There is a new trend I’ve noticed the last few months of companies presenting themselves to unsuspecting retailers with tall tales that by signing on to their local service these retailers will somehow appear at the top of the list in Google searches. One company explained to me just a few months ago that through their help an Alzheimer’s research firm was now appearing in the top 5 on a Google search…IF, you were to type a series of qualifiers no regular consumer or even investor would ever type. It took a tremendous amount of self control to keep from laughing at the gentleman on the phone so proudly crowing about this accomplishment.
Appearing at the top of so specific a Google search that one would be lucky if a handful of people in a year put that combination of terms together isn’t the goal of any self respecting company. Worse is the waste of hundreds of dollars to show up in such a search. The particular company who sold this bill of goods to the neurological center is doing the same thing to the center as the center would be to its patients if it were selling them a sugar pill to cure Alzheimer’s.
The goal of SEO is to be seen in the categories that matter to your customers, in the searches your customers and potential customers do. Building a solid site, having the right keywords, using ALT tags, having a blog, participating in social networking, keeping your site updated to the newest protocols, and submitting to the search engines are all much better than spending money with some fly-by-night outfit whose promises are too good to be true and upon further inspection are worthless anyway. What good is a $5 television commercial no one will ever see?
