Top 6 Signs that should Warn You of a Fraudulent SEO Company

Posted by Nikhil Kurode on June 12th, 2019

Offers, deals and discounts are always intimidating. We often give in when we hear the SALE or FREE! But if a brand or a company is going overboard with their offers, then you know there is something fishy about the deal. The same logic should be applied when you are hiring an SEO company for marketing your business.

There are several SEO companies who offer some nuisance activities, which practically make no sense. Fraudulent people can come up with ridiculous offers, requests or commitments, which are too good to be true. Here we will discuss some of the most common unethical and hoax SEO deals that you need to be aware of.

1. Guaranteed first page Google ranking in no time: First and foremost, this is a horrible commitment! Secondly, no SEO company can guarantee that they will put your business name on the first page of Google instantly. It takes a series of activities to reach the top, not a bottle of ketchup that they could spread over your burger! So, anyone who guarantees that they could pop your business to the top page of Google is either incompetent or a fraud.
2. Request for your login details: If you encounter an SEO company that requests for full control of your email and social media logins, you should be instantly alarmed. Giving them such access can be a lot more dangerous than you realise as the hoaxters can use your account to commit fraud, malicious posting, misuse your contact list and much more. Instead you can give them limited access as an editor or advertiser to handle your social profiles.
3. Total emphasis on paid campaigns: Organic SEO is the foundation of successful SEO activities. If an SEO agency just told that they consider organic SEO as obsolete, you need to fire them right away. Paid campaigns have become far more important for brands for digital marketing but they can never replace organic SEO activities. If you are engaging the audience organically you can enhance visibility and sustain ranking. Ensure that the SEO services that you opt for are a balance of organic and paid activities.
4. Outdated Portfolio: Before hiring an SEO agency we certainly go through their case studies and success stories. As impressive as these details look on the paper, you should ensure that if these were done in the past year or two. Don’t be fooled by decade old case studies! Also it is vital to verify if the team has seasoned and trained professionals to handle your SEO activities.
5. They will brag more about their success: Sharing your success stories and achievements with the clients is another thing but ifyou are working with an SEO company that brags about their achievements and their stories every now and then, it can make us rather dubious. They might be in an attempt to demand a higher monthly SEO package based on goals achieved rather than giving you a holistic SEO report. A competent SEO agency will not recite just their tale of success; instead, they will listen to what you want and focus their creative skills on crafting a more personalised campaign apt for your brand. They always see the larger picture. So choose your SEO company wisely and try to stick with people who are really rooting for you.
6. They are merely interested in the service cost and not the partnership: As a company, you should always look to hire a partner in your SEO agency and not just a vendor. A very evident sign of a hoax company can be detected through their pitch email itself. They want to lure you in with offers, slashed prices, free services and what not. Instead, they should be focusing on how they can help you gain a strong foothold in the digital world. Beware to keep those firms away who only want your money and not a long term relationship.

A genuine digital marketing agency will always be confident of their skills and how they can help you grow. It is smart to invest in such quality SEO services than to fall prey to unprofessional SEO companies.