credit: Innovative Outsource
My website contact form returned a pitch from an SEO company informing me my company, (1) Soulati Media featured on https://soulati.com was “not ranking top in Google organic search for many competitive keyword phrases.”
(2) Your website profile is not available in most Social Media Websites (sic).
(3) Your site has 8 Google back links, (sic) this can be improved further.
Blah, blah, blah…glad to provide you with a detailed analysis in the form of a WEBSITE AUDIT REPORT for FREE.
PS1: blah, blah, blah
PS2: I found your site from online advertising but did not click.
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Sound suspicious? I agree, but I wasn’t fully certain so I consulted with none other than the kingpin of SEO, big data and analytics – Sean McGinnis of 312Digital.
I was particularly confused about “8 Google back links,” having never heard of that before. The second suspect was PS2 in which the woman (who gave me a Gmail contact and not a company email address) said she found me “from online advertising but did not click.” (I have never done PPC campaigns.)
Sean McGinnis Weighs In
Sean suggests, “This person is doing either shoddy work or being untruthful.”
As per the Google backlinks, Sean doesn’t know anyone who calls them “Google backlinks.” He says, “It sounds like a ploy to just invoke the mighty G word in hopes they will sound more authoritative.
“Inbound links have been and continue to be a critical component of ranking well for search phrases in both Google and Bing. GOOD links are more difficult to get than ever because the Penguin update devalued the types of links that were “easy” to acquire.
“This person also obviously lied about the NUMBER of links https://Soulati.com has to the site. A quick review in Open Site Explorer (a link analysis tool) shows you have hundreds and hundreds of inbound links. Granted some of those links include the no-follow tag and therefore pass no link value, but many are good, solid links.
And, finally, King Sean added, “Speaking of ‘invoking Google’ – this one is a favorite of mine:
“Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.” ~Google’s very own page that defines SEO.
312Digital Launches in Chicago
What a great segue into Sean’s announcement yesterday that 312 Digital has re-launched as a training company that provides in-person digital marketing courses to business owners, marketers and consultants.
The first course, Introduction to Digital Marketing is December 3-4 either near O’Hare airport one day or in the Loop on day two. Other markets are on board to get training course offerings by way of content marketing; SEO; PPC; email marketing; social media; analytics; storytelling; and video.
Thanks, Sean, for the help here, and congratulations on the new venture, too!
