Here they are … it’s difficult to categorise them all because often they are different from each other, but we wanted to list the types of offers you have online – how to spot them easily without wasting your time and resources.
Some immediate things you can do to check are:
- If a business selling SEO doesn’t talk about YOUR website content, then you can almost certainly be sure they are going to take you for a ride. Good SEO starts with your website
- If a business is selling you a link to your site, make sure that you know which page it’s going to be on and look carefully at the link and the website being discussed. Very few websites are worth more than about £40 (one off fee) for a link, so if they ask for monthly fees then treat with caution
- If a business tries to confuse you with jargon and blurs the boundaries between natural listings (those which appear in the main part of the page) and paid listings (those appearing at the top and right hand side of the page), be cautious
- If a business asks for substantial fees up front before commencing work, be careful to pin them down on what they promise to deliver: make the main payment based on agreed results
Finally, for all of this, install Analytics on your website (even if it is Google Analytics) and look at the traffic generated for you from these keywords (even better, link the Adwords campaign to Analytics so you can see the exact numbers).
Scam 1: Selling Google Advertising ‘On the Cheap’
We wrote a detailed analysis of this last month however this is just one example. The ‘con’ is to make you think that the marketing business in question are working really hard to retain a position in the search engines for you at what seems like a reasonable monthly rate.
The reality is that they are buying cheap adverts that few, if any, will click on and therefore can be absolutely sure that you are spending considerably more than they are spending, and they never need to spend any time on managing the advertising. Once it’s setup, the job is done and they can rake in a tidy margin with you carrying the cost.
Watch out for:
- Companies who give you long keyword phrases like ‘cheap hotel rooms in darlington’, but where your advert doesn’t appear for phrases like ‘rooms in darlington’
- Companies who only give you a short list (10 or less) phrases altogether
- Companies who point to Google Adverts, but don’t talk about click throughs or spend (with Google)
Scam 2: Claiming ‘Success’ for Brand Name Rankings
If you have a business brand name which is reasonably unique (even if based on a surname or a range of oft-used words) then Google is pretty reliable at making sure you are at the top, or near the top, for your brand name. If you are not, it is normally that your site has a technical issue with it, not that it needs to spend on SEO.
First thing to do is to check where you are in the rankings. If you’re already ranking well, then there’s no need to buy into a service which isn’t going to add anything on top.
Watch out for:
- Companies telling you that they will stop your search rankings fall (as opposed to improve them)
- Companies who insist on monthly payments, but don’t continue to build traffic into your site
Scam 3: Ambulance Chasing
The most common way for internet marketing scammers to pick up new clients is to use Google to locate businesses currently advertising. They then latching on to your desire to spend less but achieve the same results. They will then offer you a ‘new’ approach, detailing how they will improve matters substantially, either by managing your advertising better or performing SEO.
Watch out for:
- Companies who start with ‘I saw your advert’ or similar, or with loaded questions about your current activity
- Companies who claim a special relationship, or exclusive means of improving profitability
- Companies who promise without any evidence of how they will deliver
Scam 4: Intended Confusion
If there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that you will also encounter a few salespeople who have less of a clue of what they’re trying to sell than you do. Normally this takes the form of acronym overload – SEO, PPC, Rankings, Page Rank and all sorts – but little of measurable substance. As soon as you try to latch onto something they’ve said, then they will move onto the next one.
Watch out for:
- Blurring of the boundaries between natural rankings and advertising
- ‘Instant success’ rankings without a concrete link between payment and performance
- Non-UK based suppliers (much more difficult to go after should they not deliver)
Scam 5: The Artificial Authority
Another great angle is to present a website or business name which seems to be recognised, or authoritative. It can easily be perceived as being somewhere being worthy of listed or linked to. Often names are chosen specifically to give the impression of being established. ‘The Search Partnership’ or ‘Search Marketing Council’ or similar.
Just as you would check the background / authority of a door-to-door salesperson, make sure that you investigate thoroughly the background of who you’re dealing with before committing to them.
Watch out for:
- Businesses with a short history
- Websites which seem like the ‘right’ one, but which are not (i.e. a .net domain instead of the .com or .co.uk, or those with a ‘-’ in the domain)
- Businesses who sell a ‘flat rate’ offer, which is not related to audience, clicks or sales
Scam 6: Selling Links Which Aren’t Links
There are lots of ways in which links can seem on first view to be correct, but which will not benefit you for Search Engine Optimisation. The most common techniques are:
- Making the link a forward rather than a direct link, when you hover on the link it should show your site as the destination, not a third party site, or the same site’s domain with a follow (i.e. www.ergodigital.com/yoursite)
- Making the link a ‘rel=nofollow’ which means that it will be ignored for search engine ranking by Google. This is done in the code on the page – which you can see by right-clicking the page and choosing ‘view source’
- Removing the link as soon as they’re confident you won’t return
- Linking from a page which is not indexed by Google (i.e. they will send you a link to a page, but that particular page is not ’seen’ by Google and others when they visit the site as it’s not in the sitemap or accessible from other pages)
If you have any to add to this list, please suggest… the better informed we all are, then the better informed our clients are. It’s important than ever that those suppliers doing a proper job for clients stand out, whilst dubious practices are highlighted.