It's a new year and a lot of companies are already working hard to produce a healthy bottom line. I suppose they are making good on their New Year's Resolutions. But some of these people are trying to sell you things you don't need.

SEO (search engine optimization) services seems to be a hot topic for sales companies right now. I've heard of a number of people with web sites receiving calls for those services. I have also received a few calls.

When I tried to put them off, it goes something like this:

"Don't you want your web site to have a first-page ranking?"

This brings a big smile. "I have a first-page ranking," I reply.

"For all your keywords?"

"Yes, all of them."

They usually try to make a graceful exit at this point. If they are persistent, I shoot them down in flames with, "I do this for a living."

The one thing I've learned about real SEO experts is that they are busy and in demand. Most of their work comes from referrals. They don't have the time to call people at random and offer their services. They have real work to do.

But apparently there is money to be made from those who aren't familiar with search engine optimization. I've heard lots of their promises many times before. Unfortunately, what they say they will do is different from what you expect them to do. So I thought I would lay out some of those promises and what they really mean.

"There is a serious problem with your meta tags."

A friend got a call like that recently. Not exactly a promise but it sounded very ominous. They left a message with a very authoritative voice saying she must call back immediately. The tone seemed to say her web site would come unglued if she didn't call back . Well, you don't use glue in cyberspace and she knew better than to call back.

References to meta tags usually involves the keyword meta tag. After all, this is where you list your keywords. And if you don't do your keywords correctly, well . . . nothing will happen. Search engines haven't used the keyword meta tag in rankings since 1997. So it really doesn't matter what you do with your keywords in that tag. Only those people who right-click on your web page and view the page source will ever see them.

I wish I could shout that to the world. "The keyword meta tag is dead!" The only ones using it are those who are trying to take money from those who don't know better.

Ok, I can get off my soapbox now. Here's a popular promise.

"We will get you a first-page ranking."

Or a "top 10 ranking" or if they are really gutsy, a "number one ranking." Considering that the search engines are in complete control of their rankings, this may seem ludicrous. Yes, they can really promise that and deliver. But here's the catch. They pick the keywords for the ranking. And there are two ways to do it.

One method requires creating a page or modifying a page on your web site. They pick a keyword for which there is little or no competition. Placing the keyword on your web page assures them of a top ranking.

The second method is even easier. They don't even have to modify your web site. All they do is bid on a pay-per-click keyword that has little or no competition. Maybe they bid 10 cents, the minimum. When your search for that keyword, its usually a term very similar to what you want but including something to make it unique so it comes up number one. However, rather than appearing in the natural results, it shows up in the Sponsored Links. This is paid advertising. Hardly anyone clicks on it so they really don't have to pay much.

How much traffic will you get from this method? Little to none. No one is searching for those keywords. That's why a high ranking is so easy. It takes major work and/or expense to achieve top rankings for popular keywords.

This next one is a favorite of mine.

"Your site will be submitted to thousands of search engines."

Let's see you name ten search engines. Most people can't, either. So if most people can't name ten, who are using those "thousands" of search engines? I think you have already figured this one out.

Yahoo, Google, AOL and MSN make up more than 90% of all searches. Add in some minor players like Excite, Ask, Lycos and Infospace and you have only 1.1% left for Alta Vista, Hotbot, Netscape, About and a couple of thousand other search engines. See the breakdown at www.searchenginewatch.com/reports It also shows that 95% of the search results come from only two sources: Google and Yahoo. Submit to those two and you've covered all the major search engines.

Google details getting submitted and indexed at www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/1.html They also suggest an alternate method of getting listed on Google. That is by submitting to Yahoo and Open Directory. They even provide links to those sites.

I smile and shake my head every time I hear this next one.

"Your site will be automatically re-submitted to thousands of search engines several times each month."

We've already established the value of several thousands of search engines. The idea with repeated submissions is that it will improve your rankings. How is unclear. If your web site doesn't change, won't you get the same ranking each time?

Another reason sometimes given for re-submitting is so the search engines won't forget about you. Computers never forget. Just ask someone who forgot to pay a speeding ticket. Search engines typically return to your site about every four weeks to re-index you. Frequent changes to your pages and links pointing to your site can actually get you re-indexed several times a week.

As far as re-submitting is concerned, Google says, ". . . your time is better spent improving the content and links of your site." Google also gives some good advice about what to look for in SEO firms at http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/seo.html Even Google gets spammed by those purporting to be search engine optimizers:

"Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."

A real hot SEO company, huh?

The more you know about search engine optimization, the better decisions you will be able to make about using an SEO company. There is plenty of information you can use on the web. You can also subscribe to newsletters such as:

SearchEngines.com
SearchEngineWatch.com
SearchEngineWorld.com