Phil Lauterjung

I don’t claim to be an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert or guru; however, I have spent a lot of time learning about it and I intend to continue.  One thing I have found is that there are way too many who do claim to be experts or gurus on the subject.  Some of you may have hired one and lived to regret it.  But SEO, as I explained in the series on Integrated Lead Generation, is an integral piece of the process.

I am NOT saying that there aren’t any good experts on SEO – there are.  But, in the interest of helping the readers of this blog – and those that happen to stumble upon it – here are 7 reasons to run as fast as you can away from a bad SEO consultant.  This list originally appeared in a Hubspot (people who support ethical best practices) blog a few months ago.

1. Refers to vague unknown “experts”: If they can’t name respected and trusted sources like Aaron Wall (SEOBook), Rand Fishkin (SEOMoz), or Bruce Clay (BruceClay) then you need to interview a few other people.  Those named here are willing to share much of their knowledge willingly and openly on their web sites.  They also charge, rightfully so, for more in-depth information.
2. Suggest Specific Keyword Densities for Your Content: Your content should be appealing and easy to read by the people who visit your web site, not for Google engineers who write the search algorithms.  Yes, you should have keywords in your content, but try to make it sound natural not forced or contrived.
3. Manic Directory Submissions: This is usually an effort to get links back to your site.  But, the search engines look for relevant links, with high authority ratings, that link back to your site – that’s how you get higher page ranking.  If the consultant says they have special directories that others don’t know about, then “Run, Forrest, Run!”
4. Overly Focused on Link Buying: Similar to #3, but they usually ask you to establish a budget of $5,000 a month to buy links.  Again, you need to establish high quality inbound links; but that takes time and effort.  Remember, there’s no silver bullet or overnight success.
5. Naive Use of Social Media Sites: These sites can be helpful in an integrated strategy, but if your consultant-to-be suggests they have an army of drones waiting to vote on your articles to get you on the front page – watch out!  If such were true they just might get your URL banned.
6. Black Hat Practices: So named for a very good reason.  This might include putting hidden text on pages, redirecting visitors to a completely different site, offering different content to search engines vs. human users, or anything else that sounds like an attempt to “trick” the search engines.  If I were a betting man I would put my money on the search engines vs. an SEO consultant – the consultant is outmatched every time.
7. Overly Complicated Explanations: If they can’t describe what they propose in terms you can understand, show them the door.  Many of the effective best practices of SEO really aren’t that hard to understand.  It just takes some time and effort to develop and implement.

Have you had any experiences with this type of situation?  I’d love to hear some of them and maybe put together another post with additional things to watch out for.  Let’s try and help each other.  Post your comments below.

Photo: © DeanMurray.com – Fotolia.com

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