5 Ways to find out if an SEO is lying to you
Ask anyone what’s the one reason why they hate SEOs, and you’ll most probably get something like “because they lie on the face” for a reply. And I quite agree with it.
The reason is that not all SEO‘s are brave enough to admit what they can’t achieve and not all clients are aware that SEOs aren’t Gods. Since we agree on that, let’s move ahead to the fun part. Some common lies SEO’s make and 10 ways you can easily find them out.
1. SEOs offering Guaranteed Google Ranks
Google has repeatedly mentioned it at many places that no one can guarantee any ranks on Google SERPs. Simply because the system cannot be gamed. The Google algorithm is smart enough to separate wheat from chaff and though often speculative, does a better job than the rest. No SEO can guarantee google ranks, and if they do, they’re probably looking at short term results that are achieved through black hat SEO methods, which will harm your site than good.
2. SEOs promising a Google PageRank
Well, technically there is nothing wrong in promising a future higher Google PageRank but only very few people in the industry can possibly predict or game it. I cannot imagine that every SEO in the industry can promise a Google PageRank accurately, of course we could use successful link building strategies, but the outcome can only be guessed, never predicted. I would not call anyone who promises a Google Page Rank bogus, but that is something too good to be true.
3. SEOs offering directory submissions as link building methods
We’ve seen many directory submission services from SEOs, and if you dig into each one of it, you’ll see that the value that comes out of it is very nominal, for most of them to be called a service. Mostly, these services get away with automated submissions which do nothing good but harm. I’d say its a good idea to think of anyone who emphasizes directory submissions, as their primary link building activity to be bogus.
4. SEOs offering blog commenting as link building methods
Blog commenting was once upon a time a good trick to source backlinks, but like any gaming strategy, Google detected it and cut it off. So these days blog commenting is nothing less than spamming, and anyone who offers it as a service…yeah you got it !
5. SEOs claiming to have experience of more than 15 years
Danny Sullivan who’s probably one of the early guys to research and study on SEO has an experience of 14-16 years. So that makes me wonder where does the guys claiming to have 15-20+ years of SEO experience come from.
Not trying to sound sore, but these are the industry facts and no matter what, unless you are brave enough to discuss these stuff,you’ll never get the clear picture. Hope it all made sense. Looking forward to your comments.
Hmm nope, I don’t think Google assumes blog comment links to be spam and doesn’t value it, there are plenty of other factors involved when Google considers a link in blog comments to be spam , like if you make 1000 comments in a single day that of course look like spam but if you can make couple of couple of sensible comments a day on relevant blogs Google does value those links and my site got PR2 status just through links from do-follow and keywordluv blogs.
“Blog commenting was once upon a time a good trick to source backlinks, but like any gaming strategy, Google detected it and cut it off.”
Please elaborate on this. By “cutting it off”, are you referring to the fact that most blogs are nofollow so Google won’t follow them?
Well, during “those days” Chris, many blogs weren’t nofollow in the comments area, and there was quite some “Google Juice” flowing through. But then one fine day, blog comments got nofollowed and Google probably embraced the idea.
I think most bloggers are careful not to allow any spam comments on their blog as it slowly ruins its image. However I can`t see how good topic related comments can do any harm to SEO
I really don’t know if Google nowadays ignores or accepts blog commenting as good or valid backlinks, or just sees it as spam.
I give you this, good quality comments enrich the blog’s content, and moreover it adds value the blog’s post subjects.
Regarding this topic, I just wish that everybody who owns a site, and has no concepts of seo or web design, read this. Frankly it is easy to understand how some people fall for these kind of things such as promises of top google SERPs.
Imagine yourself having a site, an old styled one, which hardly receives any visit and you want to give it a better use but have no idea how.
Then comes along someone promising top Google SERPs and/or Page Rank. Gives you some bogus examples. Its easy to be tricked.
In here we all have experience, some more than others, to understand such lies, but out there not every one has this knowledge, so it’s fairly easy to be tricked, at least for the first time.
As the manager of a UK based SEO company I often find myself having the difficult task of explaining that not all marketing companies are compulsive liars. Unfortunately though there are a lot of businesses out there that have been treated badly by SEO firms in the past which makes it much harder for us legit companies to attract business. However, that’s why I get such a great buzz once the client does sign up and becomes successful.
Point No 5 – Good one! I had an experience with this one. One guy wrote in his CV that he’s been working with SEO for 9 years (btw, he is 22 years old). No comments needed ^)
everything is possible!
there are many wunderkinds, you know)
btw, this is a HUGE mistake- to judge without knowing for sure,
You never know what’s real
Sometimes even what seems false is REAL!
Believe it or not, but as you get older, you percieve it more and more!
now i know i was cheated because one of seo master did my web site submition, i paid 400$ for seo and directory submition and he also said me top 10 grantee in 5 keyword but must of 5 keywird are in top 30 /40 like this
Good list! But like some of your other comments, i think blog commenting still works if done consistently.
I am not sue this all is true))))
thanks, though)
or maybe i just have to watch more)
Retweeting this. Thank you Mani. I think this is what good SEO’s need to read to set themselves apart. The old ways of lying only holds up for so long when you look at social media and how quickly your reputation can turn to shit.
You cannot Guaranteed Google Ranks but if you work for some time is easy to improve your google ranks
but Mani, directories still provide valuable links. We have proofs. One new website launched 3 months ago that I promote, received just directory submissions for the last 3 months and now that is at No:3 at the google ranking. ..
I did not rule out dir. submissions. Instead I’d be curious if a linkbuilder promises only dir.subs as the link building service. They have nominal value and works good for less competitive niches as well. But not everyone does it carefully like you guys. Some SEOs claim that they do everything in linkbuilding while they only emphasize on dir subs – which is not healthy.