How to detect SEO crooks

To follow on from the previous post,there's probably been posts of this nature before but quite frankly the better informed people are about SEO crooks, the quicker these fraudsters may go away and do something else.

How can you tell when you're talking to an SEO cowboy or cowgirl ?

Guarantees; if you're given guarantees this is a surefire of knowing the person you're talking to is talking nonsense. It's an excellent hook but it isn't possible to guarantee position where search is concerned. Period. So stop believing it and stop asking for it.

Fees; beware of offers that seem too good to be true, it's almost a certainty that they are. if someone tells you they can get you to the top for your target key phrases for £100 per month and these phrases are competitive at all then it's not likely they'll succeed. Achieving top positions for competitive phrases takes time and effort and so if you use an agency, costs.

Their positions; ask them what their own positions are then check them. If they mumble inanely or tell you they're top for the phrases "really good search engine agencies in Manchester" they're probably not very good. Especially if they're based in Ipswich. If they can't do it for themselves, it's unlikely thay can do it for you. And don't be fobbed off with 'we're too busy', 'we don't need to' or any other such nonsense.

Their clients' positions; ask them what they've done for clients then check them. I've personally heard all sorts of rubbish on this one. From people boasting how they achieved a top position for their clients' names to outright lying.

Methods; ask them in general how they propose to achieve higher positions. If they say 'we have a network of sites' or 'auto-submission' or 'cloaking' or 'tricks' chances are they not the agency for you.

This is a far from comprehensive list and I'll return to this later but as with any industry there are the good guys and the bad guys and the bas guys are best avoided.

The cowboys have arrived!

Just before the depression of the 1930s someone said that when the buzz boys started investing in shares that was the time to stop investing.

Last week at Adtech when various SEO cowboys jumped out at me and started telling me that they could guarantee positions on Google I started to wonder if I was in the right profession and whether it was time to strike camp and move on.

One particular guy looked like someone who'd just been released from Wandsworth prison, and for ten minutes talked complete nonsense. When I challenged him by asking whether he could get me top for mobile phones he replied that he could.

I then asked him what phrases he was top with and at this point he simply started lying. I know this because the SEO business of which I'm a Director is top of Google for those phrases.

The conversation turned bizarre when this guy told me how he had commissioned some SEO work and liked the company so much he'd bought it. I then asked how many employees he had and he replied that he only had one being himself. Quite why he had to buy a company that only consisted of himself was beyond me.

Crazy stuff!