I’ve seen lots of guarantees in my life. “GUARANTEED to grow new hair!” “GUARANTEED to never break!” “GUARANTEED to appraise for twice it’s selling price!” And all of these usually fall by the wayside when push comes to shove. Sure some people may actually experience what is being promised in the guarantee, but there rarely are any sure things other than death and taxes. And lately, I’ve been getting bombarded by SPAM emails lately from people who are guaranteeing first page placements by using SEO methods. Well ladies, gentlemen and colleagues, esteemed or otherwise, there are no guarantees in SEO. If there was, it would render SEO, as it is now, useless. Google (and all the other engines for that matter) takes great pride in their algorithm, and it’s secrecy and security, and for there to be any kind of guarantee, someone would likely have to have A LOT of very valuable information.
On top of the likelihood of an SEO practitioner having that kind of inside track being extremely unlikely, to be able to follow through with that guarantee, they would have to somehow, some way know exactly what every other competing website would have to be doing in real time. The fact is, no one knows the algorithm, no matter what they tell you. And, no one has a handle on what all of your competitors are doing at the exact same time you are doing your SEO work. And because of that, there are no guarantees. Search Engine Optimization is a process that is always in the works and always evolving. It’s filled with trial and error. And because of the factors I just mentioned, you may not see significant, sustained change for a long time. With SEO, patience is a virtue for sure. Some can certainly give you and idea of what COULD happen once optimization has begun, and can even go so far as to say what will happen with some things. But a guarantee is never possible.
So, if you’re in the market for SEO, be wary of those who make guarantees. You may see some immediate results, but in the long run the work done to produce that “guarantee” may end up costing you.