There have always been rogue SEO companies who give the industry a bad name but since the economic downturn began I have noticed increased activity within the UK.
An increasing number of businesses are being cold called and email spammed with promises of first place search positions. Some of these cold callers are pushy to the point of bullying. The email spams say pretty much the same and often use disposable email addresses.
This has all started on the back of the economic recession which has seen many UK companies look to the Internet as another source of business leads. Rogue companies and individuals are using the crisis to persuade many small businesses to use their services.
On the surface this may appear to be healthy competition but underneath lies an emerging underworld of 'make a quick buck' scams.
There are many legitimate SEO companies out there who get their business either from the Internet itself or through client recommendation. These are the people who employ white hat SEO and put in the hours for their clients.
The rogue SEO's have another way of doing things. I have seen first hand evidence that they target knowingly optimised sites already ranking well and then somehow convince the client that their site cannot be found.
This tactic does not always work as thankfully many clients know when they are being hoodwinked. Unfortunately the recession has made it easier for the rogues to be more convincing. The economic crisis is affecting many UK businesses, one in particular being the building industry. As business enquiries dry up many clients assume it is because they are not doing well in the search engines.
Cue the rogues who promise more enquiries by getting the client first position in the search engines. This is where it becomes amusing as some of these companies actually quote to get the client on a high position for a keyword they already have at the top. I know of one client who was actually quoted a couple of hundred pounds to be put on the first page for a keyword that was already there. It would seem that the sheer greed of these people is making them not even bother to check if their target is already ranking.
I have taken a look at a few of these companies and their background says a lot. Tell tale signs can be spotted if you know what to look for. Sometimes a rogues website may provide very little information and contradict what the sales person would have told you. Other clues may be boasts such as 'we have been here a long time'. If the company was only incorporated around the time that the recession started to bite and the domain name is new then they most certainly have not been trading for long.
What amazed me was that when I really started to look into this I actually found other hijacked sites that still had the previous SEO companies web link on the site. I checked out the previous optimisers and they were genuinely white hat with a good reputation. I am not sure if they are even aware that this has happened yet. Basically these rogue SEO's are taking sites already optimised, charging the client all over again and then claiming the bulk of the work as their own. Many of them will tie the client down to a contract making it difficult for them to back out if they get suspicious.
My advice to those businesses with existing optimisation companies. If you have been with your company for a long term and are concerned about your optimisation then contact them first. Do not be tempted by high pressured cold call sales. If you do then you risk paying for something you already have and most likely at a higher cost.
For all the good SEO companies out there. Watch your backs. If you have many clients then it may well be worth emailing them to warn them about rogue SEO's. You may well save them a lot of money and keep their business at the same time.
An article by Scotts Digital - Best branding agency Singapore and the top search engine optimization companies in Singapore.
An increasing number of businesses are being cold called and email spammed with promises of first place search positions. Some of these cold callers are pushy to the point of bullying. The email spams say pretty much the same and often use disposable email addresses.
This has all started on the back of the economic recession which has seen many UK companies look to the Internet as another source of business leads. Rogue companies and individuals are using the crisis to persuade many small businesses to use their services.
On the surface this may appear to be healthy competition but underneath lies an emerging underworld of 'make a quick buck' scams.
There are many legitimate SEO companies out there who get their business either from the Internet itself or through client recommendation. These are the people who employ white hat SEO and put in the hours for their clients.
The rogue SEO's have another way of doing things. I have seen first hand evidence that they target knowingly optimised sites already ranking well and then somehow convince the client that their site cannot be found.
This tactic does not always work as thankfully many clients know when they are being hoodwinked. Unfortunately the recession has made it easier for the rogues to be more convincing. The economic crisis is affecting many UK businesses, one in particular being the building industry. As business enquiries dry up many clients assume it is because they are not doing well in the search engines.
Cue the rogues who promise more enquiries by getting the client first position in the search engines. This is where it becomes amusing as some of these companies actually quote to get the client on a high position for a keyword they already have at the top. I know of one client who was actually quoted a couple of hundred pounds to be put on the first page for a keyword that was already there. It would seem that the sheer greed of these people is making them not even bother to check if their target is already ranking.
I have taken a look at a few of these companies and their background says a lot. Tell tale signs can be spotted if you know what to look for. Sometimes a rogues website may provide very little information and contradict what the sales person would have told you. Other clues may be boasts such as 'we have been here a long time'. If the company was only incorporated around the time that the recession started to bite and the domain name is new then they most certainly have not been trading for long.
What amazed me was that when I really started to look into this I actually found other hijacked sites that still had the previous SEO companies web link on the site. I checked out the previous optimisers and they were genuinely white hat with a good reputation. I am not sure if they are even aware that this has happened yet. Basically these rogue SEO's are taking sites already optimised, charging the client all over again and then claiming the bulk of the work as their own. Many of them will tie the client down to a contract making it difficult for them to back out if they get suspicious.
My advice to those businesses with existing optimisation companies. If you have been with your company for a long term and are concerned about your optimisation then contact them first. Do not be tempted by high pressured cold call sales. If you do then you risk paying for something you already have and most likely at a higher cost.
For all the good SEO companies out there. Watch your backs. If you have many clients then it may well be worth emailing them to warn them about rogue SEO's. You may well save them a lot of money and keep their business at the same time.
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