Don’t Let SEO Scammers Burn Your Strategies: A Guide By The Marketing 2.0 Conference
Without an online presence, business owners in the twenty-first century are destined to fail. Although that may sound harsh, this is the situation. Suppose you are in favor of increasing the number of leads, enhancing the number of customers, or/and selling your products and services online. In that case, you need to promote your website and grab a rank in online search engines, preferably at the top. Interestingly, around 68% of all online activities start from a search engine, so it’d be a fair shot to make.
Furthermore, many established B2B marketers who attended one of the best marketing conferences, such as the Marketing 2.0 Conference, shared that generating most of their leads and organic traffic would have been nearly impossible if it weren’t for SEO. We took to the Intergrowth statistics to second the opinion quipped by the marketers, and it was found that still, 70% of online marketers rely on SEO over other marketing strategies like PPC, to name one, to generate sales.
But as SEO tries to set its foot in the digital market, people with bad intentions, who claim to be experts in the matter, try to scam people out of their money. The things to avoid when hiring an SEO service are less evident than the things to look out for with an SEO company, but those were just the tip of the iceberg. In the shadow of this article, you get to enhance your knowledge regarding what to avoid and what to look at when vetting an SEO company. In short, it is all about preventing the scam, as highlighted in top marketing conferences, and working with those genuinely interested in putting in efforts for you.
Watch Out For Black Hat Tactics
Not all SEO scams include an SEO business simply taking your money and not performing any search engine optimization. One of the worst scenarios a company can face is using black hat SEO techniques. When your SEO company uses practices deliberately intended to thwart Google’s algorithm and, more crucially, are prohibited by Google, this is known as black hat SEO.
Marketing stalwarts who attended top marketing conferences revealed that the ranking of any company’s website is majorly affected due to such SEO activities. Not only is this behavior immoral, but it is also useless and dishonest, which is why so many people think so ill of it.
Here are some of the most popular black hat strategies (also known as typical SEO scams):
- Automatically producing a massive amount of scammy web 2.0 backlinks
- Stuffing articles with keywords
- Purchasing links from private blog networks or link farms
- Manipulating a website to add backlinks
- Backlinks from websites that are not industry-specific
Due Diligence & SEO Services Sourcing
Brand builders graced the marketing summit of the Marketing 2.0 Conference and shared some anti-scam strategies to deal with harmful SEO practices. However, going for due diligence can be one of the best ways to discover scammers and their unethical practices in the SEO industry. Care to know how? Check out the below-mentioned pointers–
Firstly, start with learning about the SEO fundamentals; if you are aware of what it takes to enhance your rankings, you can actively monitor if your hired SEO practitioners are following straightforward procedures or not.
It would help if you looked into the personnel and workings of each potential employer. For instance, you must answer these questions: who is the group in charge of carrying out the tasks? What kind of work will they be undertaking specifically? Trusting the nebulous claim of improved SEO outcomes is not sufficient; you must know how they are going to get there!
Additionally, you should consider reviews and endorsements, which are used as independent proof of a company’s reliability. Although reviews and endorsements can be forged, if a business is using unethical or deceptive company practices, you’ll eventually hear about it.
Red Flags To Watch Out With SEO Providers
Now that you have made up your mind about finding out the scamming activities taking place in the form of black hat SEO practices, there are some red flags discussed by a few industry experts at some of the best marketing conferences that one must keep in mind before making a move:
Big promises are one of the most obvious warning signs to watch out for, and it’s acceptable to develop some skepticism towards them. If you have been in the business for a long time now, you know the drill of SEO; it takes weeks and even months for a competitive keyword to rank on top of the search engines. So, do not entertain a person further if they promise to provide top rank within a day or two.
The SEO world operates on a motto: you get what you pay for! So, if an agency pops up from nowhere and offers you the services with a fire discount, there’s probably a reason for it.
Intentional transgressions of Google’s terms of service are a red flag you don’t want to turn a blind eye to. Google is very explicit about its terms of service. Avoid using techniques like link spamming, keyword stuffing, and other similar ones.
Final Words
It won’t be hard for you to separate the wheat from the chaff if you know your way around SEO practices; the more experience you have in the industry, the easier it gets to spot scammers. Hands-on knowledge of an SEO company and their proceeding techniques helps you find potential services while avoiding black hat tactics. One thing to remember: No SEO company, even the most legit and experienced ones, can guarantee top rankings as it is all a game of constantly changing algorithms.
Moreover, if you have in-depth knowledge, you will know what questions to ask and what services to request while hiring an SEO agency. Finding a genuine SEO specialist can work wonders for your company. With the help of their SEO services, they may drive visitors from search engines and ultimately help your business earn much-anticipated profit. You can follow up on several upcoming top marketing conferences of 2022 such as the Marketing 2.0 Conference to grab more understanding of the matter from industry experts and changemakers.
