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Considering the fact that I’m a search engine optimizer, I often get asked by colleagues for quick opinions on offers they get or even other vendors or marketing agencies. I’m happy to do this because I know there’s a lot of confusion about SEO out there. It’s also a great way for me to see the kinds of services being offered and how they are packaged.
About 70% of the time I find the vendor is legit. I end up telling my colleagues the kinds of questions they should ask and what information they should provide to their vendor so that both can understand each other. It’s the same kind of information that I would love to get from my clients. In an industry that has been ravaged by scammers, I’m happy that I’m usually able to confirm that yes; the agency they are considering is above board.
But about 30% of the time I encounter firms that will do more harm than good. Some fall into the “they don’t know what they don’t know,” category where SEO services are lacking. They may offer items that throw up a caution flag – like over optimizing, or not understand the technical side of website SEO, or underplaying the role that content has in strategy.
Then there are digital marketing firms like the one I reviewed last week – whose advice and regular practices may work long enough for the check to clear then drop away to nothing or, even worse, could get your site penalized by Google.
I won’t name the firm outright, but I will lay out all the features that raised warning bells after a quick examination. Their promise: For a mere pittance of what other SEO services firms charge, this organization promises to get you to page one of Google.
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For just $399 a month, they will write over 200 website pages for you.
They don’t say how long this will take. But let’s go with a year. That’s the most generous calculation because at $399 a month, that boils down to less than $25 per article. Good copywriters are worth the price they charge. And $25 per article is not what you pay for top tier copywriting – especially in a B2B market. They also don’t say how comprehensive the writing is, nor give examples. It’s not just about content anymore. It’s about good content.
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Clik here to view.Not removing simple website links.
It may seem like a small thing, but they never removed the auto-generated link to their hosting company at the bottom of their site. This is a general link that almost all agencies remove. Why would you leave that on there when you can put your own logo?
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Clik here to view.Dubious digital marketing customer results.
Showing customer results is a great way to prove you know what you’re talking about. BUT as the potential customer, it’s important for you to put those results in context. For instance, if I got, and kept, my client in the top 5 results on page one of Google for say – car insurance – a term that has a search volume of roughly 823,000 per month with at least 557,000 sites using that term in their title tag, I’d say you should pay attention. Dig deeper and see how I did it. How I accomplished it should be understandable.
Likewise, if I show you top results for say: Cantonment Florida Commercial Business Locksmith, your search volume is much lower – 0 in fact. And you have relatively little competition to get to page one.
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Clik here to view.Bragging about the use of “gateway” pages.
One of the strategies they list for SEO is implementing a gateway page. This is not a good practice and could really hurt you in the long run. How a gateway AKA doorway page works: You are able to optimize one small page for one particular keyword. When a user arrives on that page – they are taken to another page where the real domain lies. So what? So this: Google recently said in an article that Doorway Pages will result in a penalty.
When the warning bells sound remember this:
“And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
– John Donne
If these are methods bragged about on an agency’s services page, what do they do behind the scenes? Bear in mind that the average “overnight” success takes years. The same can be said for search engine success. Lay down the groundwork and keep building and you’ll be able to see some traction 6-8 months in. But it’s not a matter of “turning it on.” And anyone promising you great results with almost no work for little price, well, caveat emptor.