How to spot a fraudulent SEO Business
- SEO |
With millions of businesses taking to cyberspace to promote themselves, their products and their services, it's no wonder the SEO industry is seeing a boom period. However, be warned, as an industry where it's service are not the easiest to measure in terms of performance, it is full of rogue and fraudulent companies who are quick to take your money but not always as rapid in providing the promised results.
Here are a couple of pointers you should take heed of when looking to appoint an SEO service, plus a few examples:
1. Charging clearly too much (or too little) for their services
First of all, search engine optimization requires a lot of work in terms of researching key terms that people may use in searching for your business type, getting the right websites to link to your site, as well as submitting articles in order to get your website noticed. This is an intense process which takes place over a long period of time and it is a long-term investment for your online business and its potential success. For this reason, pricing is a key indicator to what expectations you should have when hiring somebody to look after your all-important SEO. Thus, if an SEO dealer is charging an exceptionally low price for their services, it is likely that the old adage 'you get what you pay for' will come into play. While the range of SEO services varies greatly from business to business, anything less than $1000 per month should raise a red flag and get you looking closer at what you might get for your money. SEO is an intense process which rightfully commands a reasonably high sum of money per month.
On the other hand, charging extortionate rates should also set alarm bells ringing. The SEO provider should take into consideration the goals of the business owner. Unless they are a medium-sized business or a business that is looking to become global at some point in the near future, an SEO provider should not charge anymore than $5,000 per month absolute tops. Again, the range of SEO services varies from business to business, but anything more than that would be suspicious.
Be sure to interrogate the SEO provider about their prices and proposed scope of work in detail as well as how they go about evaluating which of their packages is most suitable to their prospective clients. It is really important that you try to completely understand what the benefits to your business will really be against the monthly investment, rather than accepting an offer on trust and not investigating thoroughly just because it seems a rather dull subject. If a job is worth doing it's worth doing well and SEO is definitely no exception to this rule, especially where substantial expenses are involved.
2. Guarantees and wild claims of being constantly on page one or major rankings increases
Be suspicious of any SEO provider who claims to be able to guarantee results. Getting to the top of any search requires patience, a solid knowledge of what search terms to use for your business, and obtaining the links and writing the articles to help you perform well in those terms. There's also an element of fortune involved as what may be trending at the time can also influence whether your business is found.
There are no shortcuts or special insider techniques that will get your site to the top of any search in a short period of time, even though many SEO dealers like to claim that they know these techniques. It takes hard work and patience to get to the top.
3. They know someone at Google, or have a special relationship with Google
No SEO company has a "special relationship" or access to a "priority submit" for Google. Any SEO firm that makes this claim is simply lying to you. Similarly, claims that they know the Google Algorithm or are Google Algorithm experts are also untrue. The algorithms used by search engine are complex, and dynamic. At best, people may know about certain aspects (link popularity, content, meta tags, etc). By the way, knowledge of the important aspects of SEO should be a given if you're in the SEO world.
4. Undisclosed or secret SEO strategies
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Any legitimate SEO company should be able to explain what they will do to your site, as well as outline their link building strategy. Firms who reference "SEO trade secrets" are likely planning to use black hat SEO techniques that will eventually get you banned by all major search engines.
5. Avoid SEO companies that take ownership of content
Anything you pay for, should belong to you. Make sure that any agreement you sign does not give ownership to the SEO agency you work with. This content can be held hostage, or even worse, be sold to a competitor.
Much of this is common sense, but if you're approached by a particularly aggressive sales person who confidently makes claims about providing you with the earth, it can be sometimes tempting to give it a try. Just remember the one fundamental fact about SEO; it takes time, lots of hard work and there are no overnight quick fixes which will put you at the top of the organic search rankings without investing time and dedication. This is what you pay for and what you will need to constantly ensure you are getting from your supplier.
Here are a couple of pointers you should take heed of when looking to appoint an SEO service, plus a few examples:
1. Charging clearly too much (or too little) for their services
First of all, search engine optimization requires a lot of work in terms of researching key terms that people may use in searching for your business type, getting the right websites to link to your site, as well as submitting articles in order to get your website noticed. This is an intense process which takes place over a long period of time and it is a long-term investment for your online business and its potential success. For this reason, pricing is a key indicator to what expectations you should have when hiring somebody to look after your all-important SEO. Thus, if an SEO dealer is charging an exceptionally low price for their services, it is likely that the old adage 'you get what you pay for' will come into play. While the range of SEO services varies greatly from business to business, anything less than $1000 per month should raise a red flag and get you looking closer at what you might get for your money. SEO is an intense process which rightfully commands a reasonably high sum of money per month.
On the other hand, charging extortionate rates should also set alarm bells ringing. The SEO provider should take into consideration the goals of the business owner. Unless they are a medium-sized business or a business that is looking to become global at some point in the near future, an SEO provider should not charge anymore than $5,000 per month absolute tops. Again, the range of SEO services varies from business to business, but anything more than that would be suspicious.
Be sure to interrogate the SEO provider about their prices and proposed scope of work in detail as well as how they go about evaluating which of their packages is most suitable to their prospective clients. It is really important that you try to completely understand what the benefits to your business will really be against the monthly investment, rather than accepting an offer on trust and not investigating thoroughly just because it seems a rather dull subject. If a job is worth doing it's worth doing well and SEO is definitely no exception to this rule, especially where substantial expenses are involved.
2. Guarantees and wild claims of being constantly on page one or major rankings increases
Be suspicious of any SEO provider who claims to be able to guarantee results. Getting to the top of any search requires patience, a solid knowledge of what search terms to use for your business, and obtaining the links and writing the articles to help you perform well in those terms. There's also an element of fortune involved as what may be trending at the time can also influence whether your business is found.
There are no shortcuts or special insider techniques that will get your site to the top of any search in a short period of time, even though many SEO dealers like to claim that they know these techniques. It takes hard work and patience to get to the top.
3. They know someone at Google, or have a special relationship with Google
No SEO company has a "special relationship" or access to a "priority submit" for Google. Any SEO firm that makes this claim is simply lying to you. Similarly, claims that they know the Google Algorithm or are Google Algorithm experts are also untrue. The algorithms used by search engine are complex, and dynamic. At best, people may know about certain aspects (link popularity, content, meta tags, etc). By the way, knowledge of the important aspects of SEO should be a given if you're in the SEO world.
4. Undisclosed or secret SEO strategies
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Any legitimate SEO company should be able to explain what they will do to your site, as well as outline their link building strategy. Firms who reference "SEO trade secrets" are likely planning to use black hat SEO techniques that will eventually get you banned by all major search engines.
5. Avoid SEO companies that take ownership of content
Anything you pay for, should belong to you. Make sure that any agreement you sign does not give ownership to the SEO agency you work with. This content can be held hostage, or even worse, be sold to a competitor.
Much of this is common sense, but if you're approached by a particularly aggressive sales person who confidently makes claims about providing you with the earth, it can be sometimes tempting to give it a try. Just remember the one fundamental fact about SEO; it takes time, lots of hard work and there are no overnight quick fixes which will put you at the top of the organic search rankings without investing time and dedication. This is what you pay for and what you will need to constantly ensure you are getting from your supplier.