Buy your keywords from Google, 3 for a pound
Every good SEO company will have faced skeptical clients. It’s understandable as it’s a constantly evolving process and as a client there is a lot to get your head around. What makes it that much harder is when the client has been sent some schpeal with crazy promises attached from other companies.
A common problem with the SEO industry is misinformation. There are companies guaranteeing page one positions for competitive search terms within 24 or 48 hours. This is not possible with organic search. Changes made to a site and links created to influence search engine rankings need first to be indexed by the search engines which could take days or weeks. Then the likelihood is that the site will move down the rankings before climbing. It’s because of this that when a company promises such quick results it’s a very clear sign that they don’t know what they’re doing. In an attempt achieve these promises the companies in question will use a mix of black hat SEO techniques as well as pay per click campaigns.
Last week I was sent an email from a friend of mine who had been contacted about SEO services. She was a bit confused as the company in question had promised that her site would be on page one for all of her keywords within 48 hours. It always amazes me when I see these bold claims. I told her that she was probably being sold adwords management and that although this would get her site traffic it was a separate thing to organic SEO. I also added that I wouldn’t trust a company that guarantees results or that isn’t being honest about what service they’re offering.
So the next time they called she asked them if they were using adwords and enquired if that was how they could guarantee page one results within 48 hours. This is my favourite bit. They assured her that they were not using adwords but that they would buy keywords from Google and then sell them on. They said that it was cheaper than using adwords. Sounds like a bargain. I don’t know where to start in explaining how little sense this makes. Would they buy the keywords outright and own top listings for every search of that term? or would they put the keywords in a box and mail them to the client so no one else could use them.
Search savvy companies will not be taken in by such way out claims. But what about the companies who don’t know their organic from their PPC. It’s these people who will get stung. Then the next time they are offered internet marketing they will be twice as wary of legitimate SEO companies who adhere to best practices (and who refuse to offer ‘page 1 tomorrow’ guarantees).
If you are offered internet marketing by a company and you are not sure whether you can trust their methods or not send us an email and we can advise you. We’ll also throw in our free website health check, no crazy promises included.
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