{"id":2115,"date":"2015-09-24T21:01:12","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T21:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2025-05-09T10:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:05:14","slug":"its-official-theres-no-such-thing-as-guaranteed-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/its-official-theres-no-such-thing-as-guaranteed-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Official – There\u2019s No Such Thing As \u201cGuaranteed\u201d Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As most people who know a thing or two about SEO have steadfastly maintained, there\u2019s no such thing as guaranteed rankings, or perfect, ironclad SEO. Now, at long last, we\u2019ve been given a bit of ammunition for our arguments, straight from Google. See, recently the search engine giant took SEO firm Local Lighthouse to court. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Like most snake-oil SEOs, Local Lighthouse was engaged in some pretty questionable tactics. It used cold calls with auto-dialers in an effort to sell its services. Its salespeople introduced themselves as \u201cGoogle Local Listing Representatives.\u201d And perhaps worst of all, it guaranteed front-page placement on the SERP. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google, of course, was not amused<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefendant’s statements guaranteeing first-page placement in GOOGLE search results constitute false statements about Defendant’s services because no SEO company, including Defendant, can guarantee such placement,\u201d <\/span>reads a court document cited by The Register<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese statements also constitute false statements about Google’s services, because the necessary implication of such statements is that first-page placement in GOOGLE search results can be guaranteed through SEO methods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seo
Google search Ranking Not Guaranteed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Google seeks to bring a criminal case<\/strong> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Against Local Lighthouse in a jury trial, both for its use of robo-dialers and its attempt to falsely represent its employees as affiliates of Google. <\/span>In a recent Public Policy blog post<\/span><\/a>, Google decried the practice of robocalling, referring to it as both illegal and misleading to the customer. It also established that the practices of businesses such as Local Lighthouse are, unfortunately, nothing new. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRobocallers have targeted Google users for many years,\u201d the piece reads. Callers often bombard people. They usually target small business owners or individuals. They use misleading offers. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These offers aim to improve Google Search and AdWords rankings. They also target Google My Business profiles. Since early 2015, Google has received many complaints. Users report robocalls. These calls come from businesses claiming Google affiliation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIllegal robocalls never have, and never will, come from Google,\u201d it adds. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate Google\u2019s case against <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Local Lighthouse should make one thing absolutely clear: there\u2019s no such thing as a shortcut when it comes to SEO. Ranking on Google requires more than manipulating a few variables under the hood; it\u2019s an involved, difficult process which combines marketing and content creation with just a dash of technical knowledge. And any SEO firm that tries to tell you different is lying. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good SEO isn’t just about getting lots of traffic to your site. Instead, good SEO is more strategic. First, identify your target audience. Next, understand what they search for. Finally, make sure your content meets their needs. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSearch engines aren\u2019t stupid,\u201d Dean continues.\u201c They\u2019re not built to tailor to the whims of businesses trying to exploit them. They\u2019re built to serve relevant, appropriate content to the searching public. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your site must be well-designed and built. It should give users a great experience. Provide relevant and honest content. Tailor this content to their needs. If you do these things, you’ll always have the best chance of success. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As most people who know a thing or two about SEO have steadfastly maintained, there\u2019s no such thing as guaranteed rankings, or perfect, ironclad SEO. Now, at long last, we\u2019ve been given a bit of ammunition for our arguments, straight from Google. See, recently the search engine giant took SEO firm Local Lighthouse to court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4626,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions\/4626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aseohosting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}