Scammers prey on the weak and the ignorant. They have an uncanny ability to spot a patsy from a mile away. Are they targeting you?
Yesterday I received a call from a search engine optimization company guaranteeing that they could get my website on the front of the search engine results page for 100 search terms (first red flag). According to the salesman, no other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) company had the capability to do what they did because they had a special association with Yahoo (second red flag) and they had their own 30 step proprietary program that no other company could duplicate. (third red flag)
"That's amazing," I said, with the enthusiasm of a boy who was about to learn where the family treasure was hidden from his dying grandfather . "Tell me more."
Bingo! He tagged me for a sucker and openly told me one lie after another. But it wasn't until I asked if he needed access to my website to accomplish this amazing feat that I realized the depth of the scam. Had I not know any better I could have easily been persuaded to invest in their special today only price of $2,500 for six months of service.
"This is the best part of all", he said. "We don't need to access your website. We make a copy of it and post it on our server where we work on it. Then we direct all the traffic back to your website." (forth, fifth, sixth ... red flag)
After a few seconds of letting this concept sink in, I was only able to come up with 54 reasons why this was a very, very bad idea. Not only will it destroy my credibility with the search engines, but the moment I stop paying, all the SEO work I paid for is gone. I would have paid them $2,500 to do SEO work on their duplicate of my website. Hmmmm!
It's important to learn the signals of an SEO scam artist and run like hell when you see them coming. If you want more information read, What's an SEO? Does Google recommend working with companies that offer to make my site Google-friendly?
If you've ever had a bad experience with a black-hat SEO firm, please comment below. Let's help our Active Rain readers keep their hard earned money in their pockets. Just say No to bad SEO.
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