Today, it seems as though scams are everywhere and infiltrating everything. They’re becoming more sophisticated by the day, and whether it’s a text message about a missed delivery or an automated phone call about your car’s extended warranty, everybody is a potential victim. But did you know there are SEO scams as well, and that even the savviest of business owners are susceptible?
This article examines all there is to know about SEO scammers, including how to avoid them. For personalised advice, contact our team at practiceedge today.
Even SEO Firms Can Be Targets for SEO Scams
In today’s world of legal solicitations from online marketers, we’ve become all too used to scare tactics replacing qualified sales strategy. With many self-titled ‘SEO experts’ popping up, offering guaranteed rankings on search engines and making incredible promises, offers that sound too good to be true usually are. And to be frank, businesses that make amazing claims often aren’t the most trustworthy to deal with.
These days, you can’t go more than 48 hours without receiving a spam email about search engine optimisation or getting a cold call from an ‘SEO strategy expert’ promising to deliver unbelievable marketing results.
Even we, a digital marketing agency specialising in SEO, receive emails and calls daily telling us that THEY can help our business with our SEO! Any wild claims of how they can legitimately help our business are simply false, as they clearly have no knowledge or understanding of what our business does. And if a professional SEO agent can be targeted for common SEO scams, business owners who aren’t well-versed in SEO predator tactics are even more likely to fall victim to SEO scammers.
What Are SEO Scams?
Most SEO scams come in the form of a blanket email or cold call, not pertaining to your specific website, much less your specific SEO services.
We’ve all experienced it, inboxes loaded with spam emails promising you the world! It’s become second nature to delete most of them, particularly when you’ve never even heard of the company. But if they’re using any sort of scaremongering or fear tactic, even if the company name rings a bell, that’s a signal to carefully consider what’s being said.
SEO scams typically involve deceptive practices aimed towards exploiting businesses. They act as an SEO firm who want to help you improve your search engine rankings. The most common SEO scams often include:
1. Guaranteed top rankings
Promising to get your business on the top of the search engine results pages quickly, often much faster than legitimate SEO firms are able to do. However, an SEO scam will use unethical SEO practices that go against search engine guidelines, potentially opening your business up to penalties and long-term damage to your reputation. Strategic placement is key! Multiple calls to action can work better than a single call to action on the page, but the customer shouldn’t be confused by different competing CTA messages. An effective CTA is cleverly designed to be recognisable, appealing, and well-defined, standing out on the page with striking impact.
2. Keyword stuffing
A common SEO scam is to overuse your keywords to get your site to come up first in search engine queries. Search engine algorithms and human users alike can easily identify keyword stuffing, and it gives website visitors a bad user experience and may also come with penalties from search engines
3. Fake reviews
SEO scammers will provide fake positive reviews for your business with the aim of improving your online reputation. This will only achieve the opposite result in the end, as if discovered, can significantly damage your credibility
Generally, fake SEO services won’t offer detailed SEO service quotes and will instead make it as difficult as possible for businesses to understand what they’re paying for.
Related Link: Tips for Generating Positive Google Reviews
What Do SEO Scams Look Like?
There are some basic indicators you need to be aware of and keep an eye out for. To help you out, we’ve pulled together a list of the most common SEO scams to be wary of.
- I’ve looked at your website, and you’re not ranking on the top of Google for important keywords.
- Your website isn’t in the first page of search engine results for any of these important keywords.
- I’ve been researching some search terms for a client and noticed that your website isn’t performing as well as it could.
- You aren’t ranking on Google Maps for [ ] terms.
- You aren’t ranking on the first page of Google for [ ] terms.
- Your SEO interlinking is wrong.
- Your site isn’t focused and is competing with itself.
These emails are simply a scare tactic that give the illusion of underperformance. They have no true understanding of your specific website or the industry you’re in, and the reports aren’t customised for your business. They’re created and sent in mass quantities. Ironically, when carefully considered, they can frequently show successful rankings!
A legitimate SEO company would take the time to genuinely research your company, competitors, and the marketplace, rather than casting a wide net and hoping to catch a new customer. A legitimate SEO company would also start with asking the important questions before making any promises or assumptions: What are your target keywords, and do they have relevant search volume?
A frequently emerging trend is to target the website content and social media engagement of businesses in scam emails.
“With Google now placing increased importance on content creation and social media performance, if your business isn’t creating valuable content or visible on social media you have any chance of being seen in search results for your keywords and your customers won’t find you.”
Despite being good digital marketing advice, this was once again sent out as a blanket email, not tailored to any specific website. The spammer SEO company has no idea that your business website is consistently publishing fresh, relevant content to a blog that is, in fact, ranking in search engines for many keywords.
These emails create a storm of doubt: scaring the recipient, who may or may not have in-depth understanding of the SEO world, into thinking that their website is underperforming. Whether the warning is subtle or sensational, the goal is the same— to incite fear in the recipient, which is a definite red flag of a business to beware of.
How to Avoid SEO Scams
To put it simply, one of the best ways to protect yourself against fake SEO services is to learn more about SEO. Learn as much as you can about Google analytics data, search engine crawlers, and how search engines work, so that you understand what genuine SEO services look like versus scams focused on overloading search engine queries and making a mockery of digital marketing.
Generally, you should do what you would normally do to protect yourself from scams, but tailor your efforts towards SEO services. Some recommendations are:
- Research digital marketing and SEO firms
- Look for reviews, customer testimonials, and proven case study results that demonstrate what they’ve achieved for other business owners
- Be wary of promises of guaranteed success, especially when it promises quick results
- Talk to SEO companies and SEO consultants you’re considering hiring to ensure they know more than just the SEO basics— check that they’re upfront about their strategies, tactics, and reporting methods
- Get the details of your proposed SEO campaign in writing
- Trust your instincts
Looking for an Experienced SEO Firm With Evidence of Many Successful Digital Marketing Campaigns?
An experienced SEO professional understands not only every SEO tactic, but also the most common SEO scams and the most devious SEO ploys. At practiceedge, we pride ourselves on our knowledge and experience of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the digital marketing world.
When you want an experienced SEO firm who will be transparent about every aspect of your digital marketing campaign, contact us today.
