Watermarking Keywords
-
I've been viewing an seo companies website that claims to get small business websites to Google Page 1 for free or starting at $150/mo. I'v noticed that on all the website this company has done work on they include in the footer (usually as a watermark) all the keyword phrases. There don't apprear to be any sites that have been penalized. Isn't this poor SEO practice? I've included a screen shot of what I'm talking about. I just want to be clear. Thank you for your input.
-
You're most welcome Julie. This community on SEOmoz is certainly amongst the very best and is managed & moderated extremely well by the Moz community team.
There are some excellent SEO guides available here, both basic and advanced, plus there are loads of awesome blog posts and videos to help those learn more about the ever-changing world of SEO and Search.
Don't be too disheartened, there are a lot of true professionals out there who'd be happy to help with your Search and business aspirations
-
Simon, Thank you again. I can feel your strong views in your messages. I too am disheartened by such advertising and business ethics. It's certainly puts a damper on anyone learning SEO and striving to make a difference and an ethical business out of it. I presume that time will tell! I am only a novice although I have been studying SEO for many years there is so much to learn and it's always changing. Thank you for all your help and input I really appreciate it and look forward to continuing to learn from the community!
-
Thanks Rob, glad you agree
-
You're welcome Julie.
Lots of those results as shown on the page ( http://www.myvipwebdesign.com/myvipwebdesign/get-found-on-google-maps.html ) are 'local results' based on local business listings and appear in what's known as a '7 Pack' which lists 7 local results for Google Maps.
Others that are ranking number 1 naturally in Google will be for long tail low competition keywords and chances are, they won't be number 1 for long where there's any degree of competitiveness.
There is some complete nonsense on their website, such as statements like "Their is a certain algorithm that Google follows" and "We also apply the formula we have devised that is "Google Friendly" and submit it to Google on your behalf."
Google don't follow an algorithm, they have the most complex algorithms ever devised. There were over 13,000 changes to their natural search algorithm last year (mostly tests) with around 560 permanent changes. It's impossible to guarantee any top results with any degree of honesty. Also, the second statement is complete nonsense, there is no formula that's 'Google Friendly' that can be submitted to Google, they are making up total rubbish.
So rest assured that you would be making a wise decision by avoiding any such company as this one that makes such ridiculous guarantees and claims.
For some more reassurance, have a read of a page on Google's site "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" which has some really useful advice and even mentions that no one can guarantee a number 1 ranking on Google.
You've probably noticed that this is something I feel rather strongly about. SEO is an unregulated industry and as such, there are way too many 'cowboys' out there looking to make a quick buck from those that are simply looking to grow their business. It really annoys me when such people take advantage of good honest hard working people. As such, whenever I can, I like to highlight what would be wise to avoid getting into. There are plenty of good ethical agencies and freelancers that can help you in an ethical and sustainable way.
Regards
Simon
PS. I don't work for an agency, I work in-house so do have a totally non-biased view here
-
Nice answer Simon. I would have said the exact same thing! Avoid at all costs, would be my advice.
-
Simon,
Thank you very much. I am wondering why all of the sites that they have done work on are indeed ranking #1 on Google but not penalized?
-
Hi Julie
Your suspicions are well justified; that content is indeed spammy and certainly cause for concern.
What's more, most companies that say they will get a website to Page 1 of Google's search results 'for your popular keyword phrases' in order to win a pitch is likely to partake in unethical practices, especially when their services are free or way too cheap as in your example of $150 per month.
I say this because there can be no guarantees and any company that gives them (plenty do) cannot be trusted. Take a popular phrase such as 'life insurance' or 'loans', any guarantee could not be trusted.
Chances are they participate in questionable practices and/or only target very long tail keywords with little competition and low search volume.
That kind of rate of $150 per month leads me to suspect they will outsource poor quality link building to India or the Philippines for short term gains. There will be nothing sustainable or ethical in free work or work that's that cheap.
My advice is to steer well clear and invest in high quality content, seed and distribute it well, plus find an ethical trusted agency to help you out with the Search side. There are plenty of such agencies around, the one you've found there appears to be anything but.
I hope that helps,
Regards
Simon
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Buying Domains with Keywords but no PA, no content
MOZ Community, I am trying to gauge both the potential upside and downside of buying a few (relatively long) URLs that encompass some new keywords that are surfacing in our industry and creating permanent redirects to our branded website. [This wasn't my idea!] These URLs haven't previously had any content or owners so their domain authority is low. Will Google still ding us for this behavior? I hope not but I worry that there might be some penalty for having a bunch of redirects pointing at our site. I have read that google will penalize you for buying content-rich sites with high DA and redirecting those URLs to your site but I am unclear about this other approach. It seems like a fairly mundane (and fruitless) play. I tried to explain that we won't reap any SEO rewards for owning these URLS (if there is no content) but that wasn't really heard. Thanks for any resources or information you can share! I would appreciate any resources.
Technical SEO | | ColleenHeadLight0 -
Why my site is not ranking for any of the keywords?
We have a site for Property management software, we have done everything like set proper Title and descriptions, heading tags, robots tag is also ok, set schema and its ok with Google webmaster too also we are doing Social media promotion. can you please check our website and tell me what is the problem??
Technical SEO | | rootwaysinc0 -
For keyword relevance, how important is proximity to beginning of the line and/or page?
A client and I are debating between two taglines, which both contain an important keyword phrase. This tagline will exist as the H1 on the homepage, as well as in the header with the logo on internal and landing pages. The tagline structure is either: [keyword phrase] Solutions or Single Source [keyword phrase] Can anyone weigh in on which is better? Thanks much!!
Technical SEO | | imagodig0 -
Keywords based domains redirecting to a site.. is it SPAM?
Keywords based domains redirecting to a site is considered spam isn't it ? And if yes, then is it considered spam in all cases whether those domain based sites are related or non related to main site?
Technical SEO | | Personnel_Concept0 -
Is it possible to be penalized as duplicate content for one keyword but not another?
I help develop an online shopping cart and after a request from management about some products not showing up in the SERP's I was able to pinpoint it down to mostly a duplicate content issue. It's a no brainer as some times new products are inserted in with copied text from the manufacturers website. I recently though stumbled across a odd problem. When we partially re-wrote the content to seem unique enough it seemed to remedy the issue for some keywords and not others. A) If you search the company name our category listing shows as #1 ahead of the manufacturers website. We always did rank for this term. B) If you search the product name our product page is listed #3 behind two other listings which belong to the manufacturer. C) If you search the keywords together as "company product" we are still being filtered out as duplicate content. When I allow the filtered results to show we are ranking #4 It's been a full month since the changes were indexed. Before I rewrite the content even further I thought I would ask to see if any one has any insight as to what could be happening.
Technical SEO | | moondog6040 -
One Page - Targeting Multiple Low Searched Keywords.
Hi, First "Question" on SEOmoz, A client has requested me to have all the traffic going to the main/home page. In total its 25 Keywords and competition is pretty low, lets say "Builder In City", all the keywords are the sames except for the citys. "Builder In London" "Builder in Birmingham" Builder in Cardiff" .. and so on. Will it be ok and do-able to target 1 homepage with 25 keywords and expect decent results.
Technical SEO | | Prestige-SEO0 -
"To keyword or not to keyword" in the URL string?
We are debating on whether to use primary keywords in the URL for every page for a new client for the sake of SEO. What is the feeling in the Community on which version is smarter? Version 1: www.abccompany.com/miami-moving-company/about-us www.abccompany.com/miami-moving-company/contact-us etc. etc. Version 2: www.abccompany.com/about-us Thank you for your thoughts!
Technical SEO | | theideapeople0 -
Keywords and content and seo advice please
Hi i am building a site at the moment which i am working on. please ignore the state of the site as we are just playing with designs at the moment but please do take notice of the top part. The site is a travel magazine but i am a bit concerned. The keywords that we will be looking at to drive travel will be as follows, cheap flights gatwick, holiday magazine and travel magazine. Now i do not want the site to look untidy with loads of content describing the site but at the same time i want google to know what the site is and for people to pick the site up with the search terms that we are aiming for. the site is www.cheapflightsgatwick.com Can anyone please show me some examples of how i should structure the site to attract the keywords and give me some advice. It seems hard when you are designing a magazine site where the content changes all the time to try and attract the search engines with your keywords. any advice would be great
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860