We can get you on the 1st page of 10 major engines

Bogus Offers

[michaelbs]

I have been approached today offering me the service of having my website placed under 5 keyword phrases into the first page of all the major engines within 8 weeks. Usually I would say no right away because I would be quite sceptical, but before I had the chance to say NO the knowledgable lady on the line said "If we don't get you first page listings for all of your five keyword phrases, we'll refund your £500"
I was wondering if anyone has any advice about this, I don,t think I can name the company she called from on here but they are based in Lancashire, UK.
I was thinking of trying it tommorow, so any advice would be much appreciated..
Thanks,

Mike

[pageoneresults]

There are a variety of ways that this can be done. Typically these types of offers are supported by a PPC (pay per click) or CPC (cost per click) campaign.

8 weeks is somewhat lengthy for a PPC campaign. Normally you'll see top positions within a couple of weeks depending on the program that is chosen.

Find out exactly how they are going to achieve these positions and read the fine print closely. I'm not saying there is anything wrong here as most of us know top positions can be had if you are willing to pay the price. You just need to be careful about how its done! ;)

[nutsandbolts]

It's easy with Sponsored listings (with Overture and Espotting) ;)

[JayC]

This is what you should clarify when you speak to them again:

Specifically, what are "all the major engines?"

Which keywords? Will they pick obscure, noncompetitive (and worthless to you) keyword phrases?

Will they simply use pay-per-click bidding to put you in a "top position" for a day to satisfy the guarantee?

As pageoneresults said, there's not necessarily anything wrong here, but you should know what it is that you're buying. I'd expect that they're talking about PPC results.

[edited by: JayC at 5:57 pm (utc) on Nov. 4, 2002]

[ScottM]

I would not recommend it.

Think about it. I could get to the first page for a search on...oh, let's say: 'metal clock tape water', but it doesn't mean anyone searches for it.

Another red flag is defining 'major search engines'. Heck, you could buy an overt. spot for that price.

A refund would be great, but I doubt you would ever get it, because you'd be number one for 'slippery red button food', thus they've fulfilled their part of this 'bargain'....and they spent your money.

[Mike_Mackin]

>Will they pick obscure, noncompetitive (and worthless to you) keyword phrases...

"What is a good place to find product/service"

YOU could rank that phrase!

[michaelbs]

"Which keywords? Will they pick obscure, noncompetitive (and worthless to you) keyword phrases?"

They said I can choose whatever search phrases I wanted but they don't recommend single word phrases.. I mentioned ppc and she said they do not use ppc.

[Liane]

Perhaps Sergey is her husband and all her other relatives work for Yahoo, MSN, AOL ... etc. :)

[agerhart]

Ask to see some results they have received for their clients. Ask to talk to some of their clients, past and present.

I seriously doubt their legitmacy now, but they if they can't fulfill these requests, that confirms everyones suspicions.

[michaelbs]

Thanks for all your help...I will look into them further..
Mike

[gmoney]

Michaelbs,

Another thing to watch out for is that they may be able to achieve their guarantee by linking to you from a number of high PageRank pages with keywords in the anchor text and then after the guarantee is met, they might remove those links and leave you out in the cold.

[chiyo]

Yes they could get you what they guarantee in 8 weeks by PPC but if course like all PPC it is only temporary, not longer lasting as in SEO. They just have to outbid others on OV for one day, and buy some sponsored links for limited times, and maybe put your link on some high Pr pages with the phrase you specify.

Then a day to a month later you will have to start paying again when you are suddenly nowhere on that phrase.

It's PPP. Pay and Pay and Pay.

[Hawkgirl]

'metal clock tape water', but it doesn't mean anyone searches for it

But if they do, you know they'll find this page. ;)

[hurlimann]

Leave well alone or put another way we, or many other memebers here, will meet the same contractual promise for £ 10 and do it within 14 days.

As you will now be a "heavy prospect" feel free to give them our number and tell them to deal with us as your online consultants and we will be glad to tell them they are working for an outfit not much better than a 419 scammer.

It is a case of Caveat Emptor

[gsx]

No. No. No. No. No. :o)

These people are often con-artists (there are more con-artists in this field than genuine people). If they don't get you on the front page of the 10 major search engines they give you £500 back?

Interesting offer : ask yourself (or them), how long does it take to get on the first page? how long before you are entitled for your money back?

The most important questions are : how long will your listings stay up for (you need this in writing)? who do you class as the top ten search engines? do you use doorway pages or cloaking to obtain this ranking (see google.com/contact/spamreport.html - show this page to them)?

Of course, they will ring you when you have top listings so you can see and go "wow!" and then your listings get dropped in hours (Google PPC, Overture PPC, and Espotting accounts all cancelled or terms removed). They have fulfilled their part of the deal (for ten pounds or so) and have taken at least £500 from you, that's a minimum profit of £490 per order.

£490/order? So that's why I have the same company call me 3 or 4 times per day, every day (and I am not exagerating).

P.S. - find out their web address and make sure that their site is on the first page for common search terms in their field. If they are not, tell them that if they cannot do this for their own site, there is no way you expect them to be able to do anything for yours.

[DaveN]

I have a client waiting for his £750 back 18 months down the line they got 1 keyword phrase in ten search engines and said they had met the contract the keyword was the company name which was already #1 cross the board.

A) Get them to define what the major se's are.
B)

website placed under 5 keyword phrases into the first page

is that all five keywords on the the first page giving you 50% of the first page serps or 1 of the five keywords on the first page.
C) what is the minimum requirement for them to keep your money.
D) don't let them use your brand-name or url as a keyword.
E) before you enter into any agreement with them find out where you rank already for your chosen keywords

DaveN

[michaelbs]

Very much appreciated info guys... You have made my decision ooohh so much clearer. I will be a regular visitor here and learn SEO myself i thinks...Look out for my regular inquiring posts. lol .. seriously cheers for the advice..

[Chris_R]

SEO is a little like the stock market - LOTS of "experts", but 75% of them can't beat the S&P 500 and there have been many media shows were monkeys picking stocks at random can beat "The Experts".

[gsx]

Another one saved from the con. :)

[Andrew Thomas]

I had a similiar call too

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