“Is that a mirage, or just product placement?”, Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)

This comic is brought to you by: Keyword Discovery | Syndicate Kahuna | Romow Web Directory | SEOHosting.com

I’m sure this month’s Ranked Hard SEO comic will draw some controversy, and to be quite honest, that probably is a not bad thing. Whoever said there is no such thing as bad publicity had a point.

The idea for this comic spawned from our previous comic, “Your Link Here“, which poked some fun at the link buying tactics used by some SEO companies. The next logical step, as Ranked Hard’s writer Simon points out, is product placement. Of course it happens in television and movies all the time, and I’m sure we aren’t the first comic to use it either. We did try to put a humorous spin on it by overdoing it to the point that the comic is lost in the advertisements.

As of today (Oct. 3, 2008) you’ll notice we haven’t had any ads on this site in any form. We have been running the comic for 9 months without revenue or distracting ads, and to kick off our foray into the advertising model we thought a tongue-in-cheek theme about product placement in the comic would be a great way to do it. You will be seeing ads on the site in the future (we have bills to pay), but this should be the only time you see an advertisement in the comic. Thanks for your readership and for your future support.

And with that said…

If you want to advertise on Ranked Hard, contact marketing {at} RankedHard {dot} com.

“Yoohoo, I’ll make you famous!” - William H. Bonney, Young Guns II

Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. We have Andy Warhol to thank for this supposed entitlement to fame, but is fame always justified? We easily could have expanded this “square” to be a rectangle and included dozens of other well known SEO personalities. Why we selected these 8 (can’t really count Brad Smart since he doesn’t actually exist) is something of a mystery even to us here at Big Oak SEO. We started throwing out names of people we had heard of or read about and we choose these on our gut feeling of who would be well known. Picking these folks doesn’t mean they are never wrong or don’t make mistakes, but they have some sway over what many people do when it pertains to search engine optimization.

My comments below are not directed at the folks above, but at the entire SEO industry.

Of course with notoriety there comes responsibility, and that leads to this question: Are SEO personalities good stewards of the power we give to them? Is solid advice coming forth? Do they have the real expertise to show the way? Are they working in the trenches so they have an accurate idea of what the little guy needs to do to get better rankings in the search engines? Or do some live in ivory towers of consultancy, casting down judgment on SEO companies and do-it-yourselfers who don’t have the luxury to write “quality content” and wait/hope for links to come naturally.

Have gurus used their fame to create, what some believe to be, self-absorbed gated communities?  Or is it simply impossible to create a community that pleases everyone?

I have heard many gurus speak and most understand that the SEO game is fairly cutthroat, as many ecommerce businesses rely on rankings for their business’s survival. While that can be a foolhardy stance, some businesses feel their budgets won’t allow for much more and their hopes rest “squarely” on search engine rankings. But a few “SEO gurus” dole out impractical advice and remain consultants to the last, refusing to get their hands dirty and help the client do the work or even give the client real examples to follow.

Finally, let me say that I think all the above SEO Squares are honest and try their best to help their clients. This is not an attack on any of them. I hope they are all good sports with their comic equivalents and know we did not intend to offend. This is more a call to action to all of us in the SEO business to be more empathetic with our clients and try to understand how valuable and trusted our advice is to them. We should all put ourselves in their shoes before deciding what we will say and what we will do. After all, our goal should be to help them grow their businesses, not become detached consultants.

“I’m glad you asked, son. Being popular is the most important thing in the world.” - Homer Simpson

It is important to be popular on the Internet and buying links helps with that. Link buying has certainly gotten a bad rap lately. Especially from Google and a certain Mr. Matt Cutts. I don’t want to split hairs, but isn’t essentially all advertising on the web link buying? I realize the difference when you are buying links in order to achieve higher rankings versus buying links in order to increase your brand and drive traffic. But sometimes the line between the two becomes blurred and that is where I get a bit frustrated. It would seem if you buy a link you better have a nofollow attribute attached. But the problem is most people and site owners have no idea what that is. So if I buy a link, must I become more proactive and explain why the nofollow should be attached. I guess Google thinks I should, but is it my fault if it isn’t done. Do I get penalized for that?

But, you know, sometimes buying links is all the little guy can do to compete with larger more established sites. And while the credo of good content will draw links, it doesn’t work that way in the real world much of the time. Small site owners are forced to buy links to gain better rankings. Finding the time to run a business is hard enough without the pressure of writing brilliant content and then hoping people will find it and link to it, right?

On the other hand, link buying has gotten out of control and Google’s way to handle it was to penalize both the link buyer and the link seller. The problem is, just about everyone is buying links in competitive markets, but only a few are actually getting penalized. The playing field isn’t fair and Google has made it worse by turning everyone against each other by asking site owners to report other sites for link buying. The Internet has only been around for a short while and already it has brought out the worst in us. Okay, I’m going a bit overboard, but you see my point. Google created a system based on link popularity and now it is being abused, but they had to see that coming, so isn’t there a better way?

I don’t have an answer, but maybe Cuil does.

“I’ll be back.” - Terminator

I heard Jason Calacanis speak at SES New York in 2008 and I honestly didn’t know who he was, so I listened to his presentation without bias or preconceived notions. By the end of his speech I had seen several people get up and leave and the crowd was full of rumblings. I was perplexed as to why he was speaking at a conference for people who were interested in SEO, when he was obviously not a big fan. It did become clear when he started pushing Mahalo.

Jason did his best to explain that he thought SEO was fine when done correctly, but he certainly was more vocal about what he didn’t like about the SEO community. Most of his presentation was about Mahalo, which I had also never heard of at the time. While listening to him talk about Mahalo it sounded like he was using a lot of SEO tactics to get Mahalo ranked. Of course he has the budget to do all the “right” things that will acquire links through passive methods (load and loads of content, although not sure of the quality) whereas the little guy needs to be more aggressive with his link building efforts. So I felt a lot of his speech came from a very high tower made of ivory.

Mr. Calacanis has since become well-known to me and many other SEO companies and his constant declarations that SEO will not be long for this world are also famous. He said,

“SEO is a wasted industry. You’re wasting your time fighting off ranking problems instead of creating great content. You’re just spinning your wheels hoping the Google gods won’t kick you out. It’s a bad way to live your life. Using a human service is a better way to go about it.” From BruceClay.com

SEO will certainly change as it has over the last few years, but I believe it will be around as long as there are search engines. I think Jason Calacanis is a very good marketer, and he says things he knows will help his company’s profile. What better community to get riled up than the SEO community? The best online marketers in the world are constantly talking about you - brilliant! Look, we even did a comic about him. I will give Jason credit for his honest answers though. He didn’t shy away from any questions and gave answers he knew would be unpopular with the crowd. So while I don’t believe in his “SEO is B.S.” mantra, I can respect the way he doesn’t pull punches.

Here’s to a long and healthy life for Jason Calacanis and SEO. To tell you the truth, it’s Yahoo I’m really worried about.

“Show ME the money!” - Jerry Maguire

The June comic for Ranked Hard is about the decision that many of those that do business on the Internet have to deal with – using Pay Per Click either over SEO or in conjunction with SEO. Now, while we’re not actually implying that Google actively targets websites that haven’t signed up for Adwords (just having some fun guys), we do realize that as some companies drop in the rankings, they begin to look to PPC to help.

The thing that you have to keep in mind is that spending money on PPC campaigns won’t improve your rankings within the search engines, and while you will show up for the terms you want within the sponsored listing section, this can cost you a great deal of money depending on the terms and the number of people that actually click through your terms.

When your rankings are fluctuating within the search engines, considering PPC is perfectly acceptable behavior, but remember that you’ll be spending more money on top of any SEO efforts you might be putting forth without any guarantee that the PPC will help. While Google doesn’t actively have it out for any one website, they are more than happy to accept money from anybody that wants to give it to them, and don’t they have enough already?

“You can’t handle the truth!” - Col. Jessup, A Few Good Men.

The truth is many companies are outsourcing. Outsourcing isn’t just a hot button in the SEO industry, it is a topic of heated discussion in most businesses. Outsourcing overseas hurts because it takes away jobs from Americans, but American companies must outsource to keep costs low and competitive. It is a no-win situation most of the time, higher costs and less profit or lower costs and being vilified for using overseas help. For SEO companies it can be seen as the forbidden fruit: Use inexpensive (cheap) labor to build your client’s links, write articles, etc., and keep the profits while hoping you are not exploiting human lives in the process.

Of course outsourcing is being done by many SEO firms, whether they will admit it or not. Using freelancers, American or not, is a form of outsourcing and it keeps internal costs down for the company and allows the client to do more with their money, when done correctly. I have no problem with outsourcing; that is an individual decision. I would only hope it is being done ethically and honestly. And, you would hope the quality is there too. Unfortunately, I have seen many emails from overseas companies written in a mutant form of English offering to help my SEO company. These emails would lead me to believe that the highest quality work for the SEO community isn’t being delivered from overseas.

How do you feel about outsourcing in the SEO world? Is it okay to use American labor and not overseas? What are considered good practices?

If you only knew the power of the Dark Side. - Darth Vader

This month’s comic, “Beware the Dark Side”, deals with those SEO companies that are less than straight forward, and how nice it would be if they were. We always do our best to keep everything we do white hat – we’re always honest with our clients, don’t engage in any unscrupulous practices, and make no secret about how we go about getting rankings for our clients. That being said, not every SEO company is as honest.

When selecting an SEO company, don’t forget to ask about their methods, get some references, and check them out online to see if anybody has complained about them. A little research can help make sure that you end up with a company wearing a white hat and not one wearing a black hat.

“It Cutts like a knife, but it feels so right.” - Bryan Adams

“Cutt Her Some Slack” is our most niche comic yet. Not only are we focusing on the relatively small SEO community, we have made the focus of the comic a Google engineer named Matt Cutts. And if you don’t know who Matt Cutts is then you are very new to the SEO game. Suffice to say that Mr. Cutts is a big voice in the world of search engine optimization. His blog covers topics ranking from SEO to movies to Google policies and much more.

Of course most people read his blog to discover what they can about Google’s thoughts on search engine optimization. Some SEO experts are a little too involved with the idea of Matt being the messiah and follow him without question. Those are the people we poke a little harmless fun at today. And I’m hopeful Matt takes Rosie’s crush on him in a flattering light, as was intended.

We are sure there aren’t too many shrines devoted to Matt and we are equally sure he has his god complex under control.
In all seriousness, Matt Cutts gives solid and honest advice. But he also works for Google and therefore can only divulge so much information for obvious reasons. I’d also wager Matt’s words are dissected over and over until the true meaning is lost in conspiracy theories and too much reading between lines. This leads to crazy speculation and “fear” of Google; after all they are the 800lb. gorilla ruling over the SEO landscape. But becoming engrossed in what Google wants can sometimes hurt a client. Of course, ignoring Google’s advice and warnings can be equally damaging. Finding a happy medium between those two ideas is the goal for most SEO companies and I guess it wouldn’t hurt if you had a few pictures of Mr. Cutts on the wall for inspiration.
(Matt, if you read this, Rosie is a fictional character and is, in fact, not stalking you.)

“Abracadabra.” - Alfred Borden, The Prestige

There is a bit of truth to this Ranked Hard. No, there isn’t any sorcery being performed, but I have had more than a few phone calls from potential clients that have spoken with other SEO companies that have gotten similar responses. We are very forthcoming with how we will achieve better rankings in the search engines and as most reputable SEO firms will admit, it isn’t overly complicated. Good content and solid link building are the foundation of any good SEO campaign.

Unfortunately, many SEO companies will say things like, “It’s too complicated to get into,” or “We can’t share or SEO techniques.” When I hear that I immediately tell the perspective client to be very suspicious. When an SEO company isn’t willing to share their methods, it is usually because they have no methods to share or else they are doing things they wish to hide.

Or, maybe they are practicing Black Magic SEO, who knows?

- Shell Harris, Big Oak SEO

Welcome to the first installment of our SEO comic, “Ranked Hard”!

This is a comic about the trials and tribulations of the mythical staff of Ranked Hard, a growing and ambitious SEO company. There will certainly be parallels to our SEO company, Big Oak, but we won’t tell you where reality and fantasy blur. Although most who perform optimization for a living will certainly have their own ideas about what is taken from real life situations. ;-).

I have posted character bios for the Ranked Hard staff.

• Bradley Smart, President & SEO Consultant
• Gwen Michaels, SEO Researcher
• Roosevelt (Rosie) Jones, VP & SEO Consultant
• Simon Caine, SEO Copywriter

We hope you grow to love them as much as we do.

- Shell Harris, Big Oak SEO