The Biggest SEO Scam of All

While there are many ethical SEO firms serving Internet users today, a few notorious practitioners also exist. One of them called me just the other day.

"We can get your site to be number one in the search engines for the top 20 search terms you choose," promised the telemarketer. I don't usually give telemarketers the time of day, but somehow found this fellow to be intriguing. It was a cold and snowy day in Michigan right at the moment, and somehow I felt warmer just hearing him glow about the sunshine beaming through his own office windows.

"Show me results," I requested. So we cruised the web together, and he showed me some client sites that really did have top rankings. At first glance the sales spiel sounded rather inviting, but after taking some time to consider and evaluate his company, I determined that what this friendly young salesman offered was nothing more than a scam.

As I did my homework, several red flags jumped out at me. By researching his company on the Internet, I learned that they employed no less than 250 telemarketers soliciting SEO clients on a continual basis. With all due respect to the size of this company, I found it hard to believe that they could service the numerous SEO clients they were recruiting in a very meaningful way.

I asked the salesman about this the next time he called. He informed me that their SEO service was highly automated, built on proprietary technology that was so ahead of its time that no other firm could compete. In case you didn't catch it, the previous sentence contained red flag #2. In the words of the old adage, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably it."

The above was only the tip of the iceberg, however. Upon further questioning of my enthusiastic sales contact, I learned that it wasn't really my url that they wanted to promote. Their plan was much more beneficial--for themselves, that is. They would set-up urls to be doorway pages to my website. Their urls, not mine, would be optimized to get high in the search engines. They would maintain control of and ownership of the urls, so if I ever went out of business, they could sell all that traffic-and value I had paid so dearly for-to one of my competitors. Pretty nice deal for them. I pay them big bucks on an annual basis to drive traffic to a url which they-not me--own. Of course, I would benefit from whatever sales came through their url as long as I continued to ante up cash.

I had a good friend who fell prey to this scheme a few years back. An unscrupulous SEO "specialist" talked her into paying big bucks for a website with a url which the SEO firm owned and controlled. The SEO firm then billed my friend much more than they had originally contracted for. When she balked at the bill, they threatened to shut down traffic to the site.

While this firm also promised hordes of traffic and top search engine listings, the only significant traffic my friend ever got was garnered through pay-per-click. To make matters worse, the SEO firm hid links to their sites throughout the html of her website.

Another fault I found with the SEO firm mentioned first in this article was the search terms they crowed about taking first place for. To say the least, they were rather obscure. It's a pretty impressive accomplishment to come up first on the web for the search term "furniture" or even "log furniture". But if you design a page that brings up your company first on Google for a search of "Birmingham Tuscaloosa Avenue Dry Cleaners", big deal. And that's what this SEO firm was doing.

Although I never seriously considered dropping $3000 or whatever it was for their services, the final clincher came when I asked what type of traffic I could expect for digging into my pockets.

"I can get you an average of 100 hits per day," he told me. Then he showed me stats on some of their clients sites that had, over the course of a year, built up to 100 hits per day. I don't know about you, but I want a lot more than 100 unique hits per day on my website. I've achieved those kinds of numbers-and better-by myself. Why should I pay them for what I consider to be mediocre results?

Don't get me wrong. I do believe in SEO firms, and because of the success I've been having on some of my top search terms, may engage in that business myself someday. But after researching the issues carefully, I would warn fellow webmasters to beware of any SEO firm that:

? employs a boiler room full of telemarketers

? automates most or all of their services

? insists on gaining and retaining control of the url to be promoted

? focuses on lengthy and obscure search strings

? touts sites that are garnering a mere 100 hits per day as examples of their success.

Of all the bad practices mentioned above, the one I found most offensive was the idea that the SEO firm should own or control my url. While owning the url would seem like a good idea for the SEO firm (they could always collect their fees by threatening to shut down the site), it isn't so nifty for the client. If I pay a firm to build my business, I want them to do just that-build my business. To pay a firm to build traffic to a url they own is really like paying them to build their business-and that, in my opinion, is the biggest SEO scam of all.

Copyright 2005 Log Cabin Rustics

Cari Haus has been successfully selling rustic log furniture and beds on the Internet since 1997. Copyright 2005 by Cari Haus, website http://www.logcabinrustics.com/. Permission is granted to reprint this article, either online or in written publications, as long as the copyright information, this paragraph, and a link address or a link to the Log Cabin Rustics website is attached at the end of the article.

---

How To Boost Your Keyword Density On Your Web Site To Gain Top Positions At The Search Engines

Let's talk about what keyword density is and how to... Read More

Organic SEO: Patience For Long Term Ranking Results

When does long term SEO show ranking results? It takes... Read More

How To Get Number 1 Spot In Google, Every Time, Guaranteed

Woaah! Wait a minute. Before I exclusively reveal these insider... Read More

Writing SEO Copy ? 8 Steps to Success

We all know that the lion's share of web traffic... Read More

How to Avoid the Google Duplicate Content Filter?

More and more webmasters are building websites with publicly available... Read More

Dont Focus Too Much on Your Internet Business Website Ranking

No doubt, having a high search engine ranking is very... Read More

1 Simple SEO Strategy To Get More Visitors To Your Site From Google

Did you know that you can dramatically increase the number... Read More

A Simple 4 Step Approach To Have Google Crawl Your Site Today Guaranteed!

Extra, Extra Google Now Gives you feedback. By Creating a... Read More

Two Myths About the Search Engine Listing

Getting top search engine listing is perhaps one of the... Read More

Absolute & Relative Links How Do They Rank?

The question for this article is whether or not you... Read More

See No Google, Hear No Google, Speak No Google

That's right - I dreamt of a World Wide Web... Read More

Taking Advantage of Googles Sandbox Effect

Most new sites submitted to Google (at least within the... Read More

Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step Seven ? Website Submissions

Welcome to part seven in this ten-part search engine positioning... Read More

The Simple Formula To Search Engines

Search engines are one of the best tools to bring... Read More

Why Pay-Per-Inclusion Search Engines are Dying

A Pay-Per-Inclusion search engine is a service in which a... Read More

Search Engine Optimization that Works in the Long-Term

Search engines are constantly tweaking their ranking algorithms and when... Read More

How Search Engines Work

Before anyone can start optimizing a web site, you must... Read More

SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I seem to have created quite a stir, on a... Read More

Cracking the Google Code: Under the GoogleScope

Google's sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a... Read More

SEO Basics - 8 Key Strategies For Online Business Success

The world of search engine optimization (SEO) can be a... Read More

Why is Search Engine Optimisation Expensive?

Many of our customers (http://www.internet-marketing-australia.com) find search engine... Read More

Companies Cash In on Your Search Engine Ignorance

This article will cause many companies to stir, but it's... Read More

Search Engine Optimization: Creative Ways To Acquire Natural Back Links

Search engines use algorithms calculate the order in which the... Read More

How to REALLY Profit from SEO

I want to give you a few more things to... Read More

6 Ways To Attract Search Engines To Your Website More Often

Adding fresh, updated content to your website is the surest... Read More

Make Quality Content Your #1 Priority

It is by now a proven fact that content is... Read More

Designing a Website So the Search Engines Will Like You

Before you go and spend big money on a professional... Read More

How to Pick an SEO Firm

If you're looking for an SEO firm, we recommend that... Read More

How to Get the Ranking You Always Wanted!

Is your web site well ranked (In the top ten... Read More

The Write to Link Popularity

Incorporating writing as a means of boosting your link popularity... Read More

The Smart Way To Get Listed On Google!

So you want to get listed on Google? And you... Read More

How To Choose Keywords Before they Skyrocket in Popularity

Long before the days of researching phrases with the helpful... Read More

The Real Search Engine Optimization Guide

Nowadays, there is so much talk about SEO (search engine... Read More