I started my SEO and online marketing career in 1998, working for a crown corporation in BC. Since then, I’ve had a few other full time stints, interspersed with time in sales… admittedly, a bit of a bizarre combination. I can only say that I’m easily bored…

However, one of the ongoing and less savory aspects of SEO work has been the ongoing population of hucksters and outright scammers that also work in the field. It was the same in 1998.

Why is that the case? I think that it’s because the barrier to entry is low, the standards are ill defined, and many customers do not know what is involved in the “black art” of SEO.

That is one of the reasons that I am and will continue to outline the basics of true SEO here. Forewarned is forearmed!

Recent conversations with some of our customers, are revealing that there is another wave of SEO promotion going on. In my opinion, there are a few telltale signs that the company you are talking to, might be less than ideal.

#1 – They claim a special relationship or “deal” with Google.
This does not exist and never will. Google’s entire business model is derived from providing impartial, accurate access to the data you are looking for. They are far too smart to ever risk searcher’s trust by doing special deals with anyone. Ditto for sharing “insider” knowledge.

#2 – Guarantees.
Business areas online are becoming more and more competitive every day. The SEO company that offers a guaranteed “#1″ position is either not being accurate or offering that position while optimizing a poor, uncompetitive keyword term.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute!!! Top Local Rankings offers a guarantee of position for the highest traffic, most effective keywords – what the heck are you saying?”

Here’s why we do that: We specifically only do “Local SEO” and that means we optimize websites for city specific terms that apply to their business area. So far, that means the terms are nowhere near as competitive as globally searched keywords, so we can offer a guarantee in good conscience.

We also specifically guarantee a first page search result in the Google Map (at the top of the page) portion of a local search.

By the way, less competitive only means that local website owners here haven’t optimized their websites for local search terms (if at all). It does not necessarily mean little traffic!

We know that this will change fast over the next 2-5 years. These halcyon days of relatively simple #1 rankings for local search will be a fond memory, soon… sigh.

#3 – Ridiculously low prices.
It takes time and expertise to accomplish proper SEO. That time and expertise must be paid for and if it’s too cheap, how can it be good?

#4 – State that they will improve “keyword density” by rewriting your content and “meta tags” to improve your rank.
These techniques have not worked for 7 years. It’s a clear sign they do not know how to do what they claim.

#5 – State they will use “secret proprietary or black hat techniques.”
Run away, run away! These techniques (like cloaking, doorway pages, link farms and schemes) will get you banned from Google and sink your business.