9 SEO Marketing Scams And How To Spot And Avoid Them

It seems that if it’s not one scam it’s another coming at you online. So with that said here are 9 SEO Marketing Scams and how you can spot and avoid them.

Now I must point out that SEO (search engine optimization) is not a scam. The scammy part comes into play with the people you’re dealing with.

So, What Is SEO?

SEO is the process of improving the ranking (visibility) of your website or a webpage in the SERPs (search engine page results).

And when done correctly you can attract more targeted visitors to your website generate more leads, and increase your site’s conversions.

SEO Marketing Scams

As diligent as I am not to end up on some lame-ass email list. There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t get some sort of “amazing” offer or “opportunity” that lands in my inbox.

And I’ve noticed lately a lot of these are for SEO “services”.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the 9 SEO marketing scams I’ve had brushes with.

#1 Link Building (buying links)

We all know having authoritative website links pointing to your site is a good thing.

And because of that, there are plenty of scammers willing to offer you the opportunity to have high domain authority links pointed at your website. For a fee of course.

The Pitch

It starts with the scammer telling you that they can get links from other High DA (domain authority) websites. And because Google uses domain authority as a ranking signal.

Having these high DA sites linking to your website, your site will increase its domain authority and rise in the SERPs.

Typically these links are done by placing a link to your site on content that already exists on a high DA site. Or by having a guest post published on a high DA site with a link back to your site.

Now while it’s true having links from high DA sites is a good thing because that shows trust. Google does not use Domain Authority as a ranking factor.

Even John Muller Google’s search advocate has said on many occasions that Google uses Domain Level ranking singles, however, domain authority is not one of them.

But despite it being said over and over again people still love to say that domain authority is a key metric to ranking well in Google’s SERPs.

Domain authority comes from a metric that MOZ and other companies have created to determine a site’s domain authority.

And because of that people are under the assumption that Google uses this metric.

Google does not use any outside or third-party resources in conjunction with its own algorithm to determine the rankings of websites in its SERPs.

Sure you can use the information you get from MOZ as a guide to the sites that are your competitors on page one of the SERPs.

But remember these are their algorithms (best guesses) about a site’s “domain authority”. And has nothing to do with Google metrics for ranking a website.

#2 We Can Guarantee First Page Rankings

I think this is probably the most common scam being pitched.

The Pitch

You will get a random email pitching you the guarantee of the first page or even #1 rankings on Google.

Well, who doesn’t want that? Every business owner wants to be ranked on the first page of Google. And #1 is even better.

But here’s the thing, NO ONE can guarantee first-page ranking on Google let alone a #1 ranking. Not even Google can make that guarantee.

This is directly from Google:

Google’s algorithm is constantly changing and because of that to have effective SEO you need to adapt to these changes.

For example, the latest update is E-E-A-T. (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)

So at the time of my writing to have effective SEO for your site you need to follow E-E-A-T within your content.

And even adapting and doing proper SEO the rankings in Google are always fluctuating. SEO is not a one-and-done thing it requires constant work and maintenance.

Now the reason many people (businesses) get sucked into this scam, is that most business owners have no real knowledge of search engine optimization and how it really works.

So, with a few technical terms and jargon from the scammer, I can see why people get scammed.

And once they get you as a client they may get you ranked for a bunch of very low competition keywords that look like they provide value to your business when in reality they are very low value completely useless keywords.

So, while it looks good, you’re website does not see any real improvements when it comes to leads and sales and that’s because you have no improvement in traffic.

If some SEO company is randomly emailing you to offer you services it’s best to avoid them.

However, if you do engage with them ask them if they can guarantee specific keywords that you want to rank for that have true value to your company and the time frame in which it can be accomplished. Then wait for their response, that’s if you get one.

#3 We Are Partners With Google

Once again and in fact all of these scams will come at you through random spam emails.

The Pitch

This pitch is that they are partners with Google. Well, Google does not have a partnership SEO program.

Google does however have a Google Ads Partnership program and has nothing to do with SEO.

The google partnership program allows third parties and agencies to manage Google Ad Accounts on behalf of other businesses (clients).

And through this partnership program these third parties and/or ad agencies have access to tools, resources, and support that help them get the most out of the ad campaign they are running for their clients.

Google also has career certification programs, but again these certification programs have nothing to do with SEO.

You can earn credentials that can help you get jobs in such fields as:

• Digital Marketing & E-commerce
• IT Support
• Data Analytics
• Project Management
• UX Design

So if you get an email telling you so and so company has a partnership with Google for SEO, simply delete the email because is BS.

# 4 Search Engine Submission

If your website is not indexed in the search engines, you have no chance of getting organic traffic to your website. So you must get your website indexed in the search engines.

The Pitch

Again it all starts with some random email telling you they can submit your website to the most popular search engines including Google.

That sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?

And a lot of times in that email they will tell you they have software that prioritizes submissions and can get your site submitted to the search engines faster and at the top of the queue for submissions.

Yeah here’s the problem with that, while most search engines including Google allow you to submit your web pages to be indexed, what they are offering is not the same thing.

When it comes to website submission, meaning your website being added to Google SERPs, that happens when it happens. You have zero control over that.

Now as for requesting the crawling of new individual web pages (indexing) when it comes to Google only you can do that through the Search Console.

And you must be the user of the search console property in order to use the request indexing URL Inspection tool. No one can do that on your behalf.

And doing webpage submission requests is super easy to do. Let me show you how I did it for this post.

Simply open up the Search Console – enter the complete URL of the page you’re requesting to be indexed, and click enter on your keyboard.

Place the URL you want to be indexed in the field at the top of your search console.

Once you’ve done that this page will appear. Click Request Indexing.

Once you’ve done that a popup will appear. Google is going to test the URL to confirm it can be indexed.

Once it has been confirmed your URL can be indexed, you’ll get this popup message.

Your URL is now scheduled to be added to Google’s index (SERPs).

And depending on the crawl schedule of your website will determine when this URL gets added to Google.

Now you can come back to your search console and check if your content has been indexed. Simply place the URL you want to check in the same field you did to request indexing.

And when your content has been included in Google’s index you’ll see this.

# 5 We Have Inside Knowledge

Hey, who doesn’t want to have inside knowledge of how Google’s search algorithm works? I know I would, the problem is I never will, and nor will you.

The Pitch

You’re told they have the inside scoop on how Google’s search engine algorithm works and because of that, they can get you ranked on the first page of Google.

Right there, that statement alone tells you they are scammers.

Nobody knows how Google’s search engine algorithm works. Not even the engineers at Google know how the algorithm works entirely.

This is top secret proprietary information and as well as the algorithm being massive and very complicated each group of engineers only has a working knowledge of the algorithm they work on. Everything is compartmentalized.

So, if you get this type of email do as you’ve done with the other scammy emails and delete it.

#6 Offer Of Free Content For Your Website

Every blogger needs content, so when someone offers to write a free blog post for your website it can be hard not to say no.

But you have to be careful when you get an unsolicited email offering your free content.

The Pitch

Typically the person contacting you is presenting themselves as a writer who’s just starting out. And they would like to provide you with a free blog post that they can add to their portfolio to help them while they are trying to get paid writing gigs.

Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach. And there are legitimate writers just starting out with their freelance writing career that are using this tactic to build up their portfolio. But as I said you really have to be cautious with this one.

Here’s how it can harm you.

This “so-called” writer does provide you with free content but within that content, they have embedded a link to a website that has nothing to do with your business (niche).

So now this scammer has just made your website part of their PBN “Private Blog Network“.

If you’re not sure what a PBN is, it’s a group of websites that’s only been created to provide links to other websites.

And the purpose of the PBN is to manipulate Google in order to get better rankings. And of course, this is against Goolge’s guidelines.

And now that your website is part of this PBN, you’re now in violation of Google’s guidelines.

Now Google typically ignores these types of links, but that does not prevent Google from penalizing your website. Or even worse removing your website from their index altogether.

I know it’s hard to create content, but you are far better off writing the content yourself or if you’re in the position to do so you can hire a writer from a reputable source, such as Upwork or Freelancer.

#7 I Noticed Your Site Is Not Ranking For…

Hey, we all want to rank for as many keywords as we can. Truth is as much as we try we aren’t going to rank for the majority of keywords we want to rank for.

And this is why scams can suck in so many unsuspecting people. Nothing is scarier than a company thinking they are not showing up on Google for keywords that they think they should be ranking for.

Now, sure they may have done all the right things to rank for the keywords they’ve researched. But even with the best efforts, things may not turn out the way you want. And that’s just the reality of SEO.

The Pitch

Funny story while I was writing this post I got an email from a person that told me my site is ranking for 1829 keywords. But out of these 1829 very few keywords are ranking on page 1 of search engines.

And then he went on to pitch me on what can be done and how I can get ranked for these keywords. Did you notice he never mentioned any of these keywords?

This is a spam email sent out to a big list more than likely purchased from some shady resource.

The whole point of this email is to place fear into blog owners and companies and have them reach out so they can pitch you on some service that will produce little to no results.

Now you’re out a bunch of money and no further ahead. And more than likely pretty pissed off.

Reputable SEO companies do not send out spam emails looking for new clients.

If you’re struggling with your SEO before you pull the trigger hiring an SEO company and do your homework. Spending a few days even weeks can and will save you a lot of heartache and money.

And don’t worry your website will be fine while you’re doing your research for the right SEO company.

Heads up. I’ve provided links to some very reputable SEO companies and the end of this article.

#8 Fake Website Speed Report

Hey, I’m sure you know that the loading speed of your website is an important factor when it comes to the overall SEO of your website.

But for those who don’t this scam can suck a lot of people in.

The Pitch

You get some random email saying that they have run a speed test on your website using Google’s PageSpeed Insights. And the results of this test we very poor.

But not to worry they can help you out. Aww isn’t that nice of this scammer, he/she only has your best interests at heart.

Now the scam will sometimes even include an image of a poor report from the PageSpeed Insights test. But that image is fake. And faking the results is very easy to do.

One thing you will notice if they have provided an image it never shows a complete image of the results page. Just a low number. Which was more than likely copied from Google images.

You can do a report for any website. And if they really did a real speed report they would have shown a complete picture of the report found on Google’s PageSpeed Insights.

For example, here’s my website’s speed score. You’ll notice in a REAL report it shows my website and its performance as well as a snapshot of my website.

Don’t fall for this scam. You can check your website’s speed using PageSpeed Insights yourself.

Simply enter your full URL and click Analyze and you’ll get the results for both your mobile Spped and your website’s desktop speed.

The report also shows you the things you can do to improve your website’s speed.

You can also use other free tools such as GTmetrix. Here are my speed test results using GTmetrix. Yeah, a fast website!

#9 Hi, This Is Google It’s About Your Business Listing

If you have a brick-and-mortar business having a business listing is good SEO.

So if you receive a call telling you there is an issue with your business listing, no doubt that will get your attention.

The Pitch

Your NAP is about to expire (name, address, phone number), but not to worry I can help you fix things for X amount of dollars.

Well, your first clue that this is a scam is that no one from Google is ever going to call you about your business listing. Plus your business listing is never going to expire on Google.

And you certainly don’t need some putz trying to squeeze money out of you for something you can easily set up and keep up to date yourself.

Wrapping Up

A lot of people do get sucked into SEO scams and it’s because most people have little knowledge about SEO and all that it entails.

The best way to protect yourself from these types of scams is to educate yourself. And there are plenty of very reputable sources where you can do that.

Here are the resources I frequently use.

• All-in-One SEO – this is a WordPress SEO plugin but they also have a very informative blog and YouTube channel
• Backlinko – this is Brian Dean’s website. Here’s the link to his YouTube channel
• Search Engine Journal
• Search Engine Land

And if you need SEO help reach out to a reputable agency. And even then before you hand over your money do research on what they are offering to help you with.

• NP Digital – best for content marketing
• Voice SEO – best for voice search
• Localiq – best for local search
• OuterBox – best for E-Commerce SEO

Now if you do get any email and you’re not sure about it. Well, the best thing to do is ignore it.

But also, don’t be afraid to reach out to people and ask. This is where social media can be a big help. Places such as Quora, Reddit, and Twitter are great platforms to get your questions answered. You can also contact me.

And don’t fall for the “time is running out” scare tactic. That’s just more BS from the scammer.

As I said the best way to avoid any of these scams is to not respond to these mass spammy emails.

Well, that brings us to the end of this particular post. I want to thank you for dropping by and taking time out of your day to read it.

If you found this information useful feel free to share it with your audience and of course if you have any comments or questions you can leave them below.

I believe in you!
Leo