SEO Horror Stories
Having worked in digital marketing and the world of search engine optimisation for over a decade, we’ve heard plenty of SEO horror stories from business owners.
There’s no doubt about it – the world of SEO can be quite scary for your average business owner. Hiring an SEO agency or consultant can be like taking a great big step into the unknown!
SEO Horror Story #1: Dodgy Operators
It’s a bit like when you need to take your car to the mechanic. If you’re anything like me, you don’t know much about how cars work. All you know is that it’s making a funny noise, or just not working at all – and that a mechanic should be able to help with fixing it.
(A funny story for the more mechanically minded: When the brakes on my car started squealing, I asked my husband if they needed oiling … yes really …! )
Most of us also understand that for optimal results, our cars should be serviced regularly.
As a customer, we are trusting the mechanic with a valuable asset (our car), and hoping that they will do the right thing.
However:
- They could use inferior or shoddy products or methods.
- They could literally do nothing, and we would be none the wiser.
- They could charge pretty much whatever they wanted, and even with an itemised bill, we wouldn’t know enough to query it.
It’s the same with SEO. You’ve heard that it can be a great addition to your marketing strategy, but you’ll need to outsource it to an agency:
- Ideally, your SEO benefits from regular attention, just as your car does – it’s an ongoing process, not a “one-off”.
- You’re entrusting the business with a valuable asset (your website AND online reputation), and hoping that they will do the right thing … however …
- They could use inferior or shoddy products or methods.
- They could literally do nothing, and you’d be none the wiser.
- They could charge pretty much whatever they wanted, and even with an itemised bill, you wouldn’t know enough to query it.
Just as there are some dodgy mechanics out there, unfortunately, not every SEO agency has your best interests at heart. This is why many want to lock you into a minimum 12 months’ contract – by the time you realise that your SEO hasn’t been fixed, or isn’t improving, they’ve made money out of you and are ready to move on to the next unsuspecting victim.
There is currently a lack of regulation in the Australian SEO industry, which means that fraudsters can flourish.
We’ve come across some real SEO horror stories in our time – from business owners paying a fortune for what essentially amounts to “nothing”; to others who are blissfully unaware of what is being done to their site AND their business’ reputation, all in the name of SEO.
Horror Story #2: Parasite Hosting
One practice that we’ve come across is called “parasite hosting”. It’s where extra pages are set up on the website, without the business owner’s knowledge. These extra pages have nothing to do with the actual business; they usually occur because the website has been hacked.
There was the women’s accessories website, where we noticed their top ranking keyword was along the lines of certain adult products.
Or the health clinic site which hosted several pages of content relating to gambling, and linked to various gaming sites.
Horror Story #3: Bogus Backlinks
If you are considering outsourcing your SEO, make sure that you are kept informed of the backlinks being built on your behalf. Google has indicated that they value links which come to your site from relevant, high quality websites.
Do you really want your business linked to sites offering Russian mail order brides, or promoting adult entertainment with explicit content or images?
Toxic backlinks don’t help your SEO and may even damage your online reputation!
Black Hat SEO Techniques
There are also some agencies still employing “black hat” SEO techniques – methods that try to manipulate search engine rankings, such as having text on your site that is the same colour as the background. It’s invisible to the user, but Google can still see it.
The reason black hat techniques are still being used by some operators is because they do work to get your site ranking faster but it’s an extremely risky strategy, and not one we recommend! Why? Because it’s only a matter of time before Google finds out, and punishes you by throwing you in “Google jail” … removing your site from search engine results altogether!
Haunted by Dodgy SEO?
Even if you terminate a contract with a dodgy SEO agency, the experience can haunt you for months or even years to come. We have comes across disreputable companies which have:
- locked a business owner out of their own website;
- removed all the links they’d built for a client, when the business owner switched to a new SEO provider;
- set up the website on “their” platform, meaning that if the client left, they had the inconvenience and expense of building a new website.
The moral of all these SEO horror stories is clear: let the buyer beware.
Find a Decent SEO Consultant
Here are three tips to help you find a decent SEO consultant:
- Does your potential SEO consultant or agency share their expertise via training or workshops, newsletters, social media, blog posts, or e-books?
- While a heap of 5 star Google reviews can look great, it’s also a good idea to contact or talk with some of their current or former clients.
- Make sure they practise what they preach – did you find them in Google?!
The world of SEO can be murky and mysterious, but it’s worth facing your fear as it can be a valuable source of leads and customers for your business.
We invite you to book a free 30 minute Zoom consult with our SEO specialist – or check out our next free webinar. Our goal is to help educate business owners like you, so you can avoid becoming just another chapter in our long list of SEO horror stories!