Customer & Google Friendly SEO

At Hobo SEO we pride ourselves in always aiming to improve customer positions in Google, (and Yahoo and MSN), and we are not secretive about who we work for and how we achieve excellent results for clients.

We’re not magicians, nor do we “know” how Google works (no seo company does!). We just know how to make quality sites that feature high up in Google search rankings. We’ve managed to crack this by following the rules as set down by Google, Yahoo and MSN, a bit of ethical creativity and by doing exhaustive research and testing.

As well as always improving customer positions in SERPS, we are always aiming to keep communication lines open between customers and above all to keep customers happy!

A happy customer is generally:

1. A customer who sees search engine results improve when we are employed
2. A customer who is always kept up to date with how we’re achieving these results
3. A customer who is seeing actual quality traffic land on their website that converts to leads and sales.

We’re using this post on our news site to let customers have their say about Hobo Web – a testimonial page of sorts, especially useful if you are looking for a seo company who is transparent and professional, and a seo company who is not afraid to be judged on current client’s performance in the “organic”, “free” or “natural” search engine listings provided by all the major search engines.

But first, let us examine Google’s guidelines on SEOs and how we match up.

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Google answers the question:

“What’s an SEO? Does Google recommend working with companies that offer to make my site Google-friendly? “

…with:

“SEO is an abbreviation for “search engine optimizer.” Many SEOs provide useful services for website 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 SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results”.

They go on:

“While Google doesn’t have relationships with any SEOs 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.”

Google lists a series of Q&As you should find useful if you are planning on hiring a search engine optimisation agency:

Google says:

“Be wary of SEO firms that send you email out of the blue. Amazingly, we get these spam emails too: “Dear google.com, I visited your website 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.”

Hobo says – we don’t ever contact anyone out of the blue! All our leads are generated via our website and by referrals from satisfied customers and their contacts.

Google adds:

“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs 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 program, and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

Hobo says: We never promise we can achieve number 1 and throughout the many posts on this site you can see we explain why this is the case. By the way, don’t bother using the Google Add URL feature, there are better ways of getting into Google free.

Google goes on to say:

“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.”

Again, at Hobo, we’re 100% transparent. As noted above, we’re not magicians or geniuses. We build and optimise quality sites Google and the other search engines seem to like that will stand the test of time. At no time to we try and trick Google. All our seo techniques are white hat, ethical and professional

Googles goes on:

“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: While Google doesn’t comment on specific companies, we’ve encountered firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.”

Hobo agrees entirely. Unlike some seo companies, we want you to actively research us, our industry and our competitors! Only then will you understand just how transparent we are and that we are actually aiming to stand apart from a lot of the quite unethical or frankly ineffective seo companies in Scotland and in the UK.

Talk to many SEOs, and ask other SEOs if they’d recommend the firm you’re considering. References are a good start, but they don’t tell the whole story. You should ask how long a company has been in business and how many full time individuals it employs. If you feel pressured or uneasy, go with your gut feeling and play it safe: hold off until you find a firm that you can trust. Ask your SEO firm if it reports every spam abuse that it finds to Google using our spam complaint form at http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html. Ethical SEO firms report deceptive sites that violate Google’s spam guidelines.”

Again Hobo has nothing to hide, the reason for this article. You’ll find testimonials from clients appearing on this page over time. Feel free to ask other seo companies out there what they think of us. We’re a new company, just over a year old, with very experienced staff on board, already nominated in local business awards with a large portfolio of happy and long term clients.

We have recently been declared the best (or thereabouts!) seo company in Scotland (based on positions we achieve for ourselves) by other companies in our locale. This, we hope, will only improve (because believe us we are working all the time on it!).

The last point Google makes is:

“Make sure you’re protected legally. For your own safety, you should insist on a full and unconditional money-back guarantee. Don’t be afraid to request a refund if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, or if your SEO’s actions cause your domain to be removed from a search engine’s index. Make sure you have a contract in writing that includes pricing. The contract should also require the SEO to stay within the guidelines recommended by each search engine for site inclusion.”

Money back guarantee anyone? Yes, that’s right. If we fail miserably, clients can have their money back. It’s that simple, and we’ve never had to pay out. That, and our promise to work hard and be creative, is the only promise or guarantee you will hear Hobo making!

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But enough of that. We’ll let some of our clients have their say, about our website design and building skills and our seo results for them. Please See Below (testimonials as we get them)

Feel free to contact us to enquire about our seo services for all kinds of businesses.