Comments on: Watch out! Unscrupulous search marketing companies on the hunt for gullible clients

By: Marketing for Small Businesses » Is there such a thing as Guaranteed Top Results in Search Engines?

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:37:02 +0000

[...] Such claims are often directed at unsuspecting clients to try and trick them into a sale. See our blog post “Watch out! Unscrupulous search marketing companies on the hunt for gullible clients” [...]

By: Jeff Ballweg

Jeff Ballweg — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:11:19 +0000

Thanks for the warning Mark. I’ll also note that I’ve got a client who came to me for web design work and in our initial talks about SEO, he mentioned that he was working with a company “to get his site on the top of Google.”

Seems they’re just re-selling Google AdWords for a monthly fee at inflated rates. Does anyone know where they’re from and if they’re trading as a legitimate company somewhere?

By: Mark Lincoln

Mark Lincoln — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:15:01 +0000

Thanks for your comment Sheldon. Yeah it’s sad to hear that there’s a lot of it going on out there. I think the last figure I heard was that 70% of Google users click on an organic search result over a sponsored result. I bet these companies don’t tell that to their clients!

By: Sheldon (Marketing Consultant, Tauranga)

Sheldon (Marketing Consultant, Tauranga) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:25:52 +0000

Yes! I’ve seen these emails. One went through to a client of mine, and I was fortunate to get the chance to warn them.

The trick they use is that they don’t mention Google Adwords at all, they just “guarantee #1 spot on Google”, which they can get away with because the vast majority of people don’t realise what the difference is between organic and sponsored search results. So they buy their way to the top using your credit card with bids of $5 or more per click.

Shameless!