Hi Reader,

The other day I was doing some keyword research and saw marketing strategist Sarah Moon show up as a competitor for some of the keywords I was exploring. Later that day I saw a friend of mine post one of her stories on Instagram. I clicked on her website and found this blog: Five Red Flags When Hiring an SEO Consultant.

I don't know about you, but how many emails do you get every day from people who say "I saw your website and it has a pretty good design but it isn't ranking on Google"?

Me too.. I get these emails a lot!

I've even had people call me asking for SEO services because they are convinced their SEO is "bad" because they keep getting this sort of spam.

Are these emails scams? Yes and no.

Technically if you pay them money they will deliver "something". But, as we are about to discuss, they will likely deliver vanity metrics. Aka, you will be paying money for a service that likely won't grow your business, and even could get you banned from Google!

How do you know the difference between a scam and something real? Look for these 5 red flags!

1) They guarante positions in Google

While we (SEO experts) can make strategic moves to help your website rank higher on Google, there are no true guarantees. We can confidently promise better results, but no one can promise a particular ranking.

2) They require you to move to a new website platform

There are dozens of "ranking factors", but the platform you use is not one of them. If anyone tells you that you need to be on a particular website platform to rank on SEO, run in the other direction! This is simply not true.

3) They use "black hat" techniques for backlinks

Black hat techniques include things such as buying backlinks, keyword stuffing, using AI content (without editing it yourself), and linking to to toxic or spammy websites. These sorts of techniques are a quick way to make it look like your backlink numbers have gone up, but ultimately it will negatively affect your SEO in the long term (this is what can get your website entirely wiped off the internet!).

4) They reach out and tell you how poorly you are performing

This is a technique used by some companies to get you to spend more money. They will send you a ton of reports, knowing that this will overwhelm you, and then tell you that you need to "do more" because your website isn't ranking well.

5) There isn't much information about who they are, how they work, or where they are located

This is typical of people that try to scam you out of services via email. If you ask them questions, research their website, etc, you'll probably find they don't mention much about who owns the company, where they are located, how their services actually work, or even how they found you.

6) Bonus: They only promise "vanity metrics"

The only metrics that really matter is your bottom line. SEO is a marketing tool and if it isn't making you money, it's a waste of money. Not all traffic is created equal. Go with a company or person that talks about how they are going to use SEO to help you grow your business, not just get you more traffic, impressions, and click throughs.

Until next time,

🌟 PS - Want to take the next step? Get a free SEO audit of your Squarespace website! Just respond to this email with your website URL and I'll get back to you with an audit and some tips on what you need to focus on.