SEO - Search Engine Optimisers

Many SEO's provide useful services for web site owners, from writing copy to giving advice on site architecture and helping to find relevant directories to which a site can be submitted. However, a few unethical SEO's have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results.

While Google doesn't have relationships with any SEO's and doesn't offer recommendations, we do have a few tips that may help you distinguish between an SEO that will improve your site and one that will only improve your chances of being dropped from search engine results altogether.

Warnings

Be wary of SEO firms that send you email out of the blue. Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:

"Dear Victim,
I visited your web site and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."

Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Beware of SEO's 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 through the Google Sitemaps (Beta) program, and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.

Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or "throwaway" domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to "help" you.

Some SEO's may try to sell you the ability to type keywords directly into the browser address bar.

Most such proposals require users to install extra software, and very few users do so. Evaluate such proposals with extreme care and be skeptical about the self-reported number of users who have downloaded the required applications.

Choose wisely.

While you consider whether to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry. Google is one way to do that of course. You might also seek out a few of the cautionary tales that have appeared in the press, including this article on one particularly aggressive SEO: The Seattle Times While Google doesn't comment on specific companies, we've encountered firms calling themselves SEO's who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.

So... you have a brand new website and you want it to be indexed by Google really quick.

• Go to Blogger.com and create a new account.
• Optimize the template that you pick.
• Write a nice sized press release about your site with a few links to different areas on your site, and publish.

If you want a little bit more initial exposure you can also submit your feed to www.pingoat.com.

Being that Blogger is owned by Google Blogger Blogs tend to get indexed super fast, and when Google follows the links to your new site it will also get indexed, sites will be at least been partially indexed in less than 24 hours.