It’s difficult to offer SEO these days. In the last 12 months, the has been so many changes to Google’s algo that we have to find new tactics in trying to rank websites higher in search engine results.

So when a new client tried to tie me to specific deliverables in my SEO proposal yesterday, I told him it was impossible to do so. I told him that if I was a cook, I’d sell him my fried kuay teow but I’m not going to share my preparation methods nor how much salt I put, etc. Btw, did you know that some hawkers soak their underwear in the soup in the believe that you’ll come back for more - it’s true, I swear!

Ok, so maybe food’s not a very good analogy but I think you get the picture. Writing down the specifics would mean that I’d be revealing my “trade secrets” and if I applied different methods than agreed because of Google’s actions, I’d be question. I understand it’s difficult for them to explain to management, especially in a mega company, but that’s just the way it is.

Anyway, I just got news that he managed to convince his Senior VP of Marketing to trust that I’ll do whatever’s in their company’s best interest. Hey, maybe my fried kuay teow analogy was effective after all.

Now back to SEO. Google, has implemented a couple of major changes this last few months. One was demoting Squidoo (created by marketing guru Seth Godin) articles in search results, a favourite among SEOs.

It used to be that when searching for something, e.g. singapore business registration, a new Squidoo article would rank higher than established websites - this is no longer the case. Maybe Squidoo’s own part in soliciting articles by selling the idea that it could help with the rankings played a role.

The other major issue was Google’s attack on “unnatural” linking. This started with Matt Cutts advising webmasters to use the “no-follow” attribute when linking, i.e. indicate that you’re not voting for the site. He then advised against buying links and encouraged webmasters to report to Google if they knew anyone who bought links.

These didn’t go down well with the webmaster community who was worried about the implementation and indistinct definition. We all know that while they’re the most popular search engine, Google is not perfect - remember the content duplication penalty that happened to even legitimate blogs?

In a show of force, Google started penalizing websites - the two most prominent being Text-Link-Ads and Aviva Directory. The SEO fraternity had been toying with the idea that Google could easily detect sites that were involved in …err.. illegal activites but none expected such drastic actions.

Text-Link-Ads is a marketplace for buying and selling ads, while you could include your site in Aviva Directory for a fee and get a strong backlink. Both sites cannot be found anymore, even when searching for “text link ads” or “aviva directory”.

Well, I can only hope that my future clients understand the challenges we face as SEO consultants. Until then I will need to think up more fried kuay teow analogy to convince them. ;)