Since the Microsoft-Yahoo search merger two weeks ago, journalists will not stop saying “GOOGLE IS DOOMED.” I think that these journalists need to do some more research and look into something more the ComScore results. Ask webmasters like myself who run numerous websites and generate income off them, where does your tarffic come from. I will say google, by 10x the amount Bing or Yahoo sends.

Once I see the stats start growing, then I think it will be a good time to start talking about Google loosing market share. People are going to be with Google for the long haul, Why you ask?

1. They trust Google
2. Why change? “If its not broken, why fix it?”
3. Google has Adsense, largest publisher advertising network. (Highest Paying)

I can practically point and choose what site I want ads on because of Google massive amount of AdSense users. Miscrosoft adCenter is small, and from what I hear, not good paying.

Tell me that I am favoring Google, well, I AM. I get my traffic from the and they provide great results with a minimal design. PERIOD.

Local business can drive a lot of business from a website. Targeting keywords is not hard, and you can beat nationwide companies using a few techniques.

I blog for a service related company currently. I post industry news and tips and trick on doing the job and informing more about they type of service we offer. I did this for months and months, gathering traffic, most from Google searches. Many times a local business will service a lot of towns/ cities. I realized that a lot of my blog post title names were placing well in Google, so I tried an experiment.

What if I mentioned a town I service, with what I do after it? ex.[Little Rock Carpet Cleaning]

I found that this works very well. Within a few hours I was in the top 4 results for that keyword. I don’t want to get greedy, so I am going to keep it at 1 max per day. Inside the post I will talk a little about the town, and stress that we do a lot of business in the town, and list our services.

I will keep you updated to if this brings traffic from Google and if I keep ranking well.

As most of you know there are tons of Search Engine Optimizing and Internet Marketing companies claiming to guarantee first page Google rankings in days. We are going to tell you why this is something that you must watch out for.

Here is what Google has to say:

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

–Google

SEO companies will give you the sales pitch, but it is a flawed guarantee. When the SEO comapny says that they will get you listed first on Google, ask them these questions (it will kind of stop the sales pitch and cut to the chase)

What keywords will you target for my website.

Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?

Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?

Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?

What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?

What’s your experience in my industry?

What’s your experience in my country/city?

What’s your experience developing international sites?

What are your most important SEO techniques?

How long have you been in business?

How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?

Most of this information is from Google. Don’t let a low-balling SEO company take your money. Do business with high-quality SEO companies that will work with you over the course of a few months to develop and PROVE better rankings to your site.