We’ve all seen them – the continuous slog of emails from SEO agencies from far and wide… (“Greetings of the day!”)
Some of us have even used them – and until a few years ago, the services provided were effective and budget friendly.
Today, though, we should really avoid the services of agencies that promise page 1 rankings and list services like below. There are some really bad, outdated services listed here. They will not help – they will HARM your SEO.
I thought about writing about this and if it would be considered ‘bad form’ to talk down any ‘competitors’. But then I thought about the businesses that are still using these services – They (You) have a right to know that this isn’t just money down the drain – these companies will take your SEO backwards.
Here’s a screenshot of an email I received this morning, I have arrowed some points. Let’s break down the services that are definitely going to harm your SEO.
1. 150 Directory submissions – This was always done to get backlinks to your site. Now that Google’s Penguin update de-ranks sites with poor quality links (from poor quality directories???), this is a harmful SEO tactic.
2. 10 Social Bookmarking Submissions – This will appear as manipulation of social bookmarking and should be avoided. These type of links are prohibited by Google Webmaster Terms Of Service. Social signals are a ranking factor – but not in this way.
3. 10 Article Submissions (1 article x 5 article directories) – This is screaming duplicate content. Article directories are also a huge no-no. This ‘service’ will hurt you twice-over.
4. 10 Press Release Submissions (1 press release x 5 press release websites) – As above. Google released an algorithm to deal with Press Release submissions. I’m guessing these submissions will go to free low quality press release sites.
7. One way back links with mix PR – PR (page rank) now no longer a metric. I would be very nervous about the quality of these backlinks. If they can be offered in this way and not earned, they are probably not worth having.
8. Meta tags changes suggestions – Again, another outdated SEO method that the search engines have got wise to. Meta tags offer no SEO juice and, in the case of Bing (and possibly Google too?), meta tags can now indicate spam signals to the search bots. Avoid!
Looking at the other services, it’s hard to see what / how they would be implemented with best practise. I suspect there would be more issues with these services too.
There are some great overseas agencies, but it seems they are few and far between. They might appear to be ‘cost effective’ SEO solutions, but there’s nothing effective about the services I have added detail to. In fact, it is this kind of offer that brings down the reputation of SEO as a whole and it makes me pretty angry. There are a lot of companies that have come to me having spent a considerable amount and are further from the target than ever. Cleaning up after these companies has become a common practise for my company.
SEO Copywriter UK offers a basic one off (sensibly priced) SEO fee, followed up by a standard monthly fee of £195. Several clients are more than a few months in, with less than £1000 spend and have seen some really encouraging results.
There are basic cost effective SEO solutions out there, but please avoid at all costs any company detailing services like the ones above.
(Please note – SEO Copywriter UK is based in Northern Ireland – so if you are reading this in England, we are technically an ‘overseas SEO company’, but we only run with up to date, best practise SEO!)