Avoiding SEO Problems

REALITY: A guaranteed page 1 ranking is meaningless.

Why? Because it could be for any keyword or phrase. How about 'rubber baby buggy bumpers'? Or ‘I like to lift weights in a tutu’? Want to be #1 for those? I can guarantee to get you there. If that’s what you really want.

Some SEOs make it look good by getting you ranked for keywords that have some application to your business. But these keywords have the same problem - they don't bring the traffic you need; and that's because they're rarely, if ever, used in a search.
Not every term relating to what you do/sell is worth targeting. There’s only so many words or phrases that searchers use for a given industry, at least on a mass scale.

Guarantees in the search engine world are often no guarantee at all. In many ways, it’s a different world online. Another thing to consider about guarantees is best understood using a hypothetical situation. Imagine a basically honest SEO who usually
gets decent results for his clients.

Right now, though, he’s got cash flow problems. Luckily, he’s just signed a big, new client who he sold on his Page 1 Ranking Guarantee. Now Mr. Big Client is in a very competitive industry - say Travel, for instance.

It is about this time that the SEO sees a miniature version of himself in a devil suit standing on his shoulder.

“Listen - We can’t afford to lose the income from this job. Remember, you’ve got to pay off those credit cards now. And I’m not giving up my Maxim subscription. Pick some easy keywords to optimize for – he’ll get a good ranking, you’ll get your money.
Everybody’s happy.”
“I don’t know. He might not get much business if I do that. I have to think about this.”
“Well, you better make up your mind fast. I gotta hook up with the ‘Will & Grace’ cast in a few minutes. We’re collecting on their souls today.”
“Huh?!?”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why that show was successful?”
“You mean they sold their…– “
“Keep it under your hat.”

Getting a top ranking is not like fixing a DVD player. Part of the process is out of the SEOs hands. Even the best in the industry see their sites plummet from time to time.
It’s just part of the search engine world. Google, and the other search engines, change their ranking formula on a regular
basis. This can go by with no effect on your site, while some changes have taken sites down so far in the rankings it’s as if the site doesn’t exist.

What distinguishes a good SEO is ongoing work that will bring your site back up should this happen. It may take some time, but it will turn around if they’re doing the right things.

The above SEO is tempted to shoot for a lower target in order to meet the guarantee because he knows nothing really is guaranteed in search engines. If it tempts a usually honest SEO, just think what a dishonest one does when he guarantees you top rankings. He won’t think twice about targeting lesser keywords just so he can collect.