SEO or search engine optimisation is a service that will increase volume and quality of visitors to a website via search engines. This is done by targeting certain ‘key terms’ and making sure the websites relevance will boost it up the search engine rankings.

There is however limitations to SEO and some unscrupulous companies will employ ‘black hat’ methods that will in effect reduce site rankings. Businesses that employ optimisation have certain misconceptions of what services will include; here are a few of them.

There is no way that SEO will be able to provide results within twenty four hours, companies that claim this will not be able to deliver. This is predominantly due to the search engines dragging their feet when indexing sites. This is because a new site takes time to be recognised by a search engine, and hence the results will come a few months after optimisation has begun.

Any SEO that focuses upon providing immediate results will only boost short term results and will most likely utilise shady methods such as spam. Search engine algorithms will eventually pick up these techniques and the site will be penalised for using them. Put simply you should not expect short term results and should focus on building a site that will benefit your business over a long period.

Another misconception is that SEO will be able to guarantee you a certain place in the search rankings. This is nonsense as predicting results is practically impossible and anyone who states guarantees is not reputable. A major factor in this is the key phrases that are targeted. Obviously more competitive phrases will be harder to yield results.

A myth in SEO is that Meta tags will raise rankings considerably. This may have been true in the past but modern search engines use the page content rather than snippets of information in the tags. This is not to say that they are useless, they are still a large piece of the optimisation jigsaw. Producing a concise, well written description will do better than cramming tags full of key words.

Some think that submission to various search engines will assist your site and receive high rankings. This is not however and efficient form of SEO; after your site has been submitted to the big three (Google, Yahoo and MSN) submitting to other search engines is seemingly pointless. The big three account for ninety nine percent of all search engine traffic so submission to other search engines can be seen as a waste of time and money.

As most SEO specialists will profess it is the back links that are the most important factor of optimisation. Creating back links increases relevancy and this of course, is what the search engines want to see. Creating sufficient back links will not only increase the traffic to your site, it should also improve the quality of this traffic. While it is relatively simple to obtain links from many sites, it is the ‘authority’ sites that are of prime importance.

The SEO industry is sadly full of many people who will gladly take your money and do little actual work. That is why it is important to find a company that have proven results and a good reputation. Ask to see the work they have done in the past and what plan of action they intend to employ to your site.

This is not to say all optimisation companies are there to make a quick buck. Reputable and moral SEO is labour intensive and will provide efficient results over a long period of time. The most effective forms of search engine optimisation will take longer than the immoral techniques, but results will be there eventually. If an optimisation company promises the world, remember some common sense and walk away.

About the Author:

Internet marketing expert Thomas Pretty looks into methods of SEO and what factors should be considered before employing it. To find out more please visit http://www.highposition.net