Are you considering investing in an SEO company, or are you currently investing in one? Some “blackhat” SEO companies sometimes make very bold claims, to the point of sometimes outright lying to clients. TriMark Solutions is providing you with 6 simple (and unfortunately common) ways to catch an SEO company in a boldfaced lie. Here we go:

1. Guaranteeing Your Top Google Ranks – Some shady SEO companies will absolutely promise you that they can get your company to the top spot of Google, quickly and easily. There used to be many “blackhat” SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing, that would almost guarantee top spots. But as usual, Google’s sophisticated algorithm realized what they were doing, and banned that type of useless SEO. The truth is there have been many shady tactics in the past, and Google always updates its algorithm to correct these methods. The best strategy is to use fresh, useful content, and limit any duplicate pages, therefore ensuring that all the information you have on the web is unique and exceptional.

2. Claiming to Have over 15 Years of SEO Experience – The simple fact is that the absolute earliest SEO history dates to about 1994 (16 years ago), so anyone claiming to have more than 15-16 years must own a time machine. It may be difficult to call someone out like this, but anyone claiming to have more experience than is possible in an industry is probably hiding more information from you…such as what the company can/will actually do for you.

3. Guaranteeing You a High Page Rank – Promising a high page rank isn’t technically lying, it is like promising a little league player that he will be a MLB star one day. It’s not a lie if it happens, and there is a chance it would. But often those claims are exaggerated, or simply too good to be true. A better way to phrase it would be higher page ranks because of 2 factors: quality SEO & time. Even then, the eventual outcomes are better predicted or estimated than guaranteed.

4. Offering Blog Commenting to Build Inbound & Outbound Links – Like keyword cramming and link spamming, blog commenting used to be an effective way to trick Google though faux link building methods. And like these other methods, Google now views blog commenting as another method of spamming. It doesn’t work; don’t let an SEO company tell you it does.

5. Offering Directory Submissions to Build Site Links – Most current methods of directory submissions are automated, and if an SEO uses these techniques, it would be as a minimalist method. The fact that directory submissions are automated and used in so many basic SEO campaigns, it is likely that Google will devalue these methods sometime in the near future (if they haven’t already started to).

6. Guaranteeing Certain PPC Clicks & Conversions – Like any other SEO service, results cannot be guaranteed, only predicted. Pay Per Click campaigns, even when tested, optimized, and refined, do not guarantee a certain amount of clicks or conversions. Anyone who promises results cannot be trusted, because ultimately, no matter how well the campaign is optimized, the only one who can determine clicks and conversions is the consumer. Reputable SEO companies will predict without guaranteeing. Shady companies will blindly guarantee you results.

At TriMark Solutions, we like to keep an eye on our direct competition. We have seen many companies rise and fall, and shady tactics and false promises are often the reason. Keep up with our TriMark Solutions insider blog for more best practice SEO tips.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 8:27 am and is filed under SEO - Tip of The Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.