Silly SEO, Guarantee Your Work If you say you can do something, why can't you guarantee it?	Visited: 1493 5.0/5.0 (7 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Jason Bland August 01, 2008

Recently I read an article that yet again says there is no such thing as guaranteed search engine optimization. I feel this is an SEO argument that will last as long as the “content is king” and “links are where it’s at” war.

The truth is, there are two types of guaranteed search engine optimization companies, liars and experts that take calculated risks. So its true, nobody can say with absolute certainty that you will be on the first page. But they can certainly put their money where their proposal is. Thank about it, somebody is coming up to you saying “I know how to get your web site ranked on the first page of Google. Hire me and maybe you’ll get there, maybe you won’t.”

A White Hat SEO (a search engine optimization company that uses ethical practices) that guarantees their clients first page placement with a money back promise is simply taking a risk. They are looking at their history to see how long it takes to get a client on the first page using ethical SEO methods. Then, they are basically saying “based on our past performance we are confident that we can get your site on the first page within our twelve month term.”

What happens if they fail? If you’re working with a good company, you should get a peace of your investment back. Maybe the non guaranteeing SEO doesn’t want to let go of your hard earned money after he proved himself to not be the expert he originally claimed.

As with anything, you have to know what to avoid. First, take a trip down to Google’s guidelines for SEO’s. This is a page that most SEO companies (both White Hat and Black Hat) don’t want you to see. The easiest way to find it is by Googleing “Search engine optimization” its usually ranked number one or two.

If you’ve done that, you will see a bulletpoint that says “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking”. This is true. Nobody can say with absolute certainty that your web site will be the first entry on the first page on the Google search results page. But certainly, one can guarantee you will get on the first page. Here is how the paragraph appears in their guidelines.

“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.”

So as you see, Google is talking against the Black Hat SEO’s that lie about special relationships, secret knowledge, and powers from the underworld. Guaranteeing a first page placement and guaranteeing a ranking are two different things.

First page means anywhere from number one to ten on the first page results for a search term. New web sites are being added to Google every day and things are always changing so rankings go up and down in a waving motion. A stable ranking is one that keeps their position by three ranks.

Read your SEO contracts carefully and make sure your proposal and contract says the same thing. And when an SEO says “We can’t guarantee anything”, maybe you should move on to one that has more experience and can.