SEO Con Men Are Alive and Well

Written by Nick Stamoulis

seoDo you regularly get emails from people who are trying to drum up business for their SEO services? This happens to me all the time. In fact, I received one just the other day. Typically, the emails read something like this:

Hello,

You could be doing much better in the search engines. As part of our client research, we came across www.yourwebsite.com and noticed that it isn’t ranking for important keywords in all the important search engines, such as Google. You’re a perfect candidate to benefit from our SEO services here at Google at a very low cost. Are you interested?

Proper SEO will help you get seen in the search engines and will increase brand recognition, traffic, and increase sales and leads. We can promote your website to the first page of Google and guarantee results in six months when you purchase our “Golden SEO” package. 

Let me know if you’re interested! Please call at xxx-xxx-xxxx

Regards,

SEO Professional

There’s a lot that’s wrong with an email like this. Let’s explore why you should never hire an SEO service provider from emails like this:

#1 – Does anyone actually buy anything from automated emails?

It’s clear once you look at this email that it was either automated, or it was a form template and the sender just copy and pasted your website URL. This form of marketing is unsolicited and is rarely effective. Selling should be very personal, and a one on one rapport between the sales representative and the prospect is that actually gets the job done. Besides, when was the last time you actually bought a service from an email like this? Besides, consider how absurd it is that someone actually bothered to send an email such as this to an SEO firm. Why would an SEO firm bother to hire someone else to do their SEO? It shows that either the individual didn’t even pay attention when sending the email out or that it’s truly automated.

#2 – Google Never Contacts Anyone Directly

Can you imagine the millions upon millions of emails and phone calls the sales and marketing departments would have to hand if  Google gave out a phone number for site owners to call when they needed help with their SEO? This is something that they haven’t done yet and it is unlikely they would start now!  Given this, it’s unlikely that the “SEO professional” is actually an employee at Google. It’s far more likely that this email is just written to make it look like it came from Google even though it didn’t. In other words, chances are pretty high that the email originated from a con man (or woman). Besides,  it’s not like Google is hurting for websites to place in their SERPs!SEO Con Men

#3—An opening on the first page for what search query?

This is one of the most common pitches an SEO con man will give; “we can get you ranking #1 in Google.” But for what? It does me now good to rank #1 (or anywhere for that matter) for a keyword that has nothing to do with my business, or one that no one is searching for. Ranking reports with lots of 1s and 2s may look nice but take a closer look at what you are actually ranking for. If you run a financial staffing agency ranking #1 for “Waltham, MA small business financial staffing company” doesn’t really mean much for your bottom line because no real person is actually searching for that phrase.

#4—No one can guarantee anything in SEO.

Google spells it out in their Webmaster Guidelines,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.” The only way to do well organically in Google is to play by the rules and build your online presence naturally overtime by earning quality links, engaging in social media, and producing great content. As frustrating as it is, no SEO firm can guarantee any kind of SEO results and anyone who tells you differently in an SEO con man.

Despite the promises laid out in the email, there’s no logical way that they can be delivered. Website owners are continually plagued with solicitations like this, and it is important not to get sucked in. These so-called “professionals” will either take your money and cause your website no harm, or worst, they’ll actually try to do something that will harm your organic presence. Either way, you should steer clear.

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