‘White hat vigilantes’ threaten SEO audits of agencies
A group of white hat search engine optimisation experts (SEO) have banded together to take on fraudsters offering better results on Google and other search engines, warning “your days are numbered”.
Melbourne-based digital content and marketing specialist Adam Jacobs launched a call out to businesses concerned about their SEO agencies on LinkedIn proclaiming that “Too many honest and hardworking people are getting ripped off by your shenanigans”.
Jacobs has teamed with Adaptis GmbH in Europe and other white hat SEO specialists to launch the campaign.
“I’ve spoken to some of my white hat search homies and we have decided to start auditing your SEO work for free!” Jacobs wrote in a Linkedin post that has since been widely shared.
“Dear business owners, if you would like someone to look at your SEO agencies work and let you know if it’s actually being done or know someone who would, then tag them in here or hit me up in the comments. I’ll even pull a report that you can use to get out of your contract if the work is crappy or non-existent.”
“I’m writing a case study about this, and so far the results are damning. This is gonna be fun!!!!”
Speaking Mumbrella, Jacobs said he was not interested in building a business, but simply wanted to expose some of the practices of the cowboy agencies working in the market and taking advantage of SMEs who didn’t understand what they were buying.
“I’m not saying it is the industry at all, there are some very good agencies out there,” Jacobs said.
“Small businesses are getting locked into long-term contracts – it’s a crap shoot.
“I get approached a lot to look at from people and asked to look at their work, but I don’t really do search purely any more. But I got approached about six weeks ago by a limo company – a friend of a friend – and they had paid $50,000 for SEO and never had any work done. It could have been something that just slipped through the cracks, but I hear about this a lot. A lot.”
He said even major brands were finding spending huge amounts on keywords that were irrelevant to them.
Jacobs has set up a landing page for companies interested in having their SEO or agencies audited.
Jacobs’ post received dozens of replies from businesses saying they were being flooded with calls and emails claiming their SEO results could be boosted by signing up with agencies.
“Great post. So many frauds and no way to know till it’s too late,” one follower replied.
“SEO is the new ‘Dark Arts’ of commerce that is virtually unregulated and difficult to understand and follow via its own language and technical protocols :),” another noted.
“Glad someone is highlighting this. It makes me sick that so many people are being ripped off!!” another said.
The hunt for SEO fraudsters is being conducted with the hashtag #SEOvigilante.
Nice.
FYI – Adam you have a typo on your landing page. ‘contract’ versus ‘contact’- Directly above the form
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Thanks Shane. Knocked it up super quickly.
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This is a great idea/service. I would be more than happy to pay a modest fee for it. I’ve had lots of clients sucked in/ripped off by dodgy SEO companies. There is usually some work done in the first month where you see some changes in ranking but after that nothing. Being able to check after 3 – 6 – 9 months that work is ongoing would be very useful for clients.
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ha…the irony 🙂
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What a farce. You cant prove that an seo agency is doing what they are allegex to have done like bad backlinking. This can be done by malicious competitors. Just a marketing hype to increase Jacobs business me thinks!
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Exactly. What’s stopping myself or my collegues from starting a vigilante group to give a bad name to various seo agencies, just so I can steal their customers?
There are so many dynamics to seo, that most of the work is hidden in backlinking, internal linking architecture, cross channel marketing management, anchor text, titles, metas etc etc.
Maybe we should band together and form a group to investigate the guys who are investigating???? Ever think of that. Yes, definitely a ploy to garner more business for himself.
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Hey Bob.
That’s why I ask to see the proposals and updates. So I can compare what they say they deliver and what has been. Don’t be so quick to jump. I don’t have an SEO business, nor do I want to. Im client side and never going back.
Adam
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But Adam said he’s not interested in creating a business?
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Who put this guy in charge of representing a whole industry? Did he work at Google for the search quality team? does he have a proven track record managing enterprise/global SEO accounts and experience is several verticals? Is he an authority figure in the SEO world? does he speak at SEO events worldwide?
I think it is a good idea but should be managed by an organisation with some credentials (i.e econsultancy) not one man band who until today I’ve never heard of.
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As I’ve mentioned. I compare proposals with the actual work done and tell people if it has or hasn’t. I don’t want your customers, I don’t work in an agency. I’m sticking to the client side.
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Considering his landing page doesn’t have a H1 tag I’d steer clear.
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I don’t need to be an authority to tell you if the work has been done bud, just competent and experienced. I’ll teach you how and you can become an authority for the both of us. And yes, I have global enterprise experience.
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Not a single job title that has SEO in it and 26 SEO endorsements on his Linkedin profile.
Amazed this is news!
(I’m only commenting as it’s late on Friday).
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Good idea, although poor execution. No way I would be submitting my contact details to that ugly ass landing page.
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Perhaps Bob works for one of those cowboy agencies!?
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The landing page collects personal details but doesn’t have a privacy policy. Is that even legal?
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Mate – if you think H1 tags have anything to do with real SEO you are living in the 90’s!
Check it out – there has been little to no correlation between H tags and rankings for years now. easily verified through even the tabloid SEO sites.
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No need to throw a hissy fit champ. Yes you do need to be an authority figure who is well respected by other industry leaders and not a cowboy who thought it’s a good idea to
Self promote himself this way. It’s very easy to criticize someone else’s work without knowing the history, competition, agency realtionsips etc…
thus, its very difficult to offer an honest audit like this. So in essence what you are offering is doing is just as dodgy.
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