Is This Your SEO Provider? I Sure Hope Not

Okay, let me start by saying I am not perfect. I don’t know more than anyone else when it comes to SEO, but I sure as hell know more than some.

The other day I came across an article that just floored me. It solidified why some people don’t and shouldn’t trust SEO professionals. It also shows why they would be right not to trust, as this article is an invitation to get you penalized (not technically a penalty anymore, but don’t plan on ranking).

Why, oh why do companies still do this?

I find it similar to SEO agencies that still “guarantee” first page results.

I blocked out some of the pertinent information that would lead you to know the name of the agency. However, you can probably find the actual article with a little help from Google.

I also did it because there are some who will read my post here on LinkedIn and STILL USE THE SERVICE.

So what’s wrong with this article? So many things, so little time.

You Don’t Buy Backlinks!

First things first. THEY ARE SELLING BACKLINKS. You simply don’t buy and sell backlinks.

You can pay to have companies do outreach on your behalf, but simply paying someone to post a link is completely black-hat.

There are SEO agencies who can help you by employing methods such as guest blogging, broken links, and resource outreach.

Note to the comment haters – I know “guest blogging for backlinks” is dead. There are ways to get backlinks through guest blogging that aren’t built around old black-hat techniques. One such method is guestographics (thank you, Brian Dean) and sponsored blog posts (native advertising).

Page Rank and Spam Links?

First, Page Rank is dead. In fact, it caused more issues throughout the web than it was worth which is why it is no longer a metric Google uses (or at least doesn’t show publicly).

I firmly believe that relying on “Page Rank” is what spawned the crappy article that led me to write this post on LinkedIn.

“PageRank scores launched the link economy, but that economy long left the actual scores behind,” writes Danny Sullivan, in a post on the death of Page Rank. “It may make it harder for some to value the links they want to buy and sell, but links will continue to be brokered as long as people know that Google depends so much on them.”

The industry now relies on other metrics such as domain authority and page authority.

I was thinking that the article referred to “page rank” (lower case) as in where you wind up in search results, but the capitalizing of “Page” would lead me to believe they are talking about Google Page Rank.

The company also says that Google ranks pages based on “spam links.”

To be fair, the article then says they want to get you ranked without getting penalized by using spam links. So, which is it?

Maybe it’s just poor grammar and sentence structure which brings me to my next point.

Only Quality Content Ranks

There is no benefit to having a backlink from a website or page that is low-quality.

Here is what I mean.

“Link juice” as it is called, considers the quality of the websites a link comes from. We know that a backlink from Forbes.com passes on more link juice than a link from a run-of-the-mill personal blog. You can use domain authority metrics to determine which sites are more authoritative.

The quality of individual pages within a site is also a factor in ranking. In fact, a recent case study on building backlinks showed how a piece of content ranked on first page with only eight backlinks.

Look at how many pages in Forbes.com contain information about “business opportunities.” Some rank higher than others. Why? Quality.

Google will see some pages as higher quality than others based on various factors such as time on page and social share.

That now brings me to my point on why this agency is likely doing harm to clients. The quality of the writing is so poor that anything they post on your behalf will be the same.

Even if they are able to get a placement on a high-quality website, the articles they post are such low quality that any backlink will have no “link juice.”

Make sense?

No Clue About Link Diversity

Ever heard me talk about link diversity? If not, then you’ve never heard me speak. A diverse link profile is my go-to speech whenever I talk about link acquisition.

Although there are many moving parts to link diversity, the gist is exactly how it sounds. You need be diverse with your backlinks which includes using varied anchor text, various domain extensions, etc.

What stands out to me is the exact-match anchor text in the article. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that exact-match anchor text works, but it must still be natural. When you use exact match and link to a homepage, this is a clear sign to Google that you are trying to manipulate search results.

Tsk, tsk.

First Anchor-Text Priority

Two of the links in the article lead to the same location. When this happens, only the first link gets priority.

This means Google will consider the first anchor text but likely ignore any additional anchor text leading to the same location.

They are trying to play the system by using two different anchors to the same link. The problem? It won’t work and shows that their methods are black-hat and outdated. Waste of time and looks spammy.

Of course, the website posting the article doesn’t want to get penalized for the poor use of exact-match anchor text either. That’s probably the reason they added a nofollow attribute to the links.

Is This Your SEO Provider?

Who do you use for SEO services? Is the company reputable and does it use best practices? Or, does it employ the same bad tactics I talk about herein?

And yes, I plan on using the rest of this article for shameless self-promotion.

I really don’t care who you use for SEO, as long as they are reputable and employ best practices. There is plenty of work to go around so I won’t be sad if don’t give me a call (although I would love if we connected).

If you don’t want to use my services, at least let me help you find the right provider.

Shameless Self-Promotion Coming.....As If I Hadn't Done That Already :)

In my new book, Link Juice, I talk about various black-hat techniques used by bad SEO providers. I also talk about backlink acquisition methods that are proven to work.

The book will arm you with plenty of knowledge to test your SEO provider to find out if they are worth the $$.

Get a copy of Link Juice from Amazon in paperback or Kindle.