SEO Scam

As a business owner of a plumbing, electric, and heating/cooling business, it?s likely that you?ve done research into SEO (search engine optimization). You know the importance of SEO, as it is essential to sign up leads and turning those leads into paying customers. All of this requires strong presence in search engine results, and for a long time businesses have been reliant on SEO professionals to achieve this.

However, there is a dark side of the SEO industry; lack of transparency and spammy practices are just some of the dangers of entering into SEO. Unfortunately, in many cases, the people who need protection from SEO scams most ? small business owners like yourself ? are the ones who are targeted in these deceptions and frauds.

These days, it is critical for business owners and entrepreneurs who are in the plumbing, electric, and heating/cooling space to be aware of the potential minefield of scammers, shady marketing firms or simply unproven SEO tactics that have no basis in reality.

What follows is a comprehensive guide to SEO scams and how to protect yourself from being a victim.

What Is an SEO Scam?

An SEO scam is any practice that seeks to manipulate a websites search engine rankings for personal gain, or in the case of a scammer, for quick financial gain.

These schemes or tactics can range from the relatively innocuous to believable tactics that do not actually provide any tangible, measurable results or improvements to your visibility in the search engines.

Types of SEO Scams

Below is a quick overview of some of the most common SEO scams that business owners in the plumbing, electric, and heating/cooling space should be aware of:

Guaranteed Rankings in search engines: This one should be a major red flag for any business owner looking for an SEO agency to hire. Any company that guarantees a certain ranking in the search engines is not only bluffing but is likely intending to rip you off. Given the constantly changing algorithms of search engines like Google and Bing, no one has inside information or control over the ranking of a website in the organic search engine results ? and if they promise that they can, it?s an SEO scam.

Link Building/Link Farming: This one has been around for many years. Link building involves the practice of getting links from other websites to your website. While this can be a legitimate tactic, it is especially abused by link farmers, people or companies who will try to use link farms, i.e. collections of websites all linking to and from one another, rather than engaging in real and targeted link building campaigns.

These link farms are often easy to spot, as they display the same set of keywords many times, and the links are not placed into any type of meaningful context.

Keyword Stuffing: This is one of the oldest SEO scams and still holds true to this day. Keyword stuffing is the process of inserting a large number of keywords into Content in order to make it appear to search engines that a website is more relevant than it really is. This is a futile tactic and one which can actually hurt a websites organic search rankings.

Black Hat Tactics: The last, and perhaps most extreme, form of SEO scam is the practice of utilizing black hat SEO tactics. These tactics involve the use of any illegal methods to manipulate the search engine rankings of a website. This could involve things such as hacking other websites to insert links back to their own websites, or even creating their own websites that are designed to deceive search engines.

Not only is this illegal, but the sites that are exposed to these tactics can suffer from major penalties, such as banishment from the search engine?s index.

How to Avoid SEO Scams

Now that we?ve provided a brief overview of what an SEO scam is and some of the most common types, it is important to understand how to avoid being a victim.

The best thing to do is to research the company as thoroughly as possible before entering into any type of arrangement. Legitimate SEO agencies will have a portfolio of proof that they have successfully managed campaigns for other companies. They should also be well-versed in the newer technologies and have their own personal website to view some of the strategies that they use.

Ask for references from former (and preferably current) clients. Make sure to do your due diligence and speak to these references to verify that the company is actually providing results, and not just empty promises.

Finally, make sure to sign contracts that contain the terms of the agreement, including what services they will be providing and what the results are expected to be.

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