6 Signs You Received a SPAM SEO Proposal and What to Do About it

Oh, SPAM SEO emails…. If you have a business and a website, there is no doubt you have received emails like these:

Hello there-
I’m contacting you because your website is terrible and not ranking at all for any of your keywords. Also, your local listings are non-existent. It’s a wonder anyone can even find you online. Your competitor is blowing you out of the water and stealing all of your business.
Do you want to stay in business? I can help. I will be happy to perform an in-depth analysis of your businesses and get you #1 in Google.

Regards-
SEO expert
Based in NYC (so you know I’m for real)

Or how about this one:

Hello –
I found your Website, and noticed that you are not ranking on any search engines. Like, none. At all. I’ve checked all of your top keywords.
My SEO company based in India has helped a bazillion businesses rank on the 1st Page Ranking on Google for even the most competitive Industries, Like boats.
You need my help, so i look forward to hearing from you!

Regards-
Some guy in India

You may even see these kinds of pitches as blog comments on your website.

It can be alarming getting messages like these, especially if you are paying an SEO company to improve your rankings and manage your search optimization.  You thought you were covered, and now someone is telling you-you’re not even ranking at all!

Well, I’m here to tell you we all get these emails. Even us.

Heck, EVEN GOOGLE!

Well, have no fear. The odds are this person, or bot as never even looked at your website and definitely hasn’t done any research on your keywords.
Our industry sadly has a lot of SPAM and it can be difficult to know where to place your trust.

So, how can you tell it’s an SEO SPAM email?

1. It’s unsolicited

If the email is from someone you’ve never heard of, chances are its SPAM. If you are interested in boosting your searches and increasing your views, contact an SEO consultant to work with professionals to make your business grow.

2. There are no specifics mentioned about your website

Nine times out of ten we see boilerplate emails with no specifics about a business at all. None. This person has not checked your rankings, has no idea about your website’s structure, and doesn’t know anything about your field. They found your email. Copy + Paste + Send.  That’s it.

3. Sender’s email address is a throwaway

What email address is the email coming from?
Many times, SEO’s aren’t legitimate are sending from a free Gmail or other free web-based email address they can create and throw away. They likely don’t have a business of their own but are collecting leads for another company, Or worse, it’s a phishing operation looking to get access to your information.

4. No company name listed

If there is no company listed or link to a real website the person sending the email may be collecting and selling leads to other SEO companies. Or as mentioned above, a scam altogether.

5. Fake physical address listed

Many times these scammers will put a physical address in their signature line to appear more legitimate, but if you search the address, it will most likely not be a real address. Or for a car lot somewhere.

6. Duplicate emails

We will see the same email sent from different accounts within a week. All of the text is identical, only the name of the sender is different.  

What should you do about it?

Now, this doesn’t mean legitimate SEO companies may not send cold contact emails, but before you respond, make sure you do a little research first. Does the email pass all of the other checks above? (other than the unsolicited one?) Verify it’s a real company. Look for online reviews. And to be extra sure, don’t respond to the email, contact the company through their website if you are interested in doing business with them.

If you do get one if these emails and are genuinely concerned about your rankings, give us a call. We will be more than happy to help!

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