Ethical Search Engine Optimization: Some Important Dos and Don’ts

Search engine optimization is witnessing a boom in this recession. As more businesses turn to the internet to reach the millions potential customers, website optimization is becoming more popular as we speak. As success of one company and failure of its competitor is now associated with the company’s reach to its customers, SEO services are the priority on yearly marketing plans of most companies.

But in this rush to improve rankings through search engine optimization, it’s quite easy to make a wrong decision or opt for wrong methods. If unethical methods are used for short term gains, your website loses out in the long term, with the possibility of being black listed by the search engines.

What most people are unaware of is how to recognize these unethical SEO practices. The following are some points to guide you.

Black VS White

Black Hat SEO tries to trick search engines in giving websites a higher search ranking despite irrelevant content. It is the methodology which uses loopholes and unethical tactics to achieve a high search ranking in a short period of time. Black Hat SEO is not unheard of, and ideally, you should stay away from it. But it has one big tempting factor: higher ranking in a short period of time. Why bother about other factors, right? WRONG! Using wrong methods for SEO might sound the death knell for your website. Search engines are constantly looking to block sites which use Black Hat SEO. If your website is found, it may be banned or blacklisted from the search engines.

On the other hand, White Hat SEO is tougher, but it’s the most appropriate way to optimize. An ethical SEO consultant has to work very hard to keep up with the constantly changing search engine algorithms. There is constant work and the website is gradually improved via keywords, rich content and site navigation to meet the ethical demands of the search engines. This process takes time, but if you have the patience and persistence of going through it, White Hat SEO will give better results for a long time. You will get results through these ethical means in an average of three to four months.

Recognize Ethical SEO Experts

Always beware of SEO consultants promising #1 ranking in search engines within a few weeks; it is not possible. Also know that the search engine algorithm is ever changing; no SEO expert can claim to know it completely and accurately. Do not fall for the ‘hundreds of link exchanges’ or ‘thousands of article postings’ line most unprofessional SEO consultants use. Bulk link exchanges or article postings do not help unless they are relevant.

Be Patient

If the search engine optimization of your site is taking more time than you expected, it is a good sign; a short cut doesn’t always win. Be patient with SEO if it takes some time, because it could mean that work is in progress on the right track. Improving the visibility of your website involves a lot of backend work, with rich content, easy site navigation and other factors involved. Your SEO consultant has to work constantly so that the site’s ranking improves. And organic SEO always takes some time. Remember, it will benefit you in the long term.

Be Aware of the Process

Knowing the ethical and unethical means to search ranking, you have to be able to identify which method is being used for your website’s search engine optimization. Keep yourself abreast of the process undertaken by the SEO expert you hire. Ask questions and interact with him as much as possible. This way, you can keep tabs on the methodology being used to optimize your site.

In Conclusion…

Avoid SEO consultants who:

• Guarantee #1 ranking within a few weeks


• Try finding loopholes to lure search engines


• Claim knowing the search engine algorithm


• Talk of bulk link exchange or article posting at hundreds of sites


• Refuse to give you details of how they work


• Suggest stuffing keywords into meta tags and content


• Recommend permanent redirects

Use Social Media Marketing to Improve your SEO Ranking

Do you know that some of the biggest companies are asking their marketing departments to spend more time on websites like LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Facebook etc? If the statistics of 2008 are to be believed, the online social media commands the highest time and attention of youngsters today. The young generation loves it as it is an innovative way to connect and communicate with people all around the world. People’s social as well as professional communication is undertaking a change as they discuss everything from Oscars to Obama on websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace. Social media is hence a new category of internet which is a huge crowd-puller. Brand marketers use it as a source for targeted marketing to put across their messages, get feedback on their brand and sales promotion campaigns.

The concept of Social Media Marketing has exploded into the business scenario as the best way to communicate with target audience as well as for Search Engine Optimization. It is the most popular concept in vogue for internet marketing today. With even the smallest businesses going online and tech savvy for a better reach to their consumers, this is hardly surprising. Compared to the millions of consumers businesses can reach through the internet, traditional marketing methods can only reach a limited number of people. Companies, in and SEO, are embracing social media marketing to reach its consumers.

What Social Media Marketing is…

The term “social media” is given to the collection of online mediums through which users communicate on issues they are interested in. The most popular social media are said to be websites like LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc. These websites have forums created and maintained by users, rather than the company itself or its employees. Social media marketing is a way of utilizing this vast network of social media for marketing purposes. Initially used as a tool for interaction, social media is now looked upon as a medium by businessmen to get their message across to their target consumers. Also known as “social internet marketing”, “social network marketing” and “social marketing”, this concept is becoming a preferred tool for businessmen looking for publicity. In essence, social media marketing combines the word-of-mouth publicity with the millions of internet users. It is used for various purposes like increasing online presence, inbound linking, brand awareness and positive feedback from consumers.

How it Works…

Social media is based on conversations between people of the things they like, with recommendations being passed along if they come across anything interesting. If you have a blog with regular postings of interesting topics, you can promote them on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc. If users like your blog, they will pass it along to friends. This way, the information about your company gets passed along by users who like it, to people in their contact. There is a level of trust established between the two users, hence when one recommends your blog to another, it works better than any advertisement ever can.

But your work is not limited only to submitting your blog. After submitting your post at these social bookmarking sites, you need to interact with users with similar interests as yours. You can start building a network by checking out other posts, commenting on them and interacting with the person who has posted that blog. It would be a mistake if you keep on submitting your blog post and expect others to find it. By popularizing your blog this way, you can get inbound links as well as brand awareness for your business. The inbound links, in turn, will also improve your SEO ranking through organic SEO. In addition to blogs, you can also give links to interesting websites and updated information on various issues.

The key to making social media marketing work is generating interest in the content or topic being covered. Quality content is always stressed on, but it plays a vital role in the success or failure of a social media marketing campaign. Users browsing the social bookmarking sites are looking for innovative, new and interesting content, which they then will pass on to their friends. If the content on your blog is uninteresting or old, it will not spread to other users, and they will eventually stop following your blog.

Who Can Use SMM…

Not only large business houses with a pool of resources to dedicate to marketing, but smaller businesses are also starting to use social media as a marketing tool. We hence hear of food vans using Twitter to let followers know which area they will be touring this month, while established banks and others have introduced interactive blogs to let users know of its history. Any business with an internet connection can utilize SMM for business development. It is a better option to putting up ads online and is better accepted due to the creditability of recommendations made by known people.

A Word of Caution…

The message that you want to convey to people in the social media is not controlled by you, but by the users. People are just as likely to complain about a lousy product as recommend it if it was good. It has to be a 2-way interaction, with you giving out useful information in order to get a positive feedback. If the delicately-balanced trust of the users is shattered, they might spam you out of their circle or give you negative feedback.

Social media marketing is a tough concept and requires a lot of time and effort to become successful. It takes time and commitment to develop contacts, trust and respect with the online community and the results are obtained in a long term. If you don’t have the time to put into social media marketing, you can hire an SEO expert or SEO consultant to maintain your online presence through social media marketing.

Are search rankings dependent on your site content?

Ask experts about elements of search engine optimization and each will give different criteria for their SEO campaigns. But whether for an SEO consultant or a businessman content tops the list of highly important criteria for SEO and greater rankings. It’s true: content plays a vital role in improving your search engine ranking. The sole purpose of your SEO campaign is to improve search engine ranking, and without optimized content, you will be unable to achieve it.
Most SEO service providers today give a lot of importance to optimizing content along with developing SEO strategies. However, content for your website is not only limited to what a reader comes across on your webpage; it also includes the articles, blogs, promotional material as well as press releases. All these combined together affect your search engine rankings.
The following are 4 key points to optimize your content:

Keyword-Rich Content

Your website contains the most important content influencing your search engine ranking. It should hence be written with care to include keywords relevant to your products and services. Your other content-based material like blogs, press releases and articles should also contain an ideal amount of keywords in order to be picked up by the search engines. The keyword density in all these materials should be such that the crawlers of the search engines pick them up as relevant material when a reader searches for those particular keywords. These keywords should also be used in prominent places such as titles and be evenly distributed throughout the content. Only then will your SEO campaign become a success. A note of warning though: do not use your keywords so many times that the crawlers spam your material.

Meta tag Descriptions for Web Pages

Optimizing the title and description of the web pages in Meta tags also goes a long way in getting them picked up by search engines. Your Meta tag description should be rich in keywords and give a fair idea of the content on the web page. If there is a poor description or they do not contain targeted keywords, Meta tags can bring down search engine rankings.

Link Building through Content

If your content is interesting and updated, it will become a means to link building with other websites. Users will also become regular visitors to your website for informative content on your website. Also, when you exchange links with other websites, be sure to give the link text description proper attention; it will help readers know what the destination page will be all about. Making the link text with keywords or key phrases would be a good idea for search engine optimization.

Interesting subjects of the content

Make your content as different and informative as possible. Internet users today are bombarded with the same type of information from hundreds of sites. They will explore only when they see some innovative concept on your website or blog. In order to make the user come to your site or read your article or blog, give it an appealing title. Only if the reader finds the start interesting will he continue to read the rest of it. Such content increases the incoming traffic of the website as well as improves the trustworthiness of the site, which ultimately results in high SEO ranking.