How To Detect Dodgy Seo Companies

By Author: Scott Smith
Total Articles: 7
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In my years as an SEO, I've seen much debate on the subject of search engine optimization - whether it's a legitimate form of marketing, whether it's spammy, whether people should be paying good money for SEO services, whether it offers value. Now, I'm not even going to debate that last point - we all know that appearing in the organic search results for a targeted, relevant keyword provides tremendous value to a website, and anyone who says otherwise is just looking for linkbait. And any SEO worth his/her salt knows that you need to provide tangible results at the end of a campaign. So the value that SEO offers is clear.

Having said that, there are countless SEO firms that are just looking to make a fast buck. It's unfortunate, and since SEO is an abstract form of witchcraft to many laymen out there, it's often not immediately obvious. Below are some claims that some SEO firms make that are pretty much guarantees that they are not the legitimate marketing firms that you're looking to associate yourself or your business with. No, I'm not going to link to them, or even mention their brands - frankly, they don't deserve ...
... the link love.

- "One of the best ways to get people to your site is with articles that have back link to your site.

Now, aside from the glaring grammar error, which is in-and-of-itself a strong indication to stay far away due to a simple lack of professionalism, this statement is complete and utter nonsense. Firstly, driving traffic via information articles is definitively not SEO. SEO traffic consists of traffic driven from the organic search results. Period. Secondly, any company or consultant offering a best way to get people to your site is being way too ambiguous, and certainly is not backed by any factual evidence - it least not credible factual evidence. And if you're a legitimate, half-decent SEO, focus on the one way that you know - search engine rankings.

- We're an official Google reseller/We're official partners with Google

Whatever that means, it doesn't exist. Not in the SEO world. Google did partner with NASA Ames Research Center, and yes, at one point, News Corp. But unless the sites for those organizations are offering SEO services, run away. Far away.

- We guarantee you a #1 spot in Google!

Like hell you do. No one - but no one - can guarantee anything with Google. They tweaked their search algorithm 450 times in 2007. And no one knows what those exact tweaks are - for good reason. Google doesn't want spammers to get ahead with their awful, unusable sites that offer zero value. The one credo that they profess over and over again is usability above all. And even if a spammer does manage to make it to the top of Google's rankings for a bit, rest assured that it will be temporary, and it will offer absolutely no value to you whatsoever.

These among others are very strong indicators that the SEO company that you're looking at is dodgy, to say the least. Do yourself a favor - they may be offering your site rankings for $99 instead of the usual thousands that a real SEO firm will charge you, but if I were you, I would rather not optimize my site at all than utilize their spammy tactics. It's bad SEO, and worse - it's bad branding for your company.

As a side-note, I know that this post may have come off somewhat strong - I'm just tired of the bad rep that SEO's often get because of spammers. There are many hard-working SEOs who implement excellent, long-term strategies - here's a shout out to you guys!

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