Jill Whalen, CEO of HIGH RANKINGS a Boston SEO Consulting Agency, has been providing SEO Services since 1995. Jill is also the host of the High Rankings Advisor newsletter and the High Rankings SEO forum and is a widely respected SEO expert.

The following articles help explain Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it's related issues in easy to understand language.

• SEO Myths Debunked
• Why We Do What We Do In SEO
• Setting Realistic SEO Expectations

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ARTICLE 1. 'SEO Myths Debunked' By Jill Whalen

One of my favorite pastimes is debunking SEO myths – and there are many! I could probably come up with 100 SEO-related ideas or actions that people think are helpful, but which in reality won't provide them with more targeted traffic to their websites.

Here are some of the more prevalent myths I hear and see bandied about in SEO articles, at SEO conferences, in SEO blogs and on SEO forums:

SEO Myth #1: You need special search engine pages.

While it's not as prevalent as it used to be, we still get calls from companies who want us to create some sort of "SEO landing pages." While landing pages often make sense for paid search campaigns such as Google AdWords, they're unnecessary for organic SEO campaigns. Well, I shouldn't say that they're unnecessary – it's just that your SEO landing pages shouldn't be something outside of your site. They should already exist as an integral part of it. If those aren't currently bringing you search engine traffic, it doesn't mean you need to add new pages, it means you have to optimize your existing ones better.

SEO Myth #2: You need to optimize for just one keyword phrase per page.

Many, many SEOs and businesses believe that you should optimize each page of your site for just one keyword phrase. Their thinking is that you will keep a strong focus on that one keyword phrase. The problem with this is, first, it's very difficult if not impossible to write a page in a natural manner while you're trying to focus on just one keyword phrase. And second, it's a waste of a good page!

Why optimize for just one keyword phrase when you can optimize it for 3 or even 5 keyword phrases? The more keyword phrases you optimize a page for (within reason), the more targeted search engine traffic you will receive. If you look at your web analytics right now, you'll typically see that each page of your site is already bringing in traffic from various forms of numerous keyword phrases. It's not only okay to optimize for more than one phrase, but in my opinion it's critical to your website and to search engine success.

SEO Myth #3: You can't use tables in your HTML code.

This one makes me want to scream. HTML tables have been easily spiderable by search engines since the search engines were newly hatched. As far as I know, table code has never been anything that choked the search engines. I think this myth was propagated by website developers who advocate tableless designs to make you think you'll somehow get better rankings out of their designs. You won't.

SEO Myth #4: You must use text links, not image links.

Nope. Like tables, the search engines have been able to follow and index image links since their very early days. You certainly don't have to ruin a beautiful website design that uses images for the primary navigation because you think it's better for SEO. Just be sure to use the same words you'd use in your anchor text links in your image alt attribute text (alt tags), and you'll be good to go for the search engines.

SEO Myth #5: You can't use Flash on your website.

Yes, you can! While I don't recommend that you create your entire website in Flash, using bits of Flash here and there for some cool effects will not bother or choke the search engines in the least. They don't punish, penalize or otherwise nuke into oblivion sites that have Flash on them. You should of course avoid putting important content into your Flash elements, and also remember that some mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad don't support Flash. But if you add alternative text for non-Flash-enabled browsers, all should be well.

SEO Myth #6: Google's link-operator tells you all the links that Google knows about.

No, no, and double no! Typing link:www.yoursite.com into Google's search box often won't even show you any links, let alone all of your links. And when it does show you some, they're usually not the best ones. Don't even bother to use this command because it is useless at best. While there are some helpful tools that can find some backward links, there is no foolproof method for finding out about all the links that point to your site or to your competitors' sites. The good news is, just because you can't find them all doesn't mean they don't exist. Keep making a great site and getting the word out about it, and you'll keep building up your link profile, whether or not you can generate an accurate list of them.

SEO Myth #7: Toolbar PageRank = Real PageRank.

Most people who've learned a bit about SEO have seen Google's PageRank toolbar graph at one point or another. It supposedly shows the importance in Google's eyes of any given URL. Unfortunately, it's not even close to an accurate representation of any page's importance to Google.

That said, don't let that fact lull you into thinking that PageRank – that is, the real PageRank that Google, Inc. knows about your website – is not important. It's extremely important in how your site will perform in the search results for your targeted keyword phrases; there's just no way for you to truly know exactly what it is.

SEO Myth #8: Google or other organizations can certify SEO companies or declare them the Best/Top SEO in the world.

Despite what some SEO companies would like you to believe, there is no such thing as an SEO certification. No organization currently exists that can certify that any company is qualified to perform search engine optimization services. There are no definitive tests that an SEO company can take to prove that they are qualified, and there are no courses that, when passed, will prove that a company can do SEO. Yes, there are courses people can take that will provide them with a certificate of completion for that course, but don't ever believe that a certificate of that sort has any real meaning beyond the completion of the course.

There are also lists and directories of SEO companies who pay a fee for the honor of being labeled the '#1 SEO company!' If you are ever in the market for SEO services, don't let those fake paid-for awards trick you into thinking that the SEO company must be good or the best. While it's possible they may be a perfectly fine company, they may not be. Paying for a "best" label doesn't magically make a company any good. It just means they are willing to spend the money it takes to purchase the label. Much to the surprise of unwitting SEO clients, award sites are not actual rating or ranking SEO companies based on any skill sets.

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ARTICLE 2: 'Why We Do What We Do in SEO' By Jill Whalen

I hear from many people who want to be told exactly what they need to do to get high rankings and bring more targeted search engine traffic to their websites. I wish I could provide them with a straight answer, but every site has its own needs when it comes to SEO. Which means there's no exact rule that will work each and every time for any website.

One thing, however, that can help you figure out how to SEO your site is to learn the whys behind the specific techniques you always hear about. But to understand the whys, you first need to get the gist of how search engines work. Sounds scary, I know, but I'm going to make it as simple and painless as possible – so stick with me!

In very simplistic terms, there are 2 main components to the search engines: the crawler and the algorithm.

The crawler, which is sometimes referred to as a spider, a robot, or simply a bot, is what goes out on the web and fetches all the pages of information that it can get its virtual spidey legs on.

The algorithm (or algo) is basically the ranking formula that each search engine uses to determine the relevancy of any page that the crawler finds.

The search engines use this formula to decide – out of the pages that were previously fetched – which pages they should show for which keyword phrases that any searcher might type into the search box. Those keyword phrases are also sometimes referred to as a person's "search query".

While the algo is a formula, it's so complicated that it's not something you can simply reverse-engineer. The engines look at hundreds of factors and weigh them all differently. This is why you'll find that automated SEO software doesn't work well to increase your rankings.

Here's an interesting point – those hundreds of factors that go into the relevancy algorithm boil down to two major things:

What you say about yourself, and what others say about you.

Really. It's as simple (and as hard) as that!

"What you say about yourself" means the information you provide on your website, or the words that you write on your pages. The Internet is mostly a word-based medium. Every single web page has its own story to tell. Each page should be relevant to one or more search keywords or phrases. And each page's story helps the search engines understand which search queries the page is relevant to.

Make sense?

So now let's look at what others say about you. This aspect of how the search engines determine relevancy is known as the "off-page" criteria, and it's typically done through links.

That is, another site owner likes what you say or offer on your site, and wants to tell their own site visitors about it. The way they do this is by linking to your site – or a specific page of your site. Search engines take these links into account because what others say about you provides an additional layer of trust beyond what you say about yourself.

Still with me?

These two major factors – how search engines work and what they're looking for – help clarify what you need to do SEO-wise to keep them happy.

First, you need to steer clear of any technical issues that can impede the crawler from finding, reading and indexing the pages of your website. The easier you make it for them to do their job, the better chance your pages will have of showing up for relevant searches.

Which means you need to start on the SEO of your website from the very beginning. You're going to need lots of up-front research on keywords and other elements. You'll also need to make sure your content is written to appeal to both your users and to the search engines. While all of this *can* be done later, you'll save yourself tons of time if you plan your SEO before you ever start developing your website.

Then, once you've got a crawler-friendly website, you'll need to create pages that conform to the search engines' algorithms by making sure they are not only relevant to what people are looking for, but interesting and unique enough for others to want to link to them. You've also got to spend time getting the word out about your website, because even the greatest content in the world won't market itself!

I hope I've simplified the search engine process and SEO enough that you understand why you need to use the specific tactics that are involved. If you always keep the two major factors that search engines are looking for in mind – what you say about yourself and what others say about you – you'll always be able to make the right decisions for your website.

It's those two factors that drive the SEO process and fulfill its goal of helping your target audience find your website when they're seeking out exactly what you offer.

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Article #3: 'Setting Realistic SEO Expectations' By Jill Whalen

Those who've been in the SEO biz for a number of years know how much more competitive it is these days compared to a few years ago. The number of web pages indexed by search engines has doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in past years. On top of that, a good portion of site owners and webmasters know just enough SEO to be dangerous. In the golden age of SEO, the vast majority of websites hadn't given a thought to the search engines, and when they did, it was only to place some keywords in their Meta tags. (Which, incidentally, didn't help then either.) Those were the days when anyone who knew even the slightest bit about SEO could easily rank highly in all the major search engines, with very little effort. Even competitive areas were doable with just a little more work than their non-competitive counterparts.

The Competition Is Fierce

These days, it's almost the exact opposite. Even keyword phrases that nobody's searching for can sometimes be difficult to obtain high rankings with unless you really and truly know what you're doing. And even then, those rankings may be here one day and gone the next. The problem is magnified for new businesses and new websites. If your site isn't at least a few years old, your SEO efforts will be less likely to provide the results you want. This is one reason why your website optimization should always be seen as a long-term proposition.

It's About Targeted Traffic, Not Rankings

As we move forward in this industry, webmasters, site owners, and SEOs need to shift their focus from asking how they can get this keyword to this position in this engine to how they can get more targeted traffic and convert it into customers. Unfortunately, a large portion of those looking into SEO services are still seeing the small picture. For instance, on the contact form on our High Rankings site, I ask people to tell me a little bit about their "business goals." A good number who fill it out want something like "top-5 rankings in Google and Yahoo for this keyword." Huh? That's not a business goal! A business goal is more like "Bring more people to my website who are searching online for the types of products we sell." (As a side note, soon after writing this, I got an email from someone whose goal was to have their Flash site be "#1 in all the search engines for the word 'spring.'" I kid you not!)

Don't get me wrong, I very much understand why people would love to move their rankings up from #11 to #1 for a highly sought-after and targeted keyword phrase. I'm quite sure it would very much increase their targeted traffic and their sales (assuming they're doing everything else right). My frustration lies in the fact that there are people who believe that somehow an SEO company can magically snap their fingers or wave their magic wand and make it so.

Even the best SEOs are not magicians. They can't simply place a site at the top of the engines when there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of others that offer basically the same thing, and provide basically the same information. If they could, you'd see a whole lot more millionaire SEOs.

Does this mean that SEO is dead?

Absolutely not! But SEO that focuses on rankings for the most highly sought-after keywords in any given space is most definitely dying. This doesn't mean that you have to settle for keywords that receive few searches. It just means that you have to broaden your horizons and see the big picture.

Almost every time I review one of those "put me at #1" prospects' websites, I see tons of opportunities for fixing the site in general so that it will work better for both their users and the search engines. They are almost always so focused on their "money phrases" that they completely neglect many areas of their site. Instead they put their special phrase on every page and never research the thousands of others that are being typed into search engines every day.

Content for Content's Sake

Another trend I've been seeing a lot lately is the creation of content simply for the sake of creating content. What's that all about? SEOs certainly throw the words "good content" around a lot, but why is it that nobody seems to know what that means? We now have a whole cottage industry of companies who will allegedly write "good content" for you. Worse, there are even some that will *rent* you content! Newsflash...good content has nothing to do with the history of your products. Nor is good content a bunch of madlib spam pages where you simply substitute keyword phrases from one page into the other. Good content isn't stuff you write for the search engines.

What Exactly Is Good Content?

Good content is unique. Really and truly unique. It is creative ideas that simply popped into your head which nobody else in your space has thought of yet. The key to good content is creativity. Unfortunately, creativity itself seems to be a dying art. Being creative isn't looking at what your competitor is doing and copying them. It's being a leader, not a follower. It's having your own voice and your own opinions and expressing them, regardless of what others might think. It's pouring your heart and soul into your website, not looking for the next quick fix. And it's (say it with me) making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines. It's what brings targeted traffic to our own site for thousands of phrases, and it's what will help your site gain traffic for whatever phrases relate to it. But it's not easy, and it's not fast. And it can't be done with the flick of a switch.

Determine Your True Goals

So please...if your pet phrase isn't ranking highly enough, don't call me and don't email me. In fact, don't call or email any SEO company. Instead of calling, you need to reassess your goals. No SEO company in the world will be able to help you unless you are ready to forget about what you think you want, and learn more about what you really need. Read that last sentence again until you really understand it. Forget about what you think you want, and learn more about what you really need.

Beware of SEO Companies Who Will Tell You What You Want to Hear

And remember, there are plenty of SEO companies that will say they can do whatever you want them to do. You want to be #1 for "spring"? Sure, no problem. They will happily take your money, do some work, and promptly get no results. Don't blame them though – they were just telling you what you wanted to hear.