Tingalls Blog - Marketing Tips & Tricks

5 Signs You've Gotten Bad Search Engine Optimization Advice

Search engine optimization and Internet marketing have gotten to be big enough, and complex enough, that most businesses wouldn’t even dream of trying to manage things on their own. There are just too many concepts to take in, and details to stay on top of, for the average owner or executive to handle in-house. In most cases, they turn to businesses like ours who can help them increase their rankings on Google and turn search engine traffic into a stream of new customers.
But what if the advice or service they are getting isn’t accurate, or up to date?
Unfortunately, that situation is more common than you might think – search engine optimization is such a large (and largely misunderstood) field that it’s easy for someone to claim they’re an expert and collect a lot of your money before they’re found out. Usually, it becomes clear over time that you aren’t getting great SEO help because your rankings don’t improve, or they do improve but only for a short time. At that point, however, significant damage could have been done to your company’s website and reputation.
Obviously, you want to prevent things from ever reaching that point. With that in mind, here are five signs you’re getting bad search engine optimization advice:
1. You have several different website domains all pointing to the same place. If you have one business, but lots of different domains, you might want to consider creating smaller, landing pages that point to your larger website. Then linking between the websites will become an asset to both domains.
2. You don’t get a before and after report. Most SEO companies make big promises wen it comes to improvements in your search engine rankings but how do they deliver on those promises? If your SEO professional isn’t giving you a benchmark of where you are today, that might be because they aren’t going to be able to show significant improvements down the road.  At Tingalls, we take a snapshot of where your site ranks today and then provide reports 30 days and 90 days after adjustments have been made.
3. Recent algorithm changes have hurt your search position. It’s one thing to see your search rankings fluctuate as Google makes minor adjustments, but if the Penguin and Panda changes did big damage to your business, that’s a bad sign. After all, they were meant to target the worst tactics and spammiest sites; yours shouldn’t be among them. Tingalls SEO Specialist stays on top of these search algorithm updates and is proactive in implementing changes to your sites code and content when necessary.
4. Your content and links were put together solely for search engine optimization purposes. Granted, it’s always great to improve your ranking on Google, but anything you do online should also help you build credibility, grow your network of contacts, and share your ideas with potential customers. More than anything, your website is meant to turn visitors into potential leads and if they can’t read and understand who you are and what you do easily, they’ll move onto your competition.
5. You are completely dependent on Google for new business. No matter how effective your search engine optimization plan is, it should be just one tool in your Internet marketing arsenal. Tingalls will always be your source for marketing solutions of all kinds direct mail, social media, tradeshows, customer retention programs, etc.
Of course, the best way to avoid search engine optimization scams and problems is to simply work with a creative team that has a strong track record of success. Why not call or email Tingalls Graphic Design today and see what we can do to help you enhance your Google rankings?