EDIT 11/29 - After thinking about this diatribe I will say at the level most of you/us are working even these guys can't do much harm. Unless you really want to be number one to five in a set of keywords that are highly competitive go ahead and support your friend. After all, anyone can make "Jonas Romeo Petaluma Real Estate" number one. When you get ready to be number one in a category like "nevada homes for sale" or "florida foreclosures" then you need to hire a seasoned, credentialed professional.
There are so many fallacies with SEO inside the RE net. They come from there being so many agents who suffered catstrophic failure of their real estate businesses post boom who saw the opportunity to prey on people who know only slightly less. The idea that just because someone knows SEO stands for "search engine optimization" makes them an expert is very dangerous to those who trust them.
We know the importance of being one of the Trust Agents. What those trust agents need to do is confess they have been abusing your trust and admit they barely know much more about SEO than you. Just because they have a blog full of info, spoke at barcamp or any other event in and of itself does not make them worthy of trust - much less taking your money when you really need every penny to count.
There are dozens if not hundreds of dangerous misstatements about search engine optimization. Here are three prominent ones.
Myth 1 - SEO is dead. Follow the links -> ReelSEO, StepForth
Fact: As long as there are search engines crawling and indexing the web SEO better be a part of your overall strategy. This myth literally started when the term SEO started.
Myth 2 - Outbound links don't help page rank. Follow the links -> Google, SEO Site Checkup
Fact: Sites that are good for the community are good for Page Rank. Sharing high ranking, relevant links is a big factor in page rank. This one is common sense: keep two things in mind - (1) Google likes pages that are good for visitors. Sharing relevant information is good for visitors. (2) Visitors like pages where they can get the most information per click.
Myth 3 - Page rank is unimportant. Follow the links -> Matt Cuts, Search Agents
Fact: GoDaddy wants you to believe Page Rank is unimportant so they can sell more domain names. SEOmoz sells a page rank product - of course they want you to think PR is unimportant. That said PR is more important within the Google search results. Which, if you know anything about SEM is just a tad bit important.
I've said about enough over the years. If you're blindly trusting someone with absolutely no background, education or experience in real SEO for customers who desperately need help then come what may. Just because you like someone or want to support them does that mean the advice they are giving won't hurt you? If you like them that much you'd be better off sending them $1000 and getting your information from people who know what they are talking about.
I don't know about you but every sale I make from my online efforts is worth thousands of dollars. Every one I miss has the same value. If I miss an opportunity at a presentation I miss an opportunity at a sale.
Think about it.
Hire a pro. Chat with friends.
If you think this post is about you it probably is.
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