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Am I being scammed by a freelancer?

by NetLadyUSA
18 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hired an Upwork (formerly Odesk) freelancer for on-page SEO for one of my sites. I'm getting back in to niche sites after a 4-year break so I feel ignorant about SEO. I have had it with the freelancer and want to fire them but need a sanity check. She or they as it is turning out (from India) are asking for my hosting login so they can upload code. What?! So I created an ftp account and provided a link. They say it's not good enough and can't do what they need. What the heck do they need? I thought all they needed was login to the WP which I provided. They say they can not do on-page SEO with WP alone. What's going on here? Please give me some advice. Got any better options for a different freelancer?
#freelancer #scammed
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Just ask them exactly what it is they are looking to change. If it is robots.txt or .htaccess files, then yeah, they cannot do that through WP.
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    • Profile picture of the author NetLadyUSA
      Hey Mike, thanks for your input. Question...Why wouldn't the FTP account that I created for them be enough for them to change robots.txt or .htaccess files? Also, I did ask them originally why they needed it first before I created the FTP account, they replied "we need to add code." I have gotten suspicious. I thought they had all of the login credentials they needed with the FTP account, what more can I give them?
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by NetLadyUSA View Post

        Hey Mike, thanks for your input. Question...Why wouldn't the FTP account that I created for them be enough for them to change robots.txt or .htaccess files? Also, I did ask them originally why they needed it first before I created the FTP account, they replied "we need to add code." I have gotten suspicious. I thought they had all of the login credentials they needed with the FTP account, what more can I give them?
        Like Yukon said, I'm guessing they wanted to be able to do the edits through a FTP management software like Filezilla, and what you provided was not enough.
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  • Profile picture of the author NestZone
    They might also need to edit the .httaccess file.
    Perhaps insert some codes directly to the header file.
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    • Profile picture of the author NetLadyUSA
      NestZone, why isn't the FTP account that I provide enough for them to do this? What more do I need to give them? I feel like I am giving them the keys to my home if I simply give them the login to my hosting company like they are asking.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    They can easily edit an htaccess or robots.txt file from an FTP login. I do it all the time for my own sites. I wouldn't even consider doing the edits through the host because it's way easier via Filezilla/FTP.

    Thy can even edit the Wordpress theme files via Filezilla/FTP. Again, I do it just about every day.
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  • Profile picture of the author netgeek
    Hello,

    Talking about On-Page SEO, everything can be done within Wordpress. Giving them WP info is just enough for them to work. Including editing robots.txt ( Which is generally used to block any pages which you dont want to be crawled by Google, also can be done using Wp plugins within wordpress ).

    Unless if they want to add Schema Markup codes. Even for this, there are some plugins which we can use and add the codes to respective posts.

    Please do ask them to email you what on-page work they will do on the site using Cpanel details ( FTP is enough ).

    Regards,
    Tarun
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by netgeek View Post

      Hello,

      Talking about On-Page SEO, everything can be done within Wordpress.
      Technically speaking yes. However, I would seldom do any real work with WordPress without FTP access. If anything goes wrong you can't get anywhere without at least FTP. On the other hand, there's no need for anything above FTP.

      If OP wasn't careful she might've created FTP access that simply gives them no access to anything. That's very easy with cPanel.
      Signature
      Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
      Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

      What's your excuse?
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  • Profile picture of the author NetLadyUSA
    Got it. The conscientious is that I have not provided what they needed by creating the FTP account, except Netgeek disagrees and says they can do everything in WP. So moving forward...if I have NOT given them what they need, can someone tell me (technically ignorant) what exactly it is that I should provide them with? I hired them to make this easier on me but, I'm beginning to wonder if I simply need to reach out to get help doing the work myself. I'm simply not educated. Frankly, I was surprised that Yoast and other SEO plugins didn't do it. For some reason, Yoast shows that I have H1 tags but SEO site checkups don't see them, etc. etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    I disagree with what NetGeek said. No using WP is not enough. All that is going to do is add a bunch of bloated plugins.

    On top of that, a lot of the files are easier and safer to edit and test offline instead of on your live site. Wouldn't you rather them be sure they are not crashing your whole site before making changes? I would. For that, they need FTP access.

    When you created your hosting account, you likely were emailed FTP login details. That is what they need.

    As for Yoast... it really does not do much in the way of anything beneficial for SEO. It's not awful, but it is not a magic pill either.
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    • Profile picture of the author NetLadyUSA
      Mike, What sort of risk does this open me up to? If I provide the login credentials, it gives access to ALL of my sites. This was why I created the ftp login in the first place. This is a trust issue. I wanted to be technically hands-off but it's looking like I need to know a little about every aspect. Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author netgeek
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      I disagree with what NetGeek said. No using WP is not enough. All that is going to do is add a bunch of bloated plugins.

      On top of that, a lot of the files are easier and safer to edit and test offline instead of on your live site. Wouldn't you rather them be sure they are not crashing your whole site before making changes? I would. For that, they need FTP access.

      When you created your hosting account, you likely were emailed FTP login details. That is what they need.

      As for Yoast... it really does not do much in the way of anything beneficial for SEO. It's not awful, but it is not a magic pill either.
      Well, The issue is even after providing FTP, they were asking for Cpanel details.

      Adding 3 or 4 plugins won't make any difference.

      Yes, A coder has to make a copy of the files to his local server to work on, So that he/she wont mess with the live site. Like you said using FTP, but they were asking for Cpanel.
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  • Profile picture of the author netgeek
    Search YouTube, That's the best place where you can watch,learn and implement on your own site.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by netgeek View Post

      Search YouTube, That's the best place where you can watch,learn and implement on your own site.
      ...and prepare to filter out 87% of the videos that are affiliates selling IM junk. Assumes you mean learning SEO from Youtube.

      If you mean editing HTML/CSS/PHP, sure, I agree coding tutorials can be great.
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      • Profile picture of the author netgeek
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        ...and prepare to filter out 87% of the videos that are affiliates selling IM junk. Assumes you mean learning SEO from Youtube.

        If you mean editing HTML/CSS/PHP, sure, I agree coding tutorials can be great.
        I thought that's the best thing to do when you are not technically good. However i Pm'd her with onpage checklist and few instructions.
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  • Profile picture of the author NetLadyUSA
    I provided the login credentials just now. I will simply have to trust this person. I backed-up the sites just in case...Not knowing what is normal in these situations, I first discussed this with my hosting company who suggested creating the FTP account. I guess like nettiapina has pointed out, I probably didn't give them enough access. Bottom line, I hope they can resolve my issue. Turns out my theme is cloaking the H1 tags so it looks like I never added any titles as well as mega long titles. Thanks for everyone's input!
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by NetLadyUSA View Post

      I provided the login credentials just now. I will simply have to trust this person. I backed-up the sites just in case...Not knowing what is normal in these situations, I first discussed this with my hosting company who suggested creating the FTP account. I guess like nettiapina has pointed out, I probably didn't give them enough access. Bottom line, I hope they can resolve my issue. Turns out my theme is cloaking the H1 tags so it looks like I never added any titles as well as mega long titles. Thanks for everyone's input!
      Make sure you go back & change all your WP & host passwords when/If they finish the job.
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  • Profile picture of the author NetLadyUSA
    I absolutely will Yukon. Thanks!
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