With an unprecedented amount of competition now persistent on the internet, webmasters and bloggers are in constant search of new ways to compete. After all, even the smallest of niches seem to have an immense amount of competition at this point, making it difficult to break into the ranks of just about any SERP. In the pursuit of better rankings, you have no doubt come across hundreds of different tools and solutions that promise better SEO performance for little or no cost, and perhaps minimal work. The reality is that many of these so-called tools can actually create more problems for you than benefits. In the following article, we will outline three types of tools that you should avoid at all costs if you want to be successful in the long-run.

One-Click Installs

If you currently have a hosting package through one of the more popular hosting providers, then you most likely have seen some type of package offered via the control panel that promises better SEO potential. In many cases, these come in the form of add-ons or plugins, and can help you (supposedly) optimize keywords, improve page loading speeds and target new audiences. The reality, however, is that many of these services are quite outdated and not up to par when it comes to the necessary forms of SEO for 2014. Anyone who is pinging for SEO should be very careful before they agree to a paid add-on or activate free features included in their web hosting service. Some of these features may be identified as spam, while others may simply give you a false sense of success and prevent you from working harder.

Cheap, Foreign Contractors

You have probably seen advertisements on Google and other sites whenever you search for SEO tactics and tricks, with many of them pertaining to low-cost SEO assistance. There is a ton of affordable, foreign-based SEO assistance available on the web, but you should always be skeptical of any such business. For starters, these companies may use gray or black hat SEO tactics to trick search engines into temporarily ranking your site well. Unfortunately, this will all begin to unravel once Google and others start realizing what tactics have been done. This can profoundly damage your search engine rankings and result in your site being blacklisted. Once this occurs, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to recover from such damage.

Friends and Family Members

Everyone knows somebody who has a trick or two up their sleeve when it comes to online programming, web design or content creation. It is never a good idea to utilize these individuals for SEO assistance, however, for a number of reasons. In many cases, these people are not professionally-trained on how to be pinging for SEO. In addition to this, you may have situations where a working relationship can ruin an existing friendship or relationship. Simply put: never do business of any type with people who are close to you, and always insist that those with whom you work have the necessary credentials to perform the work needed.