Tamsin, it sounds like you're doing the right stuff. You're correct about there being people out there who advise incorrectly and my concern is that it is giving the whole sector a bad name.

I had some guy jump out on me at Adtech the other day and rant on about guaranteed positions. He didn't know who I was or what I did so I carried out quizzing him and in amongst the rubbish he was speaking he went on to claim all sorts of positions that I knew he didn't have. The guy was utterly barking.
 

I then told him what I do. It was a very Monty Python moment :)

I'm hoping that these sort move on to something else soon. Ultimately in every sector quality will always rise to the top though so hang in there and I'm sure it'll come good.

Jem

White Hat Media 

On 09:49:10 2 October 2008 TamsinArber wrote:

Thank you everyone for your responses on this matter. Unfortuntaely there are plenty of seo companies out there who are only interested in giving stupid advise to naive people to make money. None of these so called experts know anything at all about creating or editing a website. I find it hard to comprehend how anyone can truly achieve results if they cannot optimise the website itself. My method always involves quality content first, internal links and relevant search words within the page text, title and description. If a site is created that is designed with the user in mind, gives the relevant information that they are looking for then surely over time that counts for alot. I publish articles, created a blog and have encouraged the creation of links via social networking sites. I have spent a great deal of time to produce an informative website that prioritises the user and is search engine friendly too.
 

I know buying links that will be placed in directories and websites that are purely there just to contain paid for links is a stupid thing to do. Quality not quantity is key. I have told my boss that submitting to google is pointless as the website is already indexed. Her reaction was that a professional had advised her that this was essential. The crazy thing is, the website was page 1 for every search word it could have been there for. It didn't need optimising any further or differently.

On 09:28:44 2 October 2008 JeremySpiller1 wrote:

Mulitple submissions like this is utterly pointless and ridiculous. I often wonder where these people read about this sort of rubbish.

When optimising a site, it's important that we understand the thinking and logic behind the people who created and manage the search engines and this is something I always bang on about to clients.

Apparently Google employ more PHDs than anyone in the world and would they be so stupid as to let their algorithm be influenced by multiple url submissions?

Ironically it's not necessary to submit the url of a site to Google at all and hasn't been necessary for years. Have links to your sites and the Search Engines will find you. As you've noticed you have top spots without submitting.

If a client starts saying this sort of nonsense state your case firmly and tell them you'll do it and have to charge for it but it's not necessary. Even find a white paper that rubbishes this sort of nonsense.

Alternatively and this is the more ethical action, if they insist on this, resign the account as it sounds like it will end in tears anyway. Leave the door open though and it's likely they'll be back.

Hope that helps,

Jem

White Hat Media

On 11:02:52 1 October 2008 TamsinArber wrote:

I am doing the seo inhouse for a company who insist I spend an hour a day maunually submitting the website to Google add URL.

Prior to this, the optimisation I had been doing was mainly to the pages themselves, with a few high quality article submissions. This produced good results - Google page 1 for all search words required.

Unfortunately the company had advise from a 'professional' and was told they need to buy 1000's of backlinks and manually submit to Google everyday.

As far as I am concerned this is unethical SEO, It is spamming Google and contrivening Googles webmaster guidelines.

Since submitting pages to Google the website has dropped quickly from page 1 to page 2. Yet the company is insistent this must be because it isn't being submitted to Google enough. I hate to see the work I have put in go waste because some apparent expert has recommended this method of seo.

I have provided seo for 5 websites, all are on page 1 without submitting to Google at all.

.On 10:53:48 1 October 2008 Wynyard wrote:

There is a manual submission at http://www.google.co.uk/addurl/ however it's no use for SEM purposes, and I did once hear someone who may have known suggest it was a method used by Google to identify spammers.

I have not submitted a site to Google ever, and we have many top ranking clients and won awards for our search marketing campaigns. In simple terms Google finds you by following links from elsewhere on the web.

Iain Forrest 

Defintitely not recommend!

Google will ignore your repeat requests, probably wont get you a Google Slap but its a complete waste of your time. You're better off submitting your website and company details to DMOZ (human edited directory) - Google scrape DMOZ for new websites.

It can take 4-6 weeks to get added to DMOZ but once you're there (if you get approved), every search egine will pick up your firms details. Leaving you with more time to do something useful.... like optimize your website.

Steve
Amplified Media

On 11:02:52 1 October 2008 TamsinArber wrote:

I am doing the seo inhouse for a company who insist I spend an hour a day maunually submitting the website to Google add URL.

Prior to this, the optimisation I had been doing was mainly to the pages themselves, with a few high quality article submissions. This produced good results - Google page 1 for all search words required.

Unfortunately the company had advise from a 'professional' and was told they need to buy 1000's of backlinks and manually submit to Google everyday.

As far as I am concerned this is unethical SEO, It is spamming Google and contrivening Googles webmaster guidelines.

Since submitting pages to Google the website has dropped quickly from page 1 to page 2. Yet the company is insistent this must be because it isn't being submitted to Google enough. I hate to see the work I have put in go waste because some apparent expert has recommended this method of seo.

I have provided seo for 5 websites, all are on page 1 without submitting to Google at all.

.On 10:53:48 1 October 2008 Wynyard wrote:

There is a manual submission at http://www.google.co.uk/addurl/ however it's no use for SEM purposes, and I did once hear someone who may have known suggest it was a method used by Google to identify spammers.

I have not submitted a site to Google ever, and we have many top ranking clients and won awards for our search marketing campaigns. In simple terms Google finds you by following links from elsewhere on the web.

Iain Forrest