Since the beginning of search engine optimization, people have fallen for SEO scams and have paid good money for people to not do what they promised they were going to do. While it may seem like a bargain from their initial proposal and pricing, the results may end up costing much more to fix down the line.

How Can You Spot A Fake SEO Marketing Expert?

Fakes promise rankings.

The only “one” out there who can promise you rankings is Google. And they’re not going to!

SEO professionals may have training and experience behind them when they tell you what they can do to help your rankings, but they will never promise that you’re going to be in the “top 10” or the first page of search results.

Fakes offer lower prices than reputable SEO firms.

Basically, if you’re signing up for a $99/month offer, there’s an almost 100% chance that they’re fakes.

Real SEO professionals offer value for the investment you’ll be putting up, but there will be an investment.

Fakes offer proprietary analytics or no analytics at all.

SEO professionals show real tracking numbers with robust analytics. If you are shown an SEO package without something real like Google Analytics, run!

Fakes may claim to be certified.

While fakes may claim to be “SEO certified,” many aren’t. SEO professionals are often Google Adword Certified. Ask plenty of questions about any certifications they offer.

Fakes send unsolicited emails.

SEO fakers often send unsolicited emails with those too-good-to-be-true offers in them. SEO professionals often have business come right to them because they’ve optimized their own website and have customers find them through their online presence or through word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.

Fakes don’t offer insight into their strategic plan for your site.

They want you to “just trust” them with your site. SEO professionals are able to offer an explanation of what they do, what they’ve done in the past that have offered results for their own website and their clients’ websites, and how SEO has changed. They can answer questions for you and don’t try to hide behind jargon.

Fakes don’t offer customer references.

SEO professionals are able to produce customer references to back up their claims. Many of these will most likely have been with the SEO firm for some time, as search engine optimization is an ongoing process.

Fakes may go on and on about “keyword meta tags.”

Some metatags are still important for Google rankings, but many aren’t and haven’t been since (about) 2011. Even Google tells people that these don’t matter!

If you go with an SEO faker for your search engine optimization, not only could they end up being a rip off in the short-term, but in the long-term, they may even get your site blacklisted and/or hurt your rankings! It’s better to invest more with a professional SEO marketing agency and get solid results over time.