.

(2) Create an Elevator Pitch that focuses on what you can do for your next company.

Write a Resume that Gets Noticed

(3) Build a Resume that is focused on satisfying the needs of your next employer, and you are ahead of the Job Search Herd.

Recruiters see hundreds of resumes that all look the same. Additionally, the Applicant Tracking Software that most recruiters utilize ignore resumes that don't match specific job competency requirements.

(4) To successfully get through the Recruiting and Applicant Tracking Software gate, simply copy the "Needed Job Competencies" of the position in which you're interested and paste them on your resume.

Your job skills and competencies should be in the top one-fourth of the first page of the resume.

Important! If you don't have at least 95% of the needed position skills, DO NOT apply to the position or pirate the job posting.

Always Include Results

(5) The "Results" section of your resume should be placed directly below the "Job Skills and Competencies" section of the resume. The results should be reflective of the job competencies you just listed.

Now, you can be like everyone else and include a chronological listing of your past employers. Recruiters only want to see the last ten years of employment. If you want to include more, add an additional section, "Early Career History," and list only the employer name and your job title. No need to brand yourself as being older by listing dates and specifics in which there is little or no interest.

(6) Lastly, think like an employer. If you were the Hiring Manager what words on your resume would get attention? Hint: Action-oriented words written in the present tense get more attention. The words used in the "Results" section of your resume should be solutions oriented. Simply state the problem and how you helped your company solve the problem.

(7) The "Results" section must include metrics. Executives like to see numbers and relate better to numbers than to words.

Below is an example of a resume that has been created by utilizing a job posting's needed competencies and enhanced with a listing of results that include metrics.

A Sample of an Awesome Resume

JOHN Q. EMPLOYEEMBA, EE, ESDICity, State Address email address @ xx.net 713-555-1212

MANAGER DESIGN ENGINEERING(Name of the position listing)

Dynamic and versatile Design Engineering Manager with proven superior performance in planning, directing, orchestrating and executing initiatives to deliver quality on-time Design Engineering products and services. (contains key words in the position listing)

JOB SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

(copied from position listing)

Stimulation software expertise in 3D CAM and FEA/Stimulation software for product enhancement and/or development. Stimulation software utilized to accurately check manufacturing drawings from models for design projects underway. Develop on-going reports for submission to customer and management related to product incidents in the field. Responsible for solving and/or resolving all manufacturing and/or assembly issues. Perform or coordinate analysis at third-party laboratories to confirm material conformance to specifications or reaction of product materials to application fluids. (copied from Job Posting Description)

CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

(matches Job Skills above with Results and Metrics added)

Effectively utilized stimulation software EXPERTISE in 3D CAM and FEA/Stimulation software for product enhancement and./or development at XYZ Company. RESULTS: 98% effectiveness; $80,000 cost savings. Significant Successes at ABC Corp. through the effective design of Stimulation software. Results: On-going patents pending; $10 million savings; 90% customer satisfaction Developed management and customer reports related to product incidents in the field. Results: $3 million contracts secured; anticipated marketing valued at $10 million. Responsible for solving and/or resolving all manufacturing and/or assembly issues at ABC Corp. and XYZ Company, netting manufacturing savings of approximately $20 million. Manager responsibilities include analysis at third-party laboratories to confirm material conformance to specifications or reaction of product materials to application fluids. Results: total manufacturing production savings at three companies: $80 million.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE(listed in chronological order)

(complete resume in the typical format)

Follow the above example and you'll get noticed as being above the Job Search Herd. You'll quickly pass through the Recruiter and Applicant Tracking System gate and onto Interview Scheduling.

Good Luck and Happy Job Hunt!

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The growing problem of stock market can direct one to face tough speculation wavers and this is the place where the investment lawyer plays his authentic role. He chains the investor in several ways. Prior to depositing money in any specific venture, one is needed to know about all strategy, integrities and code of conduct to get better investment results. As such, a well trained investment lawyer which comes with skills of controlling venture related issues can only help individuals in a superior way. The Investment Lawyer will take you through all the easily accessible procedures that are involved in the method of investment. He will also be a great hold back in deciding over if a given case of investment will end up in your favor or not. In dealing with the task of investments, some foreign jurisdictional issues are there which are needed to get determined with the help of such lawyer assemblage known as Investment Lawyer. The lawyer not only understands the matter, but also helps one in making right decision deciding the investment. There are plentiful formalities which are needed to get done and only the lawyer can understand the right way to inclusive all such official procedure easily.

Investment Lawyer is quite an authority in dealing with the intricate investment matters of person. Before depositing cash in any detailed venture, one is enviable to know about all tactic, ethics and code of demeanor to get better investment results. As such, a talented investment lawyer available with skills of dealing with speculation connected issues can only help individuals in an enhanced way. Thus, an Investment Lawyer is desired to come with extraordinary aptitude and skills to guide the client at every step of speculation to save him against any small or large asset loss. This type of lawyer will take you through all the acceptable procedures that are involved in the succession of investment. He will also be a massive support in judging if a given case of investment will end up in your goodwill or not. A skilled investment lawyer will defend you from getting into an fiscal and legal mess by ensuring that you make the correct conjecture decision.

The lawyer will reduce the composite economic and legal terminology that you have to read, value and sign when you make any investment. The investment lawyer will so see if there are any deficiencies in the terms and conditions of the investment document. This lawyer tends to take you through all the acceptable procedures that are occupied in the process of investment. He will also be a great keep back in managing over a given case of investment will end up in your errand or not. Well, hiring the services of a legal agent would help you to keep alert about the authorized matters of the investment and take preventive actions if required. The investment lawyer will not just administer the legal issues; but will also accrue a lot of money and time that would be expensive in protecting your investment.

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Working with professional athletes like these has been a real blessing and given me a very good insight to test my theories and implement unique strategies that work in the most extreme of environments and see them flourish. Just look at these athletes and tell me they are NOT some of the best you have ever seen.If this is you, then you must have already thought about where to turn, who to talk to, what program to follow, where to shop for groceries, possibly even supplements and of course just how much this is going to cost you.I could spend days and hours trying to explain all the ways that nutrition is working FOR and AGAINST you, or I could just provide you with a series of videos like the one you see above to give you all the goods of Dieting on a Budget and how you can make it work for your results.

I will help you discover all these and more and work with you, providing you the tools to navigate your way through the grocery stores with ease and lose fat faster, easier and cheaper than you thought possible. The athlete list can go long and deep, from high end superstars to complete unknowns but the more rewarding of all is working with individuals struggling with their own personal food and weight management demons like those that come to know Empowered Nutrition thru the several fitness clubs an weight loss clinics and most rewarding of all is working one on one in person and online and seeing all those amazing success stories and yours will be NO different.If you have ever even thought about getting in great shape you have thought about what it's going to take. You have thought about all the hard work you are going to put into the program. You have thought about all the exercise and effort. You have thought about all the groceries and supplements you are going to ne ed to stock up on and without a doubt you have thought about how much it's all going to cost and how long it's going to take.Grab A Copy Click hereIf this is you, then you must have already thought about where to turn, who to talk to, what program to follow, where to shop for groceries, possibly even supplements and of course just how much this is going to cost you.I could spend days and hours trying to explain all the ways that nutrition is working FOR and AGAINST you, or I could just provide you with a series of videos like the one you see above to give you all the goods of Dieting on a Budget and how you can make it work for your results.

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How to Use Automated SEO Software Tools for the Best Results

A discussion of software tools to automate various aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) for websites, including keyword insertion, creating backlinks, generating unique content by article spinning.

There's a preamble before I assess the pros and cons of automated Search Engine Optimization (SEO) software tools, but I think that it serves to set the scene nicely.

I opt to receive junk e-mail from Internet marketers because, occasionally (very rarely, in fact), I find an item of software that is actually useful.

As a qualified professional software engineer, I'm able easily to distinguish good software from bad. Free software usually doesn't work well and may even be detrimental to the computer in some way if it's created by an amateur. I've found that even the software that works well is almost always not designed well, but the fact that it produces results is more important than the way it looks or its poor usability, I suppose.

Every day I receive hundreds of junk e-mails. This morning (04 Sep 2010), for example, I received among them the three following items.

One was selling "Keyword Research Software" which seemed only to show search engine results from Google and YouTube when a keyword is typed in. It had nothing at all to do with keyword research. There was no price stated for the software. Much of the sales page was taken up with the seller's life story (poor education, "littlle" (sic) brother died, etc.) Then it went on to offer article spinning software for $47 with this enticement:

"College student plagerizes ...gets thrown out of school...To Bad He Didn't Have The Best Research Software...Click Here to Order Now!"

This is just one example of thousands of similar sales pages sloshing around on the Web. It begs the question: What sane person would even consider handing over money to such an unbusiness-like individual who is barely coherent, can't spell and can't string sentences together properly?

The second junk e-mail I want to mention included this:"How to use little known, yet brutally effective techniques for hijacking commissions.""How to hijack all their hard work for massive paydays."

Good grief! What are Internet marketers coming to? This person is encouraging buyers of this "system" to steal from others! Inciting cybercrime! How would honest people, trying to make an honest living with the Internet, feel about this?

Again, this is only one of many similar appeals to cheat or steal from others that I've seen in my long experience.

The third junk e-mail, which is very relevant to the subject, talked about an "Instant Ranking Formula" that claims to get Google to rank any website highly. It stated:"Get any new site indexed quickly and backlinks to it automatically - and this happens simultaneously."

(Let's ignore the all-too-frequent poor English in this case.) Software like this usually scatters backlinks (explained later) around sites which belong to a group of like-minded people who have also paid for the backlinks, regardless of the relevance of the textual content containing the backlink to the site that it links to.

This is not the purpose intended by search engines for backlinks, and backlinks from sites whose subject matter is unrelated can harm the ranking of both sites. Google can detect this, and assumes that the site owners are trying to "beat the system" by robotic means. Moreover, even relevant outward-bound links, if they are too numerous, can get a site labelled as a "link farm", which renders all the linked sites liable to be penalized. Many purveyors of automated SEO software, keyword research software, etc. unashamedly claim that their software "cheats" the search engines.

Seeing these three examples today spurred me to write this article, with the message that attempting to cheat the search engines with fully automated SEO software may come back to bite you.

Google's 'Quality Guidelines' for websites states: "Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or 'bad neighborhoods' on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links."

This is confirmed on Google's web page 'Google-friendly sites', where it says: "Keep in mind that our algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural links. Natural links to your site develop as part of the dynamic nature of the web when other sites find your content valuable and think it would be helpful for their visitors. Unnatural links to your site are placed there specifically to make your site look more popular to search engines. ... Only natural links are useful for the indexing and ranking of your site."

Regarding deceptive techniques generally, Google's 'Quality Guidelines' for websites also states: "Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit." Enough said!

What are Search Engines looking for, then?

That is the question, rather than "To cheat, or not to cheat?"

Most people who have investigated how to raise a website's position in search engines have, at some time or another, encountered the phrase "Content is King!" This declaration has always been, and always will be, true. The reputation of search engines relies on the usefulness to the visitor of the search results they return. They will, therefore, reward those websites that contain useful content by ranking them highly in their search results. It's that simple.

Because I know more about Google than Yahoo, Bing (previously MSN) and the others, I'll refer to Google's criteria. It is very likely that other search engines use similar criteria, and most of them get their results from Google, anyway.

So, how does Google determine whether or not website content is useful? Because Google uses robots ("spiders") to crawl through websites, they cannot read the content as humans do. Therefore programmatical methods are employed. The most important of these determine how relevant the content is to the search term used by the visitor. Relevance is measured in several ways.

How does Google determine the relevance of a website to a search term?

1. Keyword Density

Keyword density is a ratio of the number of times a keyword (phrase) occurs in a web page, expressed as a percentage of the total number of words in the page. Search engines calculate it to determine whether a web page is relevant to a specified keyword (phrase).

Keyword density is less important nowadays as a factor for determining page rank (PR), simply because it is too easily manipulated by website owners. Indeed, too many keywords in a web page is regarded as an attempt to cheat the search engines and can cause it to be penalized. This practice is known as "keyword stuffing".

The optimum keyword density is considered by many SEO experts to be between 1% and 3%. The density of a keyword (phrase) of 4% or more might be considered as being "search spam".

2. Latent Semantic Indexing

It's a grand title for a bold attempt to simulate human intelligence. To keep the explanation simple, a search engine that employs Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) in its algorithms analyzes the entire content of a web page, to discover what the subject matter is about. Once it "knows" this, it indexes the page to appear in results for search terms that are conceptually similar in meaning, even if the actual search term does not appear in the text.

It is, therefore, fruitless to use software simply to create a nonsensical page and inject keywords into it at random. While search algorithms become more "intelligent", it becomes more and more essential to add the human touch to websites, to distinguish them from those cranked out by automation software. By all means, use software tools to automate repetitive mini-tasks that are beyond human capacity, but use them judiciously. There is no substitute for the human brain.

3. External Backlinks

Backlinks are links to a website from other websites. Genuine backlinks are created by people, not robots, who think that a certain website contains useful information from which other web users could benefit. So, they publish a link to it on their website, thus making their own site more useful. This is the way natural backlinking is done. Google rewards websites that have natural backlinks with a higher page rank (PR), because it reckons that, if many other people think that the website is useful enough to link to it, then it must be useful. Fairly logical, really.

Any other kind of backlinking is considered by Google to be unnatural. An example of unnatural backlinking is "reciprocal linking", whereby two websites simply exchange links to each other. This kind of backlinking was easily discovered by Google, and it adjusted its algorithm, purportedly, so that the two links cancelled each other out, and neither website gained any benefit. Reciprocal linking became useless and has all but died out.

People then began to develop "three-way linking" in order to try to beat the system. This works perfectly well and is acceptable to Google, provided that it is done in the spirit intended.

For example, Company A programs and builds websites, Company B specializes in graphic design, and Company C is expert in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). None of these companies is a competitor to either of the others; their businesses complement each other in that all three specialisms are related and are needed for creating a successful website. If Company A's site contains a link to Company B's site, Company B's site contains a link to Company C's site, and Company C's site contains a link to Company A's site, all three companies benefit from the link exchange, and Google is happy. The only way to achieve such a natural three-way link exchange is to make a personal, individual approach to related websites.

If, on the other hand, three-way links are created by a robot, or by a human for the sole purpose of trying to increase page rank, Google frowns on the practice and all the sites involved run the risk of being penalized.

Google values links to a website from other websites highly, and usually increases its page rank (PR), provided that:A) The website containing the link has, itself, a high page rank;B) The website containing the link is in a related industry;C) The website containing the link is an "authority" site;D) The website containing the link is not a "link farm", i.e., its primary purpose must be to provide useful information to visitors, and not to be a repository for dozens of links to other websites.

Unless these four criteria are met, a backlink to a website is unlikely to have any effect on its page rank. Moreover, if criteria B and D are not met, an adverse effect on the website is possible.

There are two fundamental problems with using automatic backlinking software tools:1) They do not distinguish between relevant and irrelevant websites on which to place the backlinks, thus failing criterion B. They create backlinks on only general blog, forum and social media sites, or sites in a group where links are distributed to each other.2) Because they are automated, they create the backlinks on the same sites for everybody, thus swelling the number of links on those sites, and failing criterion D.

A third drawback of automatic backlinking software tools is that any Tom, Dick or Harry can achieve exactly the same link results. Thus, the playing field is just as level as it was beforehand, and no advantage (which is questionable on such general sites, anyway) is gained by any user of the software. There is no more benefit for anyone who is prepared to put in some effort to achieve better results than for anyone who is lazy and just wants to click a button.

The expression "link juice" came into vogue some time ago. It's quite apt. If a website is linked to by many "authority" sites of high page rank which have only a few links on them to other sites, those links will be very valuable to that website, and its page rank is very likely to rise. If, however, the sites contain many links to other sites, the "link juice" is diluted and the links are less valuable. Moreover, if the number of links continues to grow and the informational content does not, it's only a matter of time before Google classifies such sites as "link farms", and penalizes them. Once that happens, the websites that they link to are likely to suffer, as Google will consider them to have tried to beat the system unfairly.

Every day I receive e-mails from Web Masters, asking for a three-way links arrangement with one or other of my websites. I decline respectfully, unless:A) The domain name of the site they're offering to link to mine is relevant to my site's content;ANDB) The content of the site they're offering to link to mine is relevant to my site's content;ANDC) The domain name of the site to which they want my site to link is relevant to my site's content;ANDD) The content of the site to which they want my site to link is relevant to my site's content;ANDE) The site they're offering to link to mine is not an obvious "link farm", i.e., its primary purpose must be to provide useful information to visitors, and not to be a repository for dozens of links to other websites.

If only some of these criteria are met, I write back, offering the Web Master pre-paid advertising on my site instead of a link exchange. Sometimes, albeit rarely, they agree to pay for the link. Incidentally, most of my Internet income is derived from advertisers who write to me, offering directly to pay for one-way text links to their website from mine. Again, the websites must be on a related subject, otherwise my website could suffer, and theirs surely would. A prime example is TheGamesForum.com, which makes thousands of dollars annually from only a few advertisements. The reason for its high page rank is not so much its backlinks (which are all natural ones) as its content, which consists of hundreds of pages about games. In short, it is an "authority" website.

[This article is continued in "Using Automated SEO Software Tools for the Best Results - Part 2 of 2", which deals in depth with article-spinning software and the most important aspects of SEO. Copy and paste "Using Automated SEO Software Tools for the Best Results" into the 'Search Articles' box, and select 'Search by Article Title'. Please read that article next.]

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