So you are considering outsourcing search engine optimization, and you have in front of you a statement that guarantees you will get rankings. Should you be impressed? Should you laugh out loud? The answer is and always has been "buyer beware." It is virtually impossible to trust a guarantee of true organic listings within any search engines results page for any keyword phrase, no matter how obscure.
A recent thread at WebMasterWorld Forums has a member posting a promise that comes up about every few months in the big forums:
I was shown an SEO services offer with all the normal submission to 400+ engines, resubmission, keyword research etc. etc. etc. but with one strange new entry Guaranteed Google ListingsThe bogus 400+ submissions jargon aside, this is just an invitation to disappointment, in the opinion of many of the responding members. One of the best replies came quickly from 5400 post monster TrillianJedi, who says:
Never trust any SEO (no matter who they are) that says they can guarantee you a position in the SERPS.
Personally, I feel this is not only an invitation to disappointment, but actually a possible invitation to disaster. If you enter into a business relationship with any company that guarantees search engine rankings within the organic (free) results, you may become the subject of future Google or other search engine bans, because if someone is guaranteeing rankings, chances are they are not doing it legitimately within the webmaster guidelines. OK I’ll get off my white hat horse now and let others comment.
Please join the discussion at WebMasterWorld Forums. There is also a nice older thread at Search Engine Watch Forums related to this, and you can find an even older thread back at WMW.
