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 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 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.
Most of these SPAM solicitations are a blanket email or cold call, not pertaining to any specific website.
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.
So, what’s your best defence against SEO scams? To put it simply, learn more about SEO. You don’t need to be an expert in the field to spot a scam though. 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 scare tactics” 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 SPAM emails are simply a scare tactic that give the illusion of underperformance. They have no true understanding of the specific website or the industry involved, 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 your 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. A definite red flag of a business to beware of.
Don’t let these SPAM emails scare you. For personalised marketing advice, contact practiceedge.
