SEO Scams – Have you been caught
Scams are incredibly prevalent at the moment.
At a time when many can least afford to be scammed the scammers are there to tap into our vulnerabilities.
Many of us think that it would never happen to us but in a moment it can, and it can happen in a variety of ways.
It is important that you learn what to look out for and what tricks these scammers love to use for their own profits.
Learning how not to be caught out by SEO scams
How many emails do you receive from people promising guaranteed page one ranking, link building, guest blogs and more?
These emails are always from so-called SEO experts, Google partners and people who will play into your fears as a business owner.
They often suggest that they have noticed something and are doing you a favour by getting in touch.
Don’t believe these emails and calls…keep reading for some more insights on how not to be caught out by SEO scams.
Domain Authority
“We will provide you with a link or a guest post on a high domain authority website”
Sounds good doesn’t it – domain authority must be good! Surely Google must use this authority to ensure great ranking and as a result, you get scammed!
The interesting thing is that this term was coined by an SEO analysis tool by Moz. It is just a predictor (guess) and not an actual ranking tool that is used by Google. Google does not use anything like domain authority for ranking any website pages.
The actual page-level authority that once was available through Google (many years ago) is only available to the wizards inside Google. So while you can use various paid tools in an attempt to estimate how your pages are ranking they are all just educated guesses.
In simple terms, your website pages rank differently depending on who is searching, where they are and what their search history is, plus more. An SEO professional plays into Googles Best Practices to ensure your website is working hard to come up high in the results as often as possible.
Link Building or Guest Blog
“We can provide you with our link building services to ensure you are on page one of Google”
Links: You will pay for the privilege of having these links. Buying links in Google or other search engines will almost guarantee that you make Google angry and potentially see your website banned.
Blogs: You will pay for your blog to be on a website and that does not automatically equal rankings for your website. The blog itself must gain its own authority before it is beneficial, regardless of where the blog is.
REMEMBER – Google ranks website pages not the website as a whole. Be smart enough to ignore paid links promotional emails. If you do engage these services you may have your website banned from Google altogether.
Link Building or Guest Blogging – It has to be genuine and it is hard work. You want your articles to be within publications that people actually read. It is often the job of a publicist to reach out and most small businesses do not have a publicist on their team.
Link Bait
You have been scammed by the first scam and paid for link building. Now they inform you that you have links that are broken or random links to bad websites. Perhaps they inform you that your competitor is linking and you can take their links.
Regardless of the scam, you are offered a simple solution with a small fee for each link repair. It is a small fee that seems affordable and both essential via their scam communications. Ultimately it is money for nothing or money that may cost you your business on Google.
Guest posts for you
“I would love to supply you with a unique blog for your readers. My other blogs are published on high domain authority websites”.
A ‘writer’ reaches out and offers you a totally free blog or they even offer to pay you $$ on top of supplying this search engine optimised free blog just for you. It will of course have links back to somewhere and promises of helping your business too. Unfortunately, as result of accepting this offer, your website is now a part of their private scamming network of blogs. You are caught up in a web that may end in your business being adversely affected.
SEO scams – have you been caught – The scammer will inform you of how they have written and published on many high-ranking websites blah blah blah. Don’t believe these emails!!!! If you do go ahead you may find yourself in breach of Googles terms and conditions.
Guarantees
“I guarantee you page one rankings on Google”
No one – I repeat no one can provide guarantees for SEO.
From your scammer – There will be a little bit of work on your website and you will begin to receive reports that your website is ranking in position one for one or several key terms. If you assume the report is genuine you will be ranking for terms that may appear relevant but actually have little or no conversion value. Low competition and low traffic key terms are not worth your time and money as you will see no improvement in traffic, sales or leads.
Remember it is also not difficult to produce a false report giving you false hope.
Eventually, you get tired of no enquiries from your website, cancel and they move on. However, your website could be damaged from their scam efforts.
Naturally, you begin to distrust all SEO businesses. You may even decide to never go near SEO providers again which may be a huge loss for your business
Make sure to not ever enlist any business that gets new customers via spam emails or calls. Remembering this is the easiest way to protect both yourself and your business.
Google Partners
“I am a Google Partner with inside knowledge”
The Google Partner programs are within Google Ads and Analytics, there is no partner program for SEO. This claim is a fake endorsement.
Furthermore, a Google Partner badge is not a guarantee of great work for your Google Ads. It is available to anyone who wishes to sit their online exams.
Search Engine Submission
“I noticed your website is not indexed, I will submit your website to several search engines including Google and get you to page one”
You do not need to submit your website pages to search engines. Search engines will find you as part of their internet crawling activities. Your website pages will then be indexed accordingly.
Google has Search Console and you can submit your website there yourself for free, however, it is not essential.
Nothing you or anyone else does can guarantee a push to the top of the results.
Not ranking
“I noticed that your website although lovely is not ranking for important key terms in your industry”
This is a classic play into the fear of every business owner.
Even more so if you are already paying someone else for SEO. Chances are you will forward this email to your provider with, “well what are we paying you for…..”
Again a spam email or call that is playing into your fears and may cost you your website being on Google. It is never wise to trust these people who reach out randomly to your business.
This is Google
You receive a phone call or email stating that your Google listings are about to expire. They provide you with the cost to solve this and you hand it over. Scam complete.
Google and all search engines are free. You do not pay them to be listed unless you are paying for advertising, Google Ads.
Conclusion – SEO Scams – Have you been caught
Scams come at us all from all directions. Emails, calls, door knocking and more. I receive these types of emails daily, so it is pretty obvious that they haven’t even looked at my website for 5 seconds.
With SEO scammers that you decide to believe you you will be also handing over your website login details. They will now have unlimited access to cause problems for you both short and long term. I cannot stress enough how important it is to ignore any business that reaches out in the ways I have mentioned and any others they come up with in the future.
You may have read another blog I wrote about misinformation and how it works to bamboozle us. These SEO scammers are doing the same thing in the hope that people just don’t understand. My hope in writing this blog is to empower my readers to hit the delete button on these unsolicited contacts.
If you want to choose a business that is local and that that you can trust – contact Kelly @ My Sassy Business.
Scams list via Search Engine Journal
