Many SEO Experts Don’t Know Jack
by Frank Jovine on 06/28/2009 in SEO Tips
Before you or your company invests money in SEO, please do your homework and do it thoroughly. Avoid reaching in your pocket because they say they been doing it for years. Get proof before making a commitment.
What to check before hiring an SEO Firm
Proof – First off, review the SEO consultant’s website and portfolio if they have one, which they should. How well are these websites ranked in Google? Are they doing well with keyword phrases and or terms relative to the sites niche? These are the most obvious indicators to measure the effectiveness of Search Engine Optimization.
You don’t know jack!
There are many so-called SEO Experts that think they know it all, but many just chirp what the other big birds are saying. They know the lingo and nothing more. It’s the old saying – you can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?
I visit a couple of well known SEO forums daily to read what other SEO folks are saying. It seems that many of them discredit Alexa as inconsistent, and a meaningless way to measure a websites performance (see example here). Alexa measures a websites ranking based on the people who have the Alexa toolbar installed. If 10 million people have the toolbar installed and you are ranked at 50K, this means you are in the top 5%. If there are 100 million people who have the Alexa toolbar, you would probably be ranked at 500K, which is still in the top 5%.
It’s the SEO folks that discredit Alexa because their website is performing poorly with Alexa ranking. It’s there way to find excuses to avoid being called out for the obvious – YOU DON’T KNOW JACK!
There are many bloggers who pay close attention to the basics of SEO. These same people are passionate about what they do and they need a way to measure their effectiveness.
Let’s look at a couple of websites that just celebrated their one year anniversaries.
Kikolani.com – A blog that has an Alexa rank of 57K and a Google Pagerank 4. This blog is only 13 months old and look how well it’s performing. Kristi, the owner and author of Kikolani.com will tell you she is not an SEO expert, but she is probably more capable than many of the so-called SEO experts.
TechJaws – TJ just turned one on May 26, 2009 and is currently ranked at 45K in Alexa and has a Google Pagerank 4. SEO is part of my profession along with Ecommerce Marketing. It’s something I am passionate about and have practiced for over a year. I have consulted for friends and I am proud of the results we achieved.
SEO is not a set it and forget it concept. You have to stay in touch with the latest from reliable sources who know what SEO is and how to improve on it. Matt Cutt’s comes to mind, as he is the god of SEO. I would be an expert as well if I worked for Google in his capacity.
Definition of Google Pagerank
Google Pagerank – Is based on the amount of backlinks or incoming links to your website. If the website linking to you is Dofollow, Google counts that as a vote for your website.
Check out this article – A List of Dofollow Blogs to Improve Your Pagerank
Tools to measure your websites effectiveness
http://website.grader.com/ – Website Grader is a free SEO tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors.
http://www.majesticseo.com/comparedomainbacklinkhistory.php – Compare domain backlink history.
I know this will stir up some controversy, but that was my intent, to call out the people who should just keep quite and listen to the real experts of SEO!
stratosg
Jun 28th, 2009
Unfortunately, a vast majority of SEO experts these days, are nothing but a hoax. They have no idea, as you said, of what they are supposed to be “experts” on. I totally agree in researching before hiring but i would have to add, try yourself for some time before you decide you need help…
Frank J
Jun 28th, 2009
Sratosg,
I agree, try it first and if you need more help there are so many documents that can guide you through SEO.
Jonathan - Advanced Life Skills
Jun 28th, 2009
Great info Frank, it’s nice to get straight answers to SEO questions without smoke and mirrors.
Frank J
Jun 28th, 2009
Jonathan,
It was because of our conversation I had the idea to write this at 5:00am this morning.
Todd Morris
Jun 28th, 2009
I think I’ve finally come to the conclusion that SEO is probably only worth worrying about on a peripheral level … ie, make sure you do a few things right, but beyond that, the more you focus on “good” SEO the more likely it is you may be doing yourself more harm than good.
… especially if you’re targeting Google (and who isn’t).
lol, look what just came out with how nofollow links may affect the passing of PR. It’s almost guaranteed that even SEOs who do know what they’re doing are probably giving advice right this minute to do things that Google already changed months ago.
It’s all good though, even if it is a big mystery, it’s still fun to chase that little green PR bar.
Todd
Frank J
Jun 29th, 2009
Todd,
Keep chancing that green bar! Thanks for the opinion and you do make some valid points.
SEO Rocks
Jun 28th, 2009
Thanks for writing this. I would agree. We would never think we know everything, but we certainly hope we are not the bitter hacks out there. Happy Business to you, and thanks for writing this up Frank.
Frank J
Jun 29th, 2009
You are so welcome and I appreciate the comments!
Andrew - apartments Bohinj
Jun 29th, 2009
Thanks for the domain backlink history link, seems like a great tool. Starting my SEO career, it’s nice to get a few tips from people who ‘know jack’
.
Frank J
Jun 29th, 2009
Andrew,
You are welcome and all the best in you new career!
Joanie
Jun 29th, 2009
Nice post. I’d love to see you do more articles on SEO — it’s something I still struggle with. Your blog has done very well to be only a year old. Congrats!
Vancouver Web Design
Jun 29th, 2009
Very cool post, I’ve bookmarked the site and will return with the hopes of future articles on seo ?
Fool
Jul 2nd, 2009
Very good information, as always thanks!
Frank J
Jul 2nd, 2009
Fool,
Thanks man!
David Hopkins
Jul 2nd, 2009
I find Alexa to be wildly inaccurate is some cases. My site is about 115,000 and get on average 250 uniques a day, while I know another site that is about 450,000 and gets 1,200 uniques a day. However, like yourself I feel it is still a useful statistic. If a site is in the top 50,000 it is probably getting decent traffic.
Re. seo experts agree with this also. It seems to me there are a lot of dinos about who are not keeping up in someregards. Saw a video from 2008 the other day in which an SEO expert was saying how you shouldn’t use Java applets for menus. Think that advice is a bit out of date now
Frank J
Jul 2nd, 2009
David,
Alexa is just another tool to gauge how well your website is ranked amongst users that have the Alexa toolbar installed. There are other companies like Alexa such as Quantcast and Compete.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate your information!
Kikolani
Jul 3rd, 2009
Thanks for including me as an example. This is a good point though. I think that a lot of bloggers learn SEO tips that any business could benefit from. I have started using what I know for some freelance work, and I have encouraged those businesses to start blogs because the constantly fresh content and link building opportunities for blogs are seemingly endless compared to static sites.
~ Kristi
Worcester Movers
Jul 9th, 2009
It’s interesting what you said about Alexa. I think it is pretty much common knowledge by now that Alexa rank is not an indication of the amount of traffic a website gets. So then what determines a website’s rank? What causes it to be in the top 5% if another site ranked lower gets more traffic? Another thing to consider is who actually has the Alexa toolbar installed. It’s mostly people who are trying to pay attention to Alexa rank for their own websites, not the average internet user.
Frank J
Jul 10th, 2009
Alexa is intended for those who are trying to measure or gauge how well their site is ranking. Many advertisers rely on this when they choose to advertise on a well ranked site.