Beware of bragging or otherwise promotional hyperbole on terms like “SEO blog coach” and the deception of mostly untrue advertising.

 

Here’s what I mean: the gist of a promise that cannot be kept on one website I recently reviewed is this: We don’t charge monthly SEO fees because WordPress does everything you need for SEO. Its communication with the search engines is automated by using a Google site map plug-in. All you have to do is blog several times a week following our particular instructions for content creation, etc. (Hence, the need for a service that is dubious- you can get everything you need regarding content for search engines for free)

Search Placement shall not live by blogging alone.

To me, that’s downright deceptive especially noting that the website that has this claim relies on the very thing they ignore when it comes to promoting the product to clients–link building. That is, links to the website in question from external sources. Given a topic with any appreciable competition your website is not going to rank high in searches regardless of how well it is written or constructed. Let’s take an example of that–one I work with routinely, South Florida real estate.

 

Let’s look at one particular area that I’m not involved in, Boca Raton, Florida real estate. Every website that shows up on page one for that search has over 1000 back links except for one that has around 650. These are all links from external websites, however they were acquired, and those links already essential part, in many cases the sole determining factor of which website appears first, second, third and so on in the lineup. SEO experts across the country have reported in the biannual SEOMoz SEO factors survey that on–site factors account for only about 15% of the total SEO picture. Anyone who tells you differently is gaming you in order to fill their own account with your hard-earned money, while depriving you of the knowledge and tactics that you need to perform well against the big hitters that you will undoubtedly run into for any product or keyword or term or service of value being promoted online.

 

Don’t be fooled by any demonstration of high placement for low value keywords. Check the claims out for your self use the free Google adword keyword tool and see how frequently words and phrases are actually searched for by anyone. Be sure to use the [exact] and “phrase” options on the left panel to see what the traffic for specific terms actually is. The broad option gives you a general search for words in any order and can be misleading, especially for specific types of searches. If the search volume is low and competition is low, the bragging about placement for this keyword or phrase is a ruse to trick you into perceiving performance where there is little or none.

 

Putting my money where my mouth is: TBP

 

Need an expert SEO blog coach who  also provides excellent training in SEO? Visit Katerina Gasset’s SEO Coaching page: SEO Blog Coach