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Consumer Affairs Warns Of Small Business SEO Scam

It appears the slimy snake-oil SEO salespeople are at it again.

This time, according to Ryan Eslicker, of Consumer Affairs, the new scam involves SEO firms who claim they can remove negative comments from ConsumerAffairs.com.

Wrong.

These are probably the same scum-bags who make fake reviews on review websites and tell their clients that the more reviews they post the higher their website will appear in Google Places. It's not so much the number of review, but the quality of reviews.

If any SEO firm makes a guarantee or a promise, you should run. Honest and ethical SEO firms will pride themselves in following the rules and guidelines set forth by search engines.

This, from Consumer Affairs:

"Recently, we started receiving a rash of complaints from small business owners concerning illegitimate SEO consulting companies they have used.

"These small business owners are paying hundreds (in some cases thousands) of dollars to have these SEO consulting companies remove negative comments from ConsumerAffairs.com.

"However, these small businesses are being taken advantage of -  ConsumerAffairs has no relationship with these SEO firms and there is no way for them to remove comments/reviews about their firms from our site.

"ConsumerAffairs is very concerned that small businesses are being mislead by these SEO firms, and we are trying to get the word out through small business resource blogs, such as yours.

"I do not know if you have heard about this scam, but we hope you can help us get the word out and possibly even blog about this.  We recently published an article about this if you would like to read more about this topic http://consumeraffairs.com/news04/2011/04/bogus-complaint-removal-sites-prey-on-small-businesses.html

"Also, in response to these complaints, we have launched the ConsumerAffairs.com Accredited Business Program.  Under this program we alert the small business owner when a consumer submits a review/complaint, and the company is given the ability to respond to the consumer. 

"ConsumerAffairs realizes the majority of SEO firms do incredible work for small businesses and in no way are we grouping these illegitimate firms with all SEO firms."

Avoid These SEO Turkeys

Turkey is great for Thanksgiving, but are you an SEO turkey? Here are a few SEO turkeys and stale techniques:

• Black Hat SEO Techniques. Do not use the "hidden keyword" trick in your website, or other unethical methods. Not only are you a turkey, but you're  taking a big chance in getting your website punished - or even banned - by  search engines. For the record, the hidden keyword trick is not only a old tactic and unethical, but it doesn't even work anymore. Guess what? Some SEO firms still try to use this trick in order to obtain higher rankings in search engines.
  
  
• If you're a local business and you're not taking advantage of local SEO opportunities, then you and/or your SEO firm is a big turkey. No dessert for you! Get to work on registering your business name and location with Google Places, Bing Maps and other local maps. It's free and it's becoming more and more important to be listed in local maps.
  
  
• If you're not doing link building, then you're a turkey. Link building is the process by which other websites publish an link on their site (or blog) pointing back to your website. Link building is a very important element in SEO. It takes a lot of hard work to earn quality links, but it's a necessity.
  
  
• Turkeys do not update their company's website; add fresh content or optimize it for your targeted keywords. Don't ignore your website. Your potential customers are going to the Internet to search for your products and services. Customers must find you before they can buy from you.
  
  
• If you're an SEO firm or a "consultant" - who claims to be certified in search engine optimization, you're a turkey who should be ashamed and hide from the butcher. Granted, you might have attended a class and earned a certificate perfect for framing, but no search engine - including Google - offers a certification in SEO. You can, however, earn certifications in Google for Adwords. Businesses are fooled by this con very day.
  
  
• Another turkey is anyone who claims to be a social media expert. All of a sudden, it seems as if everyone is a social media expert. Ironically, some of them used to be search engine optimization experts a few years ago.

Enjoy your holiday and watch out for these tasteless turkeys.

SEO Lies Are Scary (5 of 5 Scary SEO Tips)

There are many lies about search engine optimization - meta tag keyword codes; hidden text; buying links; robot files; Google updates; Bing and Yahoo, yada, yada, yada.

How does one know the truth from a half-truth or a myth?

First, don't believe everything you hear. If an SEO firm (or salesperson) is telling you SEO "stories" the best way to verify is to talk to other SEO firms.

Second, visit and read SEO websites and blogs. Not just one. Read several.

Tweet with and follow SEO experts on Twitter; connect with SEO firms on LinkedIn; participate in the Answers section in LinkedIn (ask questions there; you'll get answers).

Visit and read the Google blog.

Talk to business associates.

Take notes.

SEO Firms Are Scary (4 of 5 Scary SEO Tips)

Do not be afraid to ask questions when considering to hire a search engine optimization firm.

Some questions:

• Ask for references.
• Ask for recent reports that match the references.
• Ask to see the keyword list for the references.
• Ask to see a linking report.
• Will the SEO firm be creating an SEO Strategy?
• How will the plan be implemented?
• Who will be working on your SEO strategy?
• Can you meet with them? Are they located in another state or country?
• Is the person selling you the SEO package an affiliate? In other words, are they selling for an SEO firm in New York or California? (They should disclose this upfront).
• How many people will be working on your project?
• When will you expect some results?
• What are the goals?
• Are their any SEO metrics?
• How often will you receive reports?
• Are meetings an extra expense?
• Did the SEO firm cold call you? Can you find them in a Google search? Are they ranked in Google?

SEO Tricks Are Scary (3 of 5 Scary SEO Tips)

Do not try to trick Google or any other search engine. If you do (and you think you've pulled off a brilliant idea), the treat will come back to you eventually and it won't be pretty.

Unethical and dishonest tricks - also known as a "black hat" technique" - are frowned upon by search engines. The penalty for such tactics could result in your website being removed from the search engine's index or a ranking penalty.

It's not worth it.

Don't hide keywords in your website's background. For that matter, don't make the font tiny so as to trick a search engine (one of our competitor's is using this technique now, and even that tactic still hasn't paid off in a higher rank).

Don't create a doorway page or stuff your website with keywords. Don't participate in link farms and keep your link purchasing to a minimum.

SEO firms may cheat in order to be paid (some work on a "pay per performance" plan, which means you don't pay until your website is ranked in the Top 10). Always be aware of what your SEO firm is doing to help your website.

Ideally, make sure your contract states the firm will not use unethical or dishonest SEO practices.

SEO Promises Are Scary (2 of 5 Scary SEO Tips)

Similar to an SEO sales person, an SEO firm may make some promises that are scary. Mainly, they might make some promises they can not fulfill.

Here are some of our favorites SEO promises:

• "We can get your website ranked in the No. 1 position in Google this week (or next week, or next month or within 30 days, etc.)."
• "We have a special connection with Google."
• "Things will improve with your rankings with the next Google update."
• "You have to pay to be ranked No. 1."
• "You have to 'hide' keywords in your website in order to be on the first page of search results."

If you hear any of the above scary promises, run. Fast.

SEO Sales People Are Scary (1 of 5 Scary SEO Tips)

It's Halloween and while we should be afraid of things that go "bump" in the night, we should take a look at some scary SEO tricks that are being sold to businesses every day by dishonest and unethical SEO firms.

Our first Scary SEO Tip:

"SEO Sales People Are Scary"

They may lie because they want to make the sale. They'll tell you exactly what you want to hear, but yet they can be clueless about what they are selling.

Ask SEO sales reps to show you a complete plan of action; proof of work performed for real clients; references; reports, etc.

Ask them if you can talk, face-to-face, with the SEO tech/coordinator who will be performing the work on your website (they might be located in a different state or country, for that matter).

Ask them how often they will be in touch with you on your project.

Ask them if they will be preparing an SEO strategy, or if you have to micro-manage the project.

Ask them if they will give you upfront consulting/advise for free (such as as website analysis or evaluation).

Ask tough questions. Ask follow-up questions.

Did the SEO sales rep call you or did you track them down? Better yet, did you find them by conducting a Google search?

If you search for the term "SEO" and add the "City" to your search string, did the SEO firm's name appear in the Top 10 of Google?

You Need More Than Just a Blog

Blogs are great.

You can keep customers - and future customers - up-to-date on topics, trends, new products and services, ideas, etc.

Blogs are also an excellent way to create content for your website.

However, a blog - by itself - will NOT get your site ranked high in search engines.

Here's why:

1. Google has to find your blog. You can write forever, but if Google and other search engines never find or crawl your blog, you'll never get ranked in the Top 1,000 positions.
   
   One local blog writer, who claims you need a blog to get ranked higher in Google, currently has a blog with a Google Page Rank of 0 (based on a scale of 0-10). Google and Yahoo don't even know the blog exists!
   
2. You must have a strong link building program. You need to submit your blog to blog directories or generate some interest from other blog writers and other websites pointing back to your blog. In other words, you need to contribute. You need to create some blog buzz and get others to write about your blog.
   
   This means you need both internal links (from your own web pages) and external links pointing to your blog.

I have mentioned this before: Content is King, but Link Building is Queen. You need both. Not just one or the other. Both.

Turkey Awards

Oh, before we feast on turkey this week, let us briefly dine on some "turkey" awards in the world of search engine optimization:

Our unofficial turkey awards go to:

• Any business who doesn't value or understand the value of being ranked higher in Google and other search engines. I've actually had businesses tell me there's no value in having more traffic come to their website. Wow...
• Dead websites. You know 'em. They are the sites with no fresh content; look like a brochure; you can't sign up for a newsletter and their most recent press release is two years old.
• Flash websites. Search engines (and humans) need some content please.
• Web designers who think they know SEO. Hey, I love web designers. I really do. But SEO is much more than some keywords tossed into the meta tag code.
• Yellow books, Yellow Pages, etc. who say they can get your website submitted to "powerful" search engines. So what? You can submit your website to search engines for free.
• Black Hat techniques, hidden text, link farms, doorway pages, and any other unethical manner. While I despise these methods, judgment day will come soon for those who use them (in the form of getting their website banned).

Enjoy your real holiday feast!

Scary SEO Myth #5: Get As Many Links As Possible

Now that Halloween is over, can you believe that Thanksgiving is less than 3 weeks away? Now, that's scary!

Our fifth - and final - SEO myth has to do with link building.

Link building is the process of earning one-way links on other websites pointing to your website. Some feel the more links you have, the higher you are ranked.

Actually, the quantity of links has nothing to do with it. Instead, it's the quality of the link that's important.

Consider this when developing a strong link building strategy:

• Google prefers the link is a natural link. You didn't pay for it; you didn't trade and you didn't send out 1,000 e-mails begging unknown website owners for a link.
• Don't submit your website to "Free For All" sites (also called Link Farms). These websites are SPAM factors with pages and pages of links.
• Be careful when buying some links. Google is starting to take a look at the entire "pay for link" issue (but isn't that also called advertising?).
• Trade links only when it makes sense for your site.
• Don't hire link services that promise hundreds or thousands of links pointing to your site. They're garbage.

Avoid my Top 5 SEO myths...there are others, but that's enough "fear" for now.

Have a great month!