At Pulling Off Strategies, we have heard dozens of stories from our clients about how business owners are being scammed by agencies and freelancers who pretend to be Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts.
We assure you that these SEO scams are more common than you might think, and they are costing businesses a lot of money.
Whether you are a small business owner who has never tried digital marketing or an experienced marketer who has tried and failed, this is for you.
In this blog post, we will discuss some of the most popular SEO scams and teach you how to avoid them.
What are SEO Scams?
In its simplest terms, SEO scams are shady tactics used by so-called ‘gurus’ and ‘experts’ to make a quick buck off businesses who are interested in their SEO services.
SEO is one of the top revenue streams for established businesses. As a business owner looking at SEO, it might seem like a service that can dramatically grow their business, too.
This is true, but this also makes SEO susceptible to exploitation. Because SEO appears to be mysterious to most business people. Scammers take advantage of this knowledge gap and try to sell a service that barely does SEO.
They give all sorts of promises, but all you will be left with are empty pockets. To be honest, real SEO is very time-consuming and requires a lot of knowledge. There are no shortcuts to SEO success.
In fact, shortcuts can do more harm than good. For example, “guaranteed” first-page rankings using link farm scams can do more harm than good. They might even get your site penalized by Google (We will talk about this later)
9 Most Common SEO Scams That Brands & Businesses Encounter
Do you know that feeling when months pass by, and your website still doesn’t rank higher? Trust us—we’ve been there.
Picture this: You hire an SEO agency to do the job, and they told you they would deliver first-page results, but your traffic stays stagnant for months.
After no results, when you eventually ask them, they either blame it on Google algorithms or never respond. Sound familiar? It’s a prevalent story that we hear from our clients who have tried to outsource SEO before.
Now, let’s examine some common SEO scams that you should be aware of.
In SEO, knowledge is power, and so here are some red flags that you need to watch out for while outsourcing your SEO.
1) #1 Ranking on Google – Guaranteed!
Here’s a classic red flag: ‘We can get you to the top of Google!’
There is no way to ensure that your website will rank at the top of the search engine results page, period.
You need to understand that Google is a search engine with algorithms that are hard to predict and that change constantly.
Well, even we at Pulling Off Strategies can’t guarantee No.1 Rankings.
However what we can guarantee is good, ethical SEO practices that will increase your chances. But those “guaranteed” rankings? They are as real as unicorn over a rainbow.
2) More Links = Higher Rankings
“More links = higher rankings.” – if you hear this from an agency or a freelancer, run away from them.
Link building is definitely an essential ranking factor on Google, but more links don’t equate to higher rankings.
Before reaching that conclusion, you need to take into account multiple factors, such as competition and the type of backlinks.
So, if someone who didn’t looked at your website or your keywords says, ‘You need more backlinks to rank’ Then, please avoid them.
3) Improve DR with Our Backlinks
DR(Domain Rating) is a metric that describes a website’s backlink profile. Authoritative websites usually have a high DR score, which helps them rank their a content higher.
Promising an increase in DR with the help of few backlinks is one of the common unethical SEO practices. Eventually, when you order such services, you do see an increase in your DR, but unfortunately, that’s not the whole story.
There are these high DR spam websites whose main objective is to sell links, and predominantly, they don’t rank for anything on Google. Why is this important?
Usually, when a website links to your content, it sends out a positive signal to Google. However, if the website itself is irrelevant or has no rankings (i.e., value) on Google, this sends out a negative signal.
You can manipulate DR metrics on tools like Ahrefs and Moz by building these useless links, but in reality, they add no value to your SEO, and you simply have wasted your money.
4) Selling AI Content
Well, this is a popular right now and some people may call it as New SEO, where AI takes over and does all the SEO for you.
Some SEO firms promote AI content as the best solution for SEO. But let’s be honest for a moment.
Yes, AI can write articles at a much faster pace than human writers.
But here’s the catch: Google is becoming more intelligent every day. It can detect AI-written articles, but it doesn’t penalize AI content.
The problem with AI content is that it’s not engaging and doesn’t add any unique value for your readers. Many agencies are promoting raw AI content as their services.
Those agencies that claim they can “replace human writers with AI” are actually toying with disaster. While they might produce a lot of content that needs a more personal feel, it is not helpful for your website.
At Pulling Off Strategies, we do use AI to help with the content, but we also have multiple human writers and editors with our SOPs in place that ensure the content is unique and engaging and adds value to the context.
5) Selling Links from Link Farms
Link farms are websites whose primary purpose is to sell links. They are different from the ones used to manipulate DR metrics.
Unlike the DR-manipulating websites used for backlinks, these websites (aka Link Farms) rank for keywords on search results. However, most of their content is irrelevant to their websites, and usually, these websites are created to portray a good amount of traffic and a good DR within SEO tools.
Good DR and good traffic dictate the selling prices of these links, and agencies and link builders usually try to sell you links on that very basis.
Unfortunately, if you’re unaware of link farms and unthinkingly rely on paid links, you’ll most likely get links from link farms, and in most cases, they are useless.
Building a few such links here and there is no problem, but when you do it in bulk and spam the system, Google notices you, and it can penalize your rankings.
At PullingOffStrategies, we believe in full transparency with our clients while building backlinks. Recently, we helped this client increase their website traffic by 25k+ monthly visitors through link building.
6) The “Google Partner” Agencies
Many agencies say they are ‘Google Partners’ for SEO. Actually, there’s no such thing.
Google does have partner programs for things like Google Ads and Google Analytics. But for SEO? No
If an agency puts up a badge that says “Google SEO Partner,” then they are just fooling you, and most likely, they don’t have any secret affiliation with Google through which they can use to increase your keyword rankings.
7) Screenshots of Ridiculous Growth – Edited
We often see SEO companies and SEO professionals share a graph that looks like a hockey stick (The one from Google Analytics or Google Search Console)
The fun fact is that most of the screenshots you see with ridiculous growth are either edited (or) created by manipulating analytics dashboards (we will talk about this in the next section).
Usually, the individuals or agencies sharing these success stories are not open to sharing the website URL because they know there was no actual website growth in the first place.
8) Fake Traffic To Show Up In Analytics
There is this practice where people use a bot tool to target their clients. The bots are sent to a target URL and this leads to increase in website visitors. Then these elevated analytics screenshots are posted online.
Sometimes, these bots behave like an actual, and this makes it look like a site is receiving a lot of traffic.
In reality, it’s all fake. There are no real visitors, no fundamental interactions, and no actual value for the businesses.
Legit agencies like us are all about organic growth that adds value. While bots may be able to deceive some tools, they will not be able to deceive Google – or your revenue.
9) Spamming Local Businesses
This is the most common local SEO scam, in which local businesses receive fake calls and inquiries on their Google Business Profile (GBP) to showcase that their company’s SEO campaign is producing results.
There are some practices that you should keep an eye on:
- Spamming your GBP with fake calls to achieve the set targets of leads for your business.
- There is always some kind of software that dials your number and probably never communicates with the business.
- Manipulating call tracking and lead data to fool local business owners into thinking that SEO is bringing in the leads (and getting them the results), but the owners are unable to convert them.
How To Avoid SEO Scams
The only way to avoid getting scammed in SEO is to stay away from scams.
The first thing to realize is that SEO success doesn’t happen overnight. Optimizing for search engines requires weeks and even months, and there is no way around it.
SEO is not a ‘one and done’ service, you need to invest monthly into SEO to see long-term results. However, to avoid the common SEO scams, here is what you can do
1) Understand These Common Phrases
These phrases might sound tempting, but they’re as legit as a three-dollar bill.By understand these phrases you can spot an SEO scam.
Let’s break them down:
We will increase your traffic by 200%
As much as traffic growth is good, specific percentage promises are hazy.
Any legitimate agency will aim to achieve sustainable and achievable growth, and the quality of that traffic matters most not the quantity.
We will rank you in 1 month
If anyone tells you that they can get your site to the top of the search engine rankings within a month, they are lying to you.
Unless if you’re already ranking on page 1, then promising the No.1 spot for your keyword is a ridiculous bet.
We have a relationship with Google
The so-called ‘Google Partner’ agencies use these phrases to imply that they can rank your blog posts and webpages with their secret Google affiliation.
We have relationships with strong websites
Do not be carried away by agencies that claim to have special relationships for backlinks. This usually means that they are using dubious link farms.
However to validate their claim, you can ask for their list of websites and do an analysis by yourself.
We sell 100 backlinks for $100
Usually, links that come for pennies are cheap.
They are often of low quality, and you can get them in bulk, but acquiring these kinds of links in bulk with less prior SEO knowledge can ruin your website rankings.
We own the content, images, and the backlinks
Your content and SEO assets should be yours. Period.
It doesn’t make sense that even after paying for services, you’re not rightfully able to use the content and images wherever you want.
3) Understand These Common Patterns Among SEO Scammers
Here are some patterns that will make it easier for you to identify SEO fraud, and understanding these patterns will ensure you avoid falling into any scams.
Emails with no personalization
Have you ever received an email that begins with “Dear Sir/Madam” or even no greeting at all? That’s red flag number one.
Real SEO experts (like ourselves) invest the time to learn about client and their business before reaching out.
If they can’t be bothered to learn your name, just imagine how they will treat your SEO!
No company website and no presence on social media
In today’s world, if an SEO ‘guru’ doesn’t have a website or social media profile, then it’s time to start running away from them.
Any credible individual or company offering SEO services will have an active presence on social media or a website where they share content.
They don’t share any real client case studies
Transparency is key in SEO.
If an agency cannot share with you what they have done for other clients, then that is a sign that you should avoid them. At Pulling Off Strategies, we always enjoy telling our case studies.
Their English is relatively poor
We’re not saying everyone needs to write and talk like a native American, but if an SEO “expert” can’t write proper English sentences, how are they going to write a piece of content that will rank?
Not to mention, without proper English, your communication will be totally off.
3) Do a Little SEO Research Yourself Before Paying Someone
Even a tiny amount of knowledge in SEO can help identify scammers. You don’t have to become an expert, but you should know the basics of SEO.
It is essential to understand how Google and SEO work. To get to know about SEO, you can read our article on the Evolution of SEO.
You can also watch some YouTube videos from popular SEO channels like Ahrefs to understand how SEO works. Also, with that, you can read online articles from our blog, Search Engine Land, or Moz.
4) Meet with SEOs or book a Zoom call
The real SEO consultants are okay with having a video call with you. Meanwhile, scammers try to avoid making calls most of the time.
Not to mention, if you can actually physically sit and talk with a SEO professional, then there is no better way to meet.
At Pulling Off Strategies, we enjoy the idea of hopping on Zoom calls with potential clients. It is our opportunity to prove to you that we are real people and not some anonymous website. Also, we get to learn about your business directly from the source!
If you want to talk to us about proper SEO, please book a call here.
5) Check their online existence and website presence
Any legitimate agency or SEO freelancer will have a website where they showcase their expertise. In some cases, if there is no website, they will have at least one active social media platform where you can view their content.
To validate their SEO expertise, go ahead and check their website rankings.
If that website itself isn’t ranking for anything, then how can they rank your website?
However, if they only have a social media presence, skim through their content and validate their expertise by getting on a Zoom call and asking them to share any of their current SEO results.
6) Fire away as many SEO questions to them as you can
Make sure you quiz them with as many SEO questions as possible. If you notice these things while communicating, then try to avoid them.
Using SEO jargon to avoid giving answers
Be wary of the ‘SEO experts’ who love to use technical terms. If they using any technical jargon to justify why your site is not ranking, then ask them to simply what they are trying to say.
If, further down the line, the communication is filled with technical jargon, then don’t consider them for your SEO
Overwhelmed by your questions
Any legit SEO pro should be more than happy to talk about SEO. If your questions are answered with vague and unclear responses, that’s a sign.
Most SEO agencies and professionals appreciate curious clients because it means you care about your business’s success—and they will always be happy to explain the details of SEO.
Moving away from performance metrics
Notice if they avoid questions regarding past performance and metrics.
A reliable agency will not shy away from reporting both wins and losses. If they only claim a 100% success rate without the data to support it, then it is time to be skeptical.
7) Ask Them To Come Up With a Detailed Plan & Desired Results
Any professional SEO should be able to explain how they plan to help you succeed in your business. Here, we are discussing tangible benefits, not generic metrics like “improved rankings.”
Don’t settle for fluff. A real pro (like us at Pulling Off Strategies) will explain how they are going to do it, step by step, with an SEO strategy plan. We’re talking about keyword research, on-page optimization, content creation, and everything else.
Demand measurable goals. ‘We’ll improve your SEO” isn’t good enough” Look for agencies that set specific and measurable targets. Think like “increase in organic traffic by 50% in 6 months” or “rank in the top 5 for these key terms”.
Beware of guarantees. Anyone promising #1 rankings overnight is selling snake oil. SEO takes time and effort, so focus on realistic and sustainable growth.
Ask about reporting. A legit agency should be able to provide you with weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly updates on your progress.
8) Understand The Payment Terms & Any Long-Term Contract For Your Projects
It is advisable to avoid agencies that ask for large amounts of money before they start working. That’s a red flag.
At Pulling Off Strategies, we understand the mindset of business owners when discussing payment terms. We also understand that SEO is a long-term strategy, but we disagree with tying you up in never-ending contracts.
Agencies that push you to lock in for a one-year contract before showing any kind of results are actually not benefitting your cause.
Remember, legitimate SEO agencies will be happy to explain their pricing structure.
Wrap Up
It is because of scam experiences with SEO that people tend to ask, is SEO a scam?
In reality, we know SEO isn’t a scam, but SEO as a service is populated with scammers. However, if you have read our blog post to this point, then we believe you will know exactly how to spot a scam and try to avoid it.