Relevancy of Seminars That Promise Google First Page

[cooldogs]

Someone recently called to ask about a seminar that promises first page Google results within 3 days for only $30/month.

Can there be any legitimacy to this at all? I told them it is hard to believe that is at all possible unless you pay to get at the top of the ads, but then that would be impossible for $30 a month.

Anyone know what the catch is? There is got to be one, right?

[bwnbwn]

there is an old saying "if it sounds to good to be true it usually is a lie" What these people are claming isn't organic traffic but PPC traffic.

30$ bucks a month doesn't mean top keywords but 3 and 4 term words that cost 50 cents a click or something like that.

[Lord Majestic]

Ask for which specific keywords they promise site to be on the first page and how long they guarantee it will stay there. Might be worth clarifying whether they mean natural search results or not.

[caribguy]

A networking client of mine once bragged about his website's page 1 results. As it turned out, the company he was working with had made him add code to his site that would install a browser helper object...

...placing him at #1 on all infected machines.

The worst/best part was that he could not believe he'd been had and cussed me out for shattering his dream. That was about 2 minutes before I fired that clown.

[tedster]

The BHO ploy is the one my clients have been getting pitched lately. Clearly, no one can guarantee any specific organic ranking, and it's deceptive to do that. It's just playing on lack of knowledge in the marketplace and attempting to fleece the sheep.

[LifeinAsia]

I'll only charge you $25/month to get you on the first page of Google.

Of course, you have to search for a unique string of text that is only on your site. :)

[martinibuster]

Might be worth clarifying whether they mean natural search results or not.

Are you serious? What could you possibly expect to have clarified about a $30/month SEO/SEM offer?

[edited by: martinibuster at 4:44 pm (utc) on Sep. 24, 2008]

[Lord Majestic]

Not worth clarifying.

Why not? Are you 100% certain they meant it to be either paid or natural? I wasn't as two possibilities could have happened, hence clarification.

[edited by: Lord_Majestic at 4:44 pm (utc) on Sep. 24, 2008]

[martinibuster]

Are you 100% certain they meant it to be either paid or natural?

What difference does it make if it's paid or natural?

What useful results could you reasonably expect for $30/month? Come on LM, put your thinking cap on. ;)

If a guy on the corner is offering Rolexes for $30 each, do you need clarification if they are used or brand new? Of course not, you keep walking.

[Lord Majestic]

What difference does it make if it's paid or natural?

Well, I think the difference might seem academical, but I think if they follow paid route without pre-condition that it should be in natural search it would allow them to "fulfil" their obligations without technically engaging in fraud.

But I agree - in any case it's best to walk away from these people: nothing good will come out of it.

[Receptional Andy]

I was about to join the throngs saying that it's impossible for any SEO promising "first page promises" to have much legitimacy, but then it occurred to me that I ran a small (internal) seminar a couple of weeks ago...to show people how to quickly appear on Google for a given keyword, with a new website. Of course, nothing competitive, although certainly relevant and useful - but I just thought it would be a more practical means to show some basic SEO techniques. It didn't occur to me at the time that this resembled the very low-end of dodgy SEO pitches ;)

I'd say the major problem with SEOs promising specific rankings or pages is that it betrays just how short-sighted their approach is - if their goal is specific rankings for arbitrary keywords then they're really missing the point.

And of course, there's also all the scammers who are just trying to fool people who for whatever reason don't understand how Google, the internet or computers were. But no-one with any skills or specialist knowledge is going to be working for $30/month.

[randle]

Several threads going on around here with various takes on the subject of hiring “SEO” firms and how to believe or trust them when their going to have their hands on your site. There is a very simple test to administer when trying to cull through these outfits.

If you see these three words together in the same sentence be it spoken or written, you definitely want to move on.

promises first page

[cooldogs]

One thing to add here, my client told me that he was thinking it may be a drop ship sales operation where you buy into their drop ship sales program, you know like the ones you see advertised on late night TV - if that were the case would it be possible that you are buying into actual pages they had already managed to get high in Google, but even then for $30 a month that wouldn't be feasible for the company making the offer.

[tedster]

Page "rental" deals like that do exist - but they also come with a big price tag. A page one ranking on a competitive keyword is worth a LOT more than $30 a month.

[stakaman]

too good to be true

any other discussion is really irrelevant here.

Sounds like those Nigerian scams where people have 3 trillion dollars and need a beneficiary

Sorry I could not be more helpful

[Wlauzon]

We get calls like that quite often. And nearly always, the person calling has not a single clue about how they plan to do that, they are basically just reading from a script.

A while back we did get one tele-spammer to admit that what they did was pay enough for Google ads to be in the top position - which could be a LOT more than $30 a month.