Dealing With An SEO Scam? Here Are 5 Signs:

In The Know, Tech Tips

By: Mikala Morgan, Online Presence Strategist, Torapath Technologies

Just a few weeks ago, a friend of mine who owns a small business was contacted via phone from an agency located in Dallas, TX, who claimed that they could “guarantee her business’s website to be ranked on the 1st page of Google in just 24 hours with a pre-packaged SEO plan.”

Sounds like a great opportunity, right?

Though this does sound like an easy, effective and quick SEO strategy to many small business owners… these standardized, overnight SEO plans are usually a complete scam. 

So how do you know when a SEO agency and/or strategist is actually trustworthy or not? 

5 Signs Of An SEO Scam | Torapath TechnologiesHear are 5 signs that you are most likely dealing with a SE-NO!

1. 100% Guaranteed First-Page Rankings on Google.

This is normally one of the very first signs of a scam.

Why?

Any experienced SEO professional will never “promise” anything and most especially not first-page rankings, because this is simply unrealistic with Google’s constant algorithm changes and updates.

Now of course every SEO agency and advertiser strives to keep up with organic search trends to keep their client’s websites as highly ranked as possible, maintaining a positive rank on Google requires ongoing optimization techniques and strategies. 

2. A Pre-Packaged SEO Plan.

This offer should be another “SE-No-Brainer!”

Every website is different and therefore the optimization strategies should always be customized NOT standardized.

True SEO experts know that it takes experimentation with each individual site to actually be able to find the underlining issues of each site, whether these issues are on and/or off-site.

Using these pre-packaged plans could also put your business at risk of being blacklisted by Google. This means Google is basically treating your site as if it were spam and removing it from organic search rankings altogether, tragic!

3. They Claim To Be An “Exclusive Google Affiliate.”

Agencies and advertisers do have the ability to qualify to become an official Google Partner, which means that they have passed Google AdWords product certification exams and are up to date with the latest product knowledge.

However, being a Google Partner does NOT give an agency and/or advertiser exclusive or “insider” Google knowledge and capabilities.

If a company is claiming that they work exclusively with Google, it’s most likely a scam.

4. Initial Flat Rate To Instantly Publish “Ready-Made” Content On Off-Site Directories & Social Media.

This goes hand-in-hand with the the “pre-packaged SEO plan.”

These initial flat rates are normally to send out “spam-like” content from your site to other spam sites and social media platforms in an effort to gain quick backlinks!

More backlinks are not always a good thing if they are only from spam sites. The same goes for a lot of the ready-made content that these scam artists could potentially publish your site.

Google wants its searchers to find relevant, high-quality content. By publishing quick, irrelevant content that doesn’t actually appeal to searchers, your website’s reputation could feel the negative impact on Google.

5. They Offer “Competitive Roadblocking.”

Usually if they will offer some type of “competitive roadblocking plan” that guarantees your site’s keywords to appear organically BEFORE your competitors, it’s another sure sign of a scam. 

Once again, anything guaranteed should trigger an alarm in your head. Especially since they are most likely guaranteeing you AND your competitors the same “special organic keyword placement.”

It’s simply unrealistic.

AND in a lot of these keyword situations, these scam artists will charge you for these SEO (organic) plans and actually turn around and use your money to run paid advertising campaigns on Google Adwords, without even having clue!

 

Always make sure to do your research and check the reputation of the agency and/or advertiser.

In need of an actual trustworthy SEO company?!

Contact Us Today!

Optimizing your website AND business for search engines is a big part of what our Online Presence Team at Torapath Technologies does on a daily basis.

We build customizable plans that include quality content, reputation management and various optimization techniques to drive real traffic to your site.

Call, email or stop by our office today to see how we can help.