What Not to Look for in a Web Services “Specialist” in Brunei

Many SEO (Search Engine Optimization) consultants provide valuable Web services to companies in Brunei. However, you need to be aware that there are individuals or groups out there who pose as SEO specialists but will, in fact, do more damage to your website than good. These are people who use methods to try to manipulate search engine results, and who practice unethical means that violate search engine guidelines. While their services may initially look effective, the long-term results won’t be as rosy since your site could eventually suffer in terms of ranking or, worse, it could be removed from the search engine’s listing. Search engines like Google and Bing want to “recommend” sites that are reliable and trustworthy, and resorting to unethical practices will make your site just the opposite as far as the search engines are concerned.

So,  before you hire an SEO specialist, you need to be wary of the following:

• Unsolicited emails. SEO specialists don’t normally send spam emails that try to solicit your business. Be careful of those that suddenly send you emails telling you that your site is not listed in search engines or directories, and that they’d help you to get into such-and-such listings.
• Guarantee of Google ranking. Decent SEO specialists won’t guarantee that they’d get you the number one spot in Google. Sure, being number one in search engine results is the goal of every SEO consultant, but no one can be 100 percent sure of being able to make it happen – at least, not in an off-handed, easy way. Instead, a reliable SEO specialist will give you a more realistic idea of what you intend to achieve, and the processes involved in achieving it. So, be careful of those individuals that claim to have special privileges with Google or insider methods that will guarantee top rankings.
• Secret ways. While there’s such a thing as “trade secrets”, an SEO specialist won’t do anything to deceive you as their client. For instance, they won’t make changes to your website’s codes without explanation, or place misleading content in your pages (e.g. hidden keywords in order to mislead search engines). Be careful of those individuals that give you vague explanations on how they intend to help you.

Link farming and other schemes. Be careful when someone tells you that they’d create hundreds of links that connect to your website, or they’d disseminate your URL (web address) to countless search engines. Chances are, this will do more harm than good. It’s better to have a dozen real links from real and reliable websites than thousands of links from useless ones. As Google says, best types of links are those that are given based on the quality of your content.”

There are many other things to watch out for when you’re considering hiring an SEO specialist. For instance, be wary of those that suggest creating “doorway” passages in your site (this means creating a specific page that contains tons of keywords), or those that suggest having “shadow domains” (this means creating websites that people would visit, which then deceptively redirects those visitors to your site without their intent to do so).

In short, before you choose your SEO consultant, do your research and find out if they are guilty of using unethical SEO practices or if they will really help you gain a good online reputation.