SEO Consultant Ranking

Posted by SEO Dave on July 17th, 2006 at 10:53am

Was reading a post on alt.internet.search-engines (newsgroup) called “SEO certification” which had gone a little off topic, had gone on to basically how to show you are a good SEO consultant by showing your rankings (SERPs). I started to respond, but thought it would be better on the SEO section of the blog (some new much needed SEO content)-

Someone said to show you are a good SEO consultant make a site that ranks well for some SERPs. Another poster (a self proclaimed ethical SEO expert) agreed rankings is the way to go giving a easy SERP as an example and that got me started-

If you want to look like an SEO expert and show off he’s right. It’s quite easy to get SERPs that sound great on paper, Number one out of 2,000,000 sounds like you must be an expert at search engine optimization, but every website has SERPs like that and a lot are worthless because they have no traffic!

I think you’d all agree SERPs for

Phentermine
Xanax
Blackjack

Are going to pull in a load of traffic, big SEO comment spammer keywords. So this newish page of mine might get some serious hits for relevant SERPs-

Comment Spam: Phentermine, Xanax and Blackjack

The home page has a nice SERP-

Google search for Phentermine, Xanax and Blackjack.

Top 5 out of almost 4,000,000

But it’s worthless since no one will search for “Phentermine, Xanax and Blackjack” (with or without the quotes) other than the odd person reading this blog :-). But it would look good listed on an SEO companies website showing how good their consultants are!

Now the above one is so obviously no traffic that it’s not a good example, but it’s no different to this one-

web site promotion expert

How many visitors does the “web site promotion expert” SERP get a month? Very low.

Since it’s so low how can it be honestly used to show off how good someone is as an expert or consultant?

Don’t get me wrong the web site promotion expert SERP isn’t a completely worthless SERP (like my example above) but it’s not the sort of rankings a real website owner looking to part with their hard earned cash wants to see as proof that, that SEO consultant is the real deal.

A better example is this list of worthless SEO phrases found on another SEO consultants (cough) website-

SEO benefits
SEO perspective
SEO robots.txt
SEO software reviews
SEO spam
SEO template
SEO timescale

I’d be surprised if these pull in 100 visitors per month between them, but they sound good to a potential SEO client looking for SEO services, does this make the owner of the site good at SEO, an expert SEO consultant? I don’t think so, maybe a marketing expert, but certainly not an ethical SEO expert.

Those types of unethical SEO SERPs lists can be used to con potential clients into thinking the SEO company or individual SEO expert is good at search engine optimization, I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve viewed self proclaimed ethical SEO firms sites with dishonest lists like those.

I just made one as the title of this post-

SEO Consultant Ranking

If this page goes top 10 for the SEO Consultant Ranking SERPs does that make me an SEO Guru? Of course not, it’s not a money SERP.

My approach on this title was SEO Consultant plus as few words as possible for it to make sense. Think it’s about time I had another top 5 SERP for SEO Consultant (have had three sites in the top 5 over the last few years) and this page will be the next one :-).

The real measure of success is targeted traffic that converts, but we’ll leave the converts out of this since most SEO’s don’t have full control over how the site uses the traffic, so we’ll just go with targeted traffic which SEO’s do have some control over.

There are sectors where the only realistic way to gain a lot of targeted traffic is to gain the top hardest SERPS. These are areas where the majority of searches will tend to use a very small number of search phrases to find a web site. These are a bitch to SEO since you tend to need high PR (lots of links) and adding lots of new content doesn’t help because there aren’t many new relevant SERPs to go after. I try to stay away from web sites that need the hardest SERPs, but do have clients with sites like those and they are always a struggle to keep the relevant traffic pouring in.

Then there are the sectors where there is so much traffic you can completely ignore the top SERPs, this is where smart SEO consultants should put their time and effort because if you do all the right SEO things you are guaranteed targeted traffic. Those are the types of sites I own, why waste time building a site that can’t pull in over 1,000 visitors per day without having to get it’s home page to PR7 when the same PR can be spread over half a dozen sites that can easily pull in over 1,000 visitors per day each.

How many readers (especially SEO consultants) see over-

10,000 targeted visitors per day from all their sites?
10,000 targeted visitors per day from one site?
10,000 targeted visitors per day from more than one site (so at least two sites with at least 10,000 targeted visitors per day each)?

I can say yes to all of those questions, does that make me a good SEO consultant?

One of my 10,000+ visitors per day sites has a PR5 home page, doesn’t have the top SERPs, but does gain a lot of low traffic SERPs due to adding lots of varied content. The varied content is the key, the sector has so many SERPs add the right content and you gain the targeted traffic. Obviously you still need the content optimised and links/PR, but PR5 home page isn’t that hard.

My main SEO company site though sucks in comparison, averaging around 750 visitors per day with the odd 1,000 visitors per day (July stats) yet has roughly the same amount of PR (probably a little more) as the site above. As a side note the traffic isn’t converting currently because I turned off the SEO quote forms months back from pages like Expert SEO Consultant Retainer Plan (email spammers managed to compromise them) and because I’m not looking for new clients (too busy) I’ve not added alternatives (I should as it looks unprofessional, but then I’ll have to turn potential clients away).

The main reason the SEO site above doesn’t do as well in traffic terms is because it’s not a high traffic sector. SEO isn’t what I’d call very low traffic either, but most SERPs tend to include a small number of keywords-

SEO
Search
Search Engine
Website
Optimization

This limits the content that will pull in targeted traffic, there’s only so many times you can mention search engine optimization before it goes spammy!

Anyway, my point is it’s easy to make yourself look good as an SEO expert by making up SEO SERPs with millions of pages listed, but those don’t pull in traffic and if you are looking for an ethical SEO consultant or company to optimize your sites try to avoid the unethical SEO companies that use lists of traffic free SERPs.

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10 Comments for SEO Consultant Ranking

1. Canada Fred | August 1st, 2006 at 11:54 pm

Hey

BB is doing a little better in the SERPs than it appears, actually much better. So am I incidentally and so are you too. I noticed that one of your primary key phrases would probably be “Search Engine Optimization Services”. That would be a very good choice to target. You are in good competition. I too am starting to move away from my more traditional key phrases to become more dynamic and competitive. I’m going for stuff like “Internet Marketing Service” and “Ethical SEO Service” or even a little bit of show-offishness maybe something like “Expert SEO Service” ( oh #4 already ).

Shouldn’t all of us continue to improve our individual Internet presences. That would make what we have learned together pretty powerful. I would think I stand in fine company should we start meeting more frequently in SEO niche SERPs. On guard.

I’d give you an example of how good it is becoming for me but I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet. Watch what happens over the next six months. Keep a close eye, I have been doing this for 12 years and I know when it is time to posture. Put your feathers on too and get yourself ready. The thing is going to blow and ethical SEOs, the real ones, we will be there to harvest the rewards.

It is already starting for me. That’s why I am reaching around me to others I know are the real SEO deal too. We need to support each other against the onslaught of mega-machine monsters. I just beat a team of 50 of them ganged up together in a complex self-pumping network. Ten thousands web pages beaten by a two line poem.

Play by the rules and keep crafting tremendous content. I have looked carefully at your work and it is very good. Keep it up Dave.
2. BB | August 2nd, 2006 at 3:39 am

All of which is put neatly into perspective by a search for

seo consultant

I’m in the top 20 in Google and er… you’re not.

BB
3. SEO Consultant Dave | August 6th, 2006 at 8:59 pm

Top 20 for a SERP like SEO Consultant isn’t good enough! To pull in a reasonable quantity of SEO traffic you really need top 10 rankings and top 5 rankings for the low traffic SERPs like SEO consultant available to SEO firms.

Search Engine Optimization isn’t a high traffic sector, unfortunately. This is why in the past bill you’ve mentioned only receiving 40 visitors per day to your SEO site that’s been online for many years!

If this was a high traffic sector a failing site would still receive hundreds of visitors per day due to the high number of search engine users looking for content.

Nice try though bill.
4. Jezsta | August 8th, 2006 at 4:45 pm

I have known Dave for a couple of years and his SEO consultancy is good. While I don’t beleive in banding together it is to much trouble bringing down the badies. I thought Fred was doing this game for 9 years not 12 hmmm.

“Search Engine Optimization Services”. yes is a very compeitive phrase I feel Davae can make it.:-) “Expert SEO Service”, hmm yeah looks easy enough so does Ethical SEO Expert.

I would much rather shoot for the hard ones then the niches fall into place.:-)
BTW Dave I have a great article on SEO ethics http://jezsta.com/ethical-SEO-Expert.htm.
5. Canada Fred | August 9th, 2006 at 8:21 pm

Between you and Stacey and probably others, you have been doing a fine job trying to discredit my stands.

It makes for good old fashioned SEO fist-to-cuffs in the Internet Search Engines Newsgroup. It is good for the industry to get a broad perspective. I would appreciate however, that any “behind the scenes” involvement of yours in orchestrating this lately attack on my ethics to cease.

See ya’ in the SERPs Goldenboy! Let the search engines themselves be the judge.
6. SEO Consultant Dave | August 10th, 2006 at 5:14 am

Hey Canada Fred,

There is no behind the scenes orchestrating against you Fred. Stacey (from Jezsta) is an expert at search engine research and needs no help from me to find your network of sites (first I heard of them was in the NG alt.internet.search-engines).

Nice SEO site network BTW, the links you pass between them will help your SERPs long term, especially if you get a few of them some decent PR links to feed the network link benefit. I don’t have a problem with what you are doing, I do similar though try to make the sites original. Don’t you think this SEO technique falls outside what an Ethical SEO Expert does though? You are building something for better rankings, not to help your visitors.

I don’t consider myself an ethical SEO expert, so I do what I want based on SEO research, commonsense and what I consider ethical/morally acceptable not what the search engines tell me is acceptable in their guidelines.

If you want to put an SEO hat on me, I’d say I’m a SEO consultant with a white hat with a few stains in the back and the odd grubby hand print

David
7. Stacey - Jezsta | August 10th, 2006 at 11:37 am

Thanks for the nice comment about me Dave. I appreciate it.

I agree with you about ethical. It depends on how you look at it. I didn’t mind those sites of Fred’s just wasn’t what he was preaching about for ethical.

To be a SEM you can’t wear a hat as described in the article at Jezsta. Ethics are how you look at the customer’s and view their sites. You use what ways you can that you know won’t compromise them in anyway.

He had a nice network. I told him all he needed was some PR to them. But then he went on his rampage.:-)
8. Stacey - Jezsta | August 14th, 2006 at 8:46 am

Well, it sure is brewing up with ethics now. I am glad you are gaining some ethical SERPs also. You never know, it might bring one or two in.:-) I stopped by to see if I can help a little more with some ethical SEO consultanting. I know you are doing much better, but lets get it up there for the SEO consulant also, not just ethical SEO consultant.

Stacey
9. SEO Blog | November 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 am

pls we both know consultant/consultation are worthless words [=

And some times you just can not tell who is getting all the traffic on the search engines.
10. SEO Dave | November 13th, 2008 at 4:53 am

You are kidding right?

SEO Consultant is a good money phrase, it’s not a great deal of traffic, but that is true for most of the SEO SERPs. When a visitor searches for SEO Consultant, SEO Expert and even SEO Guru there’s a very good chance they are looking to hire SEO Services.

So the traffic tends to convert quite well. When I get a new SEO client they tend to stay with me for over a year paying monthly fees, so I can make a very good living from SEO.

Actually it’s that easy I got my first 20 odd clients with my SEO quote page on a free hosting account: I’d made a SEO information section to the free web space I got with the ISP NTL and before becoming a SEO consultant had some good SEO SERPs on the NTL site. All I had to do was add a page saying I now offered SEO services and was inundated with quote requests!

David Law