How to Identify Bad SEO Companies & SEO Scams

Having a website is a great way to spread the word about a company, but without proper optimizing, a website may never be found in the search engines. Search engine optimization companies work to bring websites more traffic by improving the site's ranking in search engines.

There has been a lot of negative press about SEO, in general, and it's because of SEO scams and terrible SEO companies. While there are a lot of scams in the SEO business, search engine optimization is still an extremely important aspect in building a website. This is why it's important to give a lot of thought in selecting a company to do the work.

Bad SEO companies work under the assumption that business owners know nothing about the Internet. All the company has to do is dazzle with graphics and use a bunch of flashy tech jargon to convince business owners that they know what they are talking about. However, by understanding what red flags to look out for, it's easier to confidently select the right SEO company for the job.

They Guarantee a Top Ranking
While there is a lot of appeal in a company that can guarantee a top ranking for a great keyword, this is impossible. An SEO company cannot guarantee this -- AT ALL. Many scam SEO companies blatantly say that they can get a website ranked for amazing keywords, but there is no guarantee, even for the best SEO companies, that this can happen.

Some companies go so far as to say that they have an inside person at Google who knows the algorithm. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Sadly, this is a really appealing promise, so many of these companies make a fortune with their "guarantees."

One-Size-Fits-All Packages
Different websites have different needs. Because of this, an SEO company cannot use the same exact methods for one site as they used for another site. The work required for site optimization for one website will likely be totally different because of varying content management systems (if a site even has one), what optimization has already been done on the site, and even because of the wording on a site. Furthermore, a site may require many more (or less) backlinks in order to rank based on what keywords are selected.

Many companies sells packages such as "on-site optimization and 100 backlinks for $600." While it is likely the company will actually do the work, will 100 backlinks be enough? Does the website even need 100 backlinks? A good SEO company will research a website and its keywords in order to custom tailor a package that fits that particular site.

Their Idea of Backlinking is Article Directories
The best backlinks come from reputable sites, however, it takes a lot of work to get a backlink from a reputable source. For example, writing an excellent press release takes a lot more work than just churning out a quick article. It's also more difficult to get access to great backlinks. Because of this, many SEO companies resort to article directories and even link directories as a source of backlinks.

Link directories are perhaps the worst places to get backlinks and article directories are not far behind. Having a handful of articles floating out there isn't a bad idea, but they should mostly be at reputable sites. Any articles should be well-written and should offer interest to actual readers (not just for the search engine to see the link.) A good SEO company will help a business obtain reputable backlinks from a wide variety of sources including press releases, blogs, news articles, and more.

They Don't Rank for Anything
Many SEO companies don't actually rank for anything themselves. While many keywords are nearly impossible to rank for, the company should rank for something semi-competitive. By finding out what keywords an SEO company is trying to rank for and seeing whether or not they rank for them, it's easy to find whether or not the company is worthwhile.

It's very important to note the keywords the company ranks for. If they rank for competitive keywords like "INSERT_STATE_HERE SEO", then maybe it's a good company, but if they only target and rank for something extremely long-tail that nobody searches for like "We do SEO in our underwear" then look for someone else.

They Sell Mass Quantities of Backlinks
Along with the one-size-fits all packages, many bad SEO companies like to just sell backlinks. How does this make them an SEO company? The only thing they offer is backlinks and no insight as to whether or not they will do any good for a specific website. While many of these backlink packages seem reasonably priced (100 backlinks for only $35!!!!), many of the links purchased are actually worthless and offer no real value to a site's SEO efforts.

The folks at good SEO companies are fully aware (and will even tell business owners) that the quality of backlinks is a billion times more important than the quantity. A good, strong backlink from a reputable source will far outweigh any mass package of tons of easy to obtain back links.

They Won't Reveal Their Methods
Tons of SEO scams work under the premise of "our trade secret." This is code for: we won't tell you what we're doing. SEO isn't a huge hush hush secret. Why would a company hide what their doing? It's a fairly simple, yet extremely monotonous process:

Figure out what a website needs
Come up with a plan for the site
Do any needed site optimization
Backlinks
Monitor progress
There's no reason a company should hide what they are doing for a company's website. Business owners should be be allowed to play a role in the planning process and be 100% aware of what techniques will be used.

A bulk of SEO companies love to hide behind the phrase, "trade secret," but there is no reason for this. There is an enormous amount of information on search engine optimization on the Internet freely available at anyone's fingertips. Why all the secrets?

There are a lot of SEO scams on the Internet, but that should not deter a a business owner from looking for someone to optimize their site for search engines. Search engine optimization, when done right, is an amazing long-term marketing method.

When looking for a company to do SEO, it's important to do the research and ask questions. Before working with a company, look them up in the Better Business Bureau. By getting the facts about a company before doing business, it can make all the difference.

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Why Search Engine Submission Can Be Harmful

The first thing many so-called SEO "pros" do when they create a new niche site is submit it to all the search engines. This act seems to make sense, because how else is the search engine going to know the site exists? There actually is a way for search engines to find out about sites other than search engine submission, which is covered in this article.

In actuality, the practice of search engine submission, however common, may be harmful to a site. Many SEO firms even offer search engine submission services for a fee. This is a good sign of an SEO firm who either doesn't know that search engine submission can be harmful (which shows they know enough about SEO to be harmful) or they don't care about the needs of their customers.

#1 It's a Waste of Your Time/Money

It can take hours to submit a site to all the popular search engines. We're talking Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, etc. Don't forget foreign search engines, either, as they can account for a large chunk of traffic! Those who like filling out forms, solving CAPTCHAs, and clicking verification links in email would LOVE search engine submission. There are also many sites that allow, in one web form, for users to fill out some basic information and submit their sites instantly to several different search engines. Don't forget, you're still going to get to click on verification links in emails.

Some SEO firms offer this as a service. They may do this manually or use a form that does the submission. Either way, it's still pointless. Some offer this for prices as low as $10 on up to $150. The average price for this, however, is $50. To me, $50 is a lot of money for something you don't really need. $10, at that, is a lot of money for something you don't need.

#2 Being Indexed Doesn't = Traffic

Just because a site is in a search engine, doesn't mean that it will get traffic. When was the last time you've searched for something and looked further than the first two pages of search results? Usually, when I make a search and don't see what I'm looking for on the first page, I edit my search terms and search again! This is what SEO is for. A site that has been properly optimized for SEO will place on the first page of the search results for a particular term.

There are literally thousands of sites that are in the search engine that seldom get traffic. This shows that it's not just about being in the search engine, it's about being at the top! The best way to get in the search engine is to get back links. When a website is linked to, even on your MySpace profile, or in a public Live Journal post, a search engine is going to see it and say to itself, "Ooh, this is new, I'm adding this." When the search engine finds a link to your website somewhere else, it begins to think, "Wow, this must be important," and it starts to rank the site higher in the search engine.

Anyone who knows what they are doing when it comes to SEO will not waste their time submitting their site to a search engine. Search engines WANT to index as many sites as they can! By spending time doing SEO and making a site the best it can be, your efforts in these areas will pay off many, many times more than spending the time telling search engines that your site exists.

#3 It Can Harm Your Marketing Efforts

Search engine submission either costs time (which could be used to get back links) or money. Remember that time is also money. Also, rumor has it, that some search engines (such as Google) see a search engine submission as a sign of desperation by the webmaster and thus docks the website for this. While this is just a rumor, it is a real clincher when it comes to whether or not it's a good idea to submit a site to search engines.
Because it is a waste of time, a waste of money, and has possible negative effects to SEO work, there really is no point in investing anything into search engine submission. If it's a decent site and has back links, it'll be indexed in the search engine in no time!

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Is Your Blog In a Bad Neighborhood?

In sort of an homage to the Turnip of Power's post titled, "Remove Dead Links From Your Site," I've decided to run a little clean-up of my own. In my cleanup efforts, I found a site that gave me a list of links I had posted on my blog that may have hurt my site stats.

The Bad Neighborhood Text Link Checker Tool checks all outgoing links on a site to find ones that may be hurting a site's reputation. For example, if I were to link to a spammy website, it would make me look bad to not only Google, but to a handful of other websites and most importantly, to my readers. According to this tool, most of the sites I've linked to are reputable, but there were a few, in particular, that were less than reputable. One of these sites I owed a thanks to so I kept the link to it, but made it a no-follow link. On another one of my blogs, which was a do-follow blog, contained many "bad" links. I've thus made the blog no-follow and I should soon see a positive change in site stats because of this.

So, this brings me to a question for my readers. If you've run your site url through this tool, did you have to make any changes to outgoing links on your blog?

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