I have a great respect for the tried and tested SEO techniques that everyone uses to make sites rank more effectively. We’ll always use them as they’re are useful at achieving relevance. However rankings aren’t the be all and end all of SEO. Natural search is a marketing channel – it is not for just generating traffic its about making sales. Duly all SEO needs to be put in this context. I’ve had a quick look at some systems that sites use to achieve rankings which are just plain ‘old hat’ they get rankings but don’t always do much more to help the website.

I was reading through the terms and conditions of some affiliate programs the other night. During this I noticed that if you’re an affiliate on the H Samuel or Ernest Jones programs you’re not supposed to be targeting misspellings of the brands . Why strong highstreet brands such as H Samuel and Ernest Jones should really have to worry about aspect of their brand online is beyond me. If you’re an affiliate you shouldn’t be attempting to rank for phrases such as:

• H Smauel
• H Samuels
• H Samul
• H Samel
• Ernst Jones
• Ernet Jonew
• Enrest Jonew