and follow directions. You will need to download .htaccess file in root directory of location where all your web pages are stored.

redirect 301 /old/old.htm http://www.you.com/new.htm

That is all you need to do. Save file and upload it. Typically you would type in old url (old domain name) and it would take you to new url (new domain name). But, in this case we will change old index file to another name. Create a new optimized HTML page. Then, name it as old index page. Google will index new page that is redirected to flash page. It will look like this

redirect 301 (the instruction that page has moved)

/old/old.htm (the original folder path and file name)

http://www.you.com/new.htm (new path and file name)

Basically, we are just forwarding one page directly to another. Not to another domain name. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. This is usually best way to utilize a redirect. You could also use a java script redirect.

Never use META tag redirect. Those have already been recognized as a blacklisted move.

I cannot guarantee that these will not get you banned. But, from my research, 301 re-direct is best bet. If your site is 100% Flash and you need to rank higher, this will get you results. These are your SEO options for clients with Flash sites.

“Submission is not necessary and does not guarantee inclusion in our index. Given large number of sites submitting URLs, it's likely your pages will be found in an automatic crawl before they make it into our index through URL submission form. We DO NOT add all submitted URLs to our index, and cannot predict when or if they will appear.” - http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/1.html#A2

“Meta tags are not important anymore”

Sure they aren’t. If you don’t want a decent ranking on MSN. The new MSN search places a lot of value on keywords and description meta tags. Without these tags in your site’s code, your ranking on MSN will suffer. Just as importantly, if your keywords and description meta tags don’t use proper language, your rankings will suffer. The description tag is also what MSN uses as visible description for a site in search results. And of course, to prove I’m not one blowing hot air, here is what MSN themselves say about it:

“Site descriptions are extracted from content of your page each time MSNBot crawls your site and indexes its pages...

...the best way to affect your site description is to ensure that your web pages effectively deliver information you want to see in search results.” - Click here to see page this is found on.

“Your Web Site Has Been Sabotaged”

This one is truly unreal. I can’t believe it’s even been used as an excuse for why an SEO company hasn’t achieved decent rankings for you. But alas, more than one SEO company has told potential clients of ours that reason they are not ranking well, or why their search engine optimization campaign is not effective, is because someone else has been sabotaging site. Some of clients who have been told this are small businesses, like bed and breakfasts or pet sitters. We always explain to these potential clients that likelihood of someone even having initial idea to sabotage a web site, site in question would have to be a fairly large one, and target of a lot of hatred. Why? Because sabotaging a web site’s rankings takes a massive amount of time and energy. We’re talking months, maybe even years of hard, hard work. Why would anyone devote months or years of their life to taking down a pet sitting site? Or a bed and breakfast?

Once again, these are some hefty claims and it is a clear sign that company who is running your SEO campaign is unwilling to be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof.

Don’t Put Up With It.

The bottom line is, your search engine optimization company works for you. You are paying them. Hold them accountable as you would any other vendor. Keep reading these articles, read info at search engines, educate yourself and if something your SEO says smells a little rotten, don’t be afraid to call them on it.

Is being screwed an inevitability in SEO world? Damn near. But thanks to increasing interest of our consumers in self-education and their increased questioning, our industry will slowly climb out of gutter and someday down line, send this article into antiquity. In spite of my pride, I’d be overjoyed to see that day come.