Bad Customer Service For Rankings
December 2nd, 2010 // 1:20 pm @ Fox
There are always people who will find ways to exploit Google and rankings. The latest to gain publicity internationally is the case of a website – DecorMyEyes.com – whose owner realised that bad feedback and negative comments were leading to his site being ranked higher than when it had good feedback.
Let’s look at why that is.
If you are happy with a company or service, you may post a complimentary comment on a blog or share the experience with your friends. However, if you have had a terrible customer experience, you will post a negative comment, tell your friends, try to warn others, go to Consumer Affairs and so on. More links, comments and posts will result from a bad experience than a good one. In Google speak, this amounts to a higher ranking.
The germ who owns DecorMyEyes.com made a career from diddling customers out of their goods, overcharging them, abusing them, and harassing them. This behaviour was good for business as people posted their bad experience everywhere, resulting in the site ranking in the top spots for many top brand names.
The full story can be found on The New York Times and is titled A Bully finds a Pulpit on the Web (free registration required).
Interestingly, the New York Times article appeared on the 26th November, and four days later, Google has posted a response on their official blog. Being bad to your customers is bad for business where they state how horrified they were to hear of this story. Google has released an algorithmic solution to this issue and claim that Google users are now getting a better experience as a result. In typical Google fashion, it is a little vague exactly what the solution is.
Presumably there are a number of attributes examined to determine a user’s ‘good experience’ from a ‘bad experience’. I hope that one bad review or comment will not decrease a site’s ranking. The best of companies can have a bad review or comment and it is not necessarily of their making.
Time will tell. No doubt there will further exploitation once the algorithm change is more apparent.
Category : SEO
Promising #1 in Google – Dodgy SEO
October 30th, 2010 // 4:55 pm @ Fox
I have written a post some time ago about SEO companies guaranteeing a #1 ranking on Google and what my thoughts are on this matter.
I caught up this week on some blogs of my favourite writers and SEO gurus, and came across this one from Ian Lurie that just says it all. It is titled Sleazy SEO sales tactics (and how to avoid them).
Not only is Ian Lurie an incredibly knowledgeable and intelligent marketer, but his posts are hilarious, tongue in cheek, and a damn good read.
Guaranteeing Search Engine Rankings
May 7th, 2009 // 6:15 pm @ Fox
I have been asked a few times lately if I guarantee first page ranking in search engines as a few competitors do.
The answer is ‘No’ and allow me to explain why this is so.
In a perfect world if a client implements every single idea I have and gives me an unlimited budget to spend, and Google never change their ranking algorithm, and if the client’s competitors do not spend much on SEO, then the chances are good that they will rank highly on the first page, maybe even #1. However, this is not a perfect world. There are always compromises with SEO, there is always a limited budget, Google continually enhance and tweak the ranking algorithm, and your competitors may be spending more than you.
Compromises with SEO include:
- A content management system that may not allow unique meta descriptions or page titles, or renaming images, or have friendly URL structures
- The client may not be comfortable using some of the suggestions for the strategy such as the use of social media, blogs or articles etc.
- Some marketing departments are very pedantic about content and will not change copy to include keywords
- I have experienced a few clients that are protective and argumentative about any shortcomings their site may have, and do not wish to make changes
Each Google update re-jigs the rankings and often includes an algorithm tweaking that shuffles competitors around including your site.
No one has control over Google or can influence the algorithm.
In this ever-changing landscape, how can anyone guarantee a particular ranking position?
Another important thing to keep in mind is that being on the first page of a search engine results page is only part of the race. Actually achieving a click-through and a subsequent conversion is another matter and a higher priority.
It would be a good idea to read the fine print on the contract regarding a guarantee. Is it within a particular time-frame? Is it subject to any conditions? Is it for one keyword only or all keywords? Who gets to choose the keywords for the guarantee, you or the provider? It is easy to rank on the first page or even for the #1 position for an obscure term such as ‘purple striped socks with braces’.
Let’s see what the experts think about guaranteeing search engine rankings.
Rand from SEOmoz is a guru in the industry. View his blog- ‘Why Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings’ to get an idea of his views.
What do Google think of SEO providers guaranteeing search engine rankings. You can read their view here: ‘Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings …’
I will finish this post with a quote from Rand from SEOmoz that I strongly agree with:
What search engine optimization companies can & should guarantee is that they’ll provide the best advice possible to help your site earn more traffic.