How to spot a dodgy SEO offer

Clients forward us SEO pitches most weeks, usually with the note “is this legit?” Nearly all of them follow the same script. Once you can read the script, you can bin the bad ones in about ten seconds.

Below is a composite of the kind of email we see, put together from the common lines, followed by what each part really means.

A typical pitch, decoded

Hi, I was checking your website and noticed it isn’t ranking on page one of Google for your main keywords. We are a Google Partner agency and can GUARANTEE first page rankings within 30 days. Our proprietary method has helped 3,000+ businesses. For just $299/month (12 month agreement) we will build 150 high authority backlinks per month and submit your site to 500 directories. Reply YES for a free audit.

“I was checking your website.” Nobody was. This goes out to thousands of addresses scraped from directories. Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO tells you to be sceptical of unsolicited emails from SEO firms.

“Not ranking for your main keywords.” Which keywords? They never say, because they haven’t looked. A real assessment names the searches and shows where you sit for them.

“Google Partner.” The Google Partners program relates to Google Ads, the paid side. It says nothing about organic search skill. Some genuine agencies hold it, but it isn’t an SEO credential, and nobody has a special relationship with Google’s search team.

“GUARANTEE first page in 30 days.” This is the biggest red flag of the lot. Google states plainly that no one can guarantee a number one ranking. Anyone guaranteeing results is either lying, planning to rank you for a search nobody makes (“licensed blue widget installer north east Ballina”), or using tactics that risk your site.

“Proprietary method.” Real SEO isn’t secret. Good agencies will happily explain what they’re going to do and why. Google’s guidance specifically warns about companies that are secretive or won’t explain their approach.

“150 high authority backlinks a month.” At that price, those links come from link farms, spammy blog networks and comment spam. Google’s spam policies list buying links, automated link building and low-quality directory links as link spam. If it catches up with you, the cleanup costs far more than the year of fees.

“Submit your site to 500 directories.” Mass directory submission is an old tactic that doesn’t help and creates a mess of listings you can’t control.

“12 month agreement.” A long lock-in on a cheap retainer means the business model depends on you not being able to leave when it doesn’t work.

Red flags in the contract

Plenty of dodgy offers arrive through a polished sales call rather than a spammy email. Before you sign, read the agreement for these:

• Minimum terms of 12 to 24 months with large exit fees. SEO does take time, but a good agency earns your renewal. Month to month after an initial three or six months is reasonable.
• They own your website or content. Some packages build a new site or pages on their platform. Leave, and the site or the pages go with them. Check that you own everything they create.
• They control your Google Business Profile. They should be added as a manager, never set as the primary owner.
• They want your logins but won’t tell you what they’re changing. You’re entitled to a log of work done on your site.
• The scope is vague. “Ongoing optimisation” isn’t a scope. You should see a list of what happens each month.

Red flags in the reporting

Bad reporting hides bad work. Watch for:

• Rankings only, for keywords they chose. Ranking first for phrases nobody searches is easy and useless.
• No traffic or enquiry data. The goal is phone calls, bookings and quote requests. Reports should show enquiries from organic search, or at least organic traffic to service pages.
• Reports from their own dashboard only, with no access to your own Google Search Console and Analytics. You should own these accounts and be able to check the numbers yourself.
• Graphs that always go up. Real search traffic wobbles with seasons, holidays and Google updates. A report that’s never honest about a bad month isn’t a report.
• Nothing at all for months, then a PDF full of jargon when you ask.

What a decent SEO offer looks like

To be fair to the industry, plenty of people do good, careful work. A reasonable offer usually has these things in common:

• They ask about your business, your best customers and your goals before quoting.
• They look at your site and tell you specific problems, with examples.
• They name realistic target searches and explain why those ones.
• They give a timeframe in months, not days, and explain what affects it.
• They tell you what they’ll do each month in plain English.
• They work inside your accounts, which you own.
• They’ll tell you when SEO isn’t the right spend for you right now.

That last one is a good test. If a business has a site with no clear service pages, the better advice is often to fix the site before paying anyone for SEO. Our guide on what a small business website should actually do is a good starting point there.

Questions to ask before you sign

Google suggests asking any SEO to show examples of previous work, explain whether they follow Google’s guidelines, and say what results to expect and how they’ll measure them. We’d add:

1. Which specific searches will you target, and why those?
2. Where will links come from? Can you name the kinds of sites?
3. Who writes the content, and does someone check it for accuracy?
4. What happens to my site, pages and accounts if I leave?
5. What’s the notice period?
6. Can I see a sample monthly report?

If the answers are vague, or you get a sales pitch instead of an answer, keep looking. If they suggest pumping out dozens of generic blog posts, read our take on whether blogging still helps SEO first.

If you’ve already signed

Don’t panic. Check what’s been done: ask for a list of every change and every link built. Make sure you have owner access to your Google Business Profile, Search Console and Analytics. Read the exit clause and diarise the notice date. If they’ve built spammy links, a proper SEO can assess whether they’re doing harm.

Got a proposal on the desk right now? Run it past the six questions above first. If it still reads like the sales email we pulled apart, send it to us for a second look; there’s no expectation you’ll switch to our SEO service.